Donnie Darko (20th Anniversary Edition)

Drama, Thriller, Sci-Fi | 2001 | R. 1hr 53min
CAST: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell DIRECTOR: Richard Kelly WEIRD ELEPHANT SERIES | NOV. 26 & NOV. 27, 2021 | MASKS AND PROOF OF VACCINE REQUIRED

we_title_web 4K restoration courtesy of Arrow Films and the American Genre Film Archive.

Before STRANGER THINGS combined science fiction, Spielberg-ian thrills, and 1980s nostalgia to much acclaim, Richard Kelly set the high-water mark with this debut feature. Initially beset with distribution problems, it would slowly find its audience and emerge as arguably the first cult classic of the new millennium.

Plot: A troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes, after he narrowly escapes a bizarre accident.

Movie

Reviews

Kelly is a supple and courageous storyteller, boldly free-associating as he mixes parody and satire with earnest psychodrama and coming up with plot points no one could anticipate.

Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader

Excitingly original indie vision.

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

If revisiting an old movie is a bit like going back in time, that sense of disorientation is doubled in DONNIE DARKO . . . A haunted miasma of youthful alienation, suburban malaise, cosmic upheaval, and 1980s pop-cultural infatuation.

Justin Chang, L.A. Times