Capital Celluloid 2016 - Day 352: Sun Dec 18

Donnie Darko (Kelly, 2001): BFI Southbank, NFT3, 2.45pm


This screening includes an introduction by writer-director Richard Kelly. The Sold Out signs have gone up for this event but get down to BFI Southbank early for returns on the day if you have the chance. There are plenty of other screenings (details here) of this movie at the cinema from December 17th onwards.

BFI introduction:
This mind-bending cult classic gets a loving restoration. October, 1988. In the middle of the night, a man in a monstrous rabbit suit appears to Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal), a troubled teenager living with his family in suburban Virginia, to tell him that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. And so, a cult movie is born. As Donnie’s grip on reality weakens, we’re drawn into the darkness that lurks underneath the surface of suburbia. Underappreciated upon its initial release in 2001, Richard Kelly’s mind-bending film gets the 4K restoration treatment and is ripe for rediscovery on the big screen.


Chicago Reader review:
Like George Romero's ambiguous vampire Martin, writer-director Richard Kelly's otherworldly-wise Donnie may have stumbled onto the science behind the apparently supernatural—in this case time travel—which would explain why everyone thinks he's crazy. His sessions with his therapist—and with a high school teacher who's not supposed to discuss theoretical physics with students—are, like the rest of this creepy, insightful coming-of-age story (2001), beautifully kaleidoscopic in tone. 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. Donnie submits to the therapist's increasingly questionable treatment, taking his medication even though it seems to be causing hallucinations—or are they visions?—involving an evil-looking bunny the size of a man.
 

Lisa Alspector

Here (and above) is the trailer.

No comments:

Post a Comment