Donnie Darko (2001)

“A wondrous, moodily self-involved piece of work that employs X-Files magic realism to galvanize what might have been a routine tale of suburban teen angst.” — J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

“A stunning technical accomplishment that virtually bursts with noise, ideas and references, but it’s fundamentally a gracefully crafted movie that’s about human beings and not images.” — Andrew O’Hehir, Salon

SYNOPSIS

Richard Kelly’s audacious debut fuses suburban coming-of-age drama, science fiction, psychological horror, and metaphysical mystery into one of the defining cult films of the twenty-first century. Set in the anxious weeks leading up to the 1988 presidential election, Jake Gyllenhaal stars as troubled teenager Donnie Darko, whose increasingly unsettling encounters with a mysterious figure in a rabbit costume draw him toward questions of fate, time, and free will. Blending teenage alienation, apocalyptic dread, and pop-cultural nostalgia with a boldly enigmatic narrative, Donnie Darko became an unlikely cult phenomenon whose mysteries continue to invite interpretation more than two decades after its release.

Donnie Darko will screen in its original 2001 theatrical version.