Donnie Darko (2001)
I remember when this came and several of my friends was raving about this cool new mindfuck of a film. I just never got around to it, and that may have been a mistake, because now more than 20 years removed from high school - and the whole era of high concept mindfuck films of that time, it didn’t do a whole lot for me. It was really hard to getting into as I didn’t find the mystery that interesting. Gyllenhaal is pretty great in his role a troubled teenager and the whole vibe and aesthetics of the film ain’t bad. It is very Lynchian and since it came out around the same time as Mulholland Drive it makes sense to compare the two. I just think Lynch does that sort of intriguing mystery weirdness better. The time travel stuff and the existential questions this movie raises are on principle cool concepts to explore, but it isn’t conveyed in a manner that hooked me or made me in any way want to dive into the interpretations or trying “to figure it out”.
Rating: 2