The beginning. The music is Echo & The Bunnymen's 'Killing Moon'. The scene is an otherwordly one; mountainous valleys, no movement in sight. We see a boy asleep on the winding roadside that runs through these valleys. It's unclear if he's dead or alive at first, but he stirs. It seems he's fallen asleep after a long bike ride up towards the stars. He awakens and rides home at speed. Welcome to 'Donnie Darko'.

Donnie is a teenager in college, subject to the usual troubles of a mid-to-late teenager. Additionally, he has mental problems, is undergoing regular therapy and has to take regular medication which it appears brings on 'hallucinations'; in particular one of a human size rabbit called Frank who in his first meeting reveals to Donnie that the world is going to end in a little over 4 weeks. Although he has his problems, he doubts the reality of what he's 'seeing' at first; as time goes on he is more sucked in by the visions and things seem to make sense to him. Everything going on seems to be pointing towards some kind of apocalypse, at least in Donnie's own life if not beyond.

Jake Gyllenhaal is perfect as Donnie, who unusually for a 'troubled youth' is presented within a completely supportive and lovely family unit. Slightly spookier is the school, which is introduced by a tremendously shot section soundtracked by Tears For Fears 'Head Over Heels', and which manages to effortlessly introduce the key student characters into the equation without any of them saying a word. It should be noted the story is set in the mid-to-late 1980's, and the soundtrack is deliberately faithful to this.

A dowdier than usual Drew Barrymore plays Karen Pomeroy, a young free-thinking teacher who gets into trouble with the more God-fearing members of the teaching staff. ER's Noah Wyle is superb as Prof. Kenneth Monnitoff, a science teacher who recognises Donnie's high intelligence.

Frank the Rabbit encourages Donnie to commit various destructive acts (flooding, arson). Time travel, a self-help guru - in the shape of Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze), a mysterious centurion spinster nicknamed Grandma Death, a jet engine falling from the sky... all elements of DD's off-kilter universe. Slightly Lynchian, admittedly, but not in a rip-off sort of way.

This is one of those movies where you can offer a trillion explanations for what goes on. You can read it so many different ways. The ending is shocking and moving, if a little out of sync with the rest of the film. My initial reading of 'Donnie Darko' was that it was a simple love story, a tale of teenage loneliness gone right then wrong, and that the ending represented what Donnie wished could happen. But the more I think about it, the more I'm sure that watch by watch, my opinion will change. Which is precisely why this is such a great film. There's a helluva lot to it - this isn't extreme abstract cinema, this is a cohesive story which sucks you into its vortex demanding you occupy yourself with it after it has finished. I've not had a movie stay with me as much since the amazing 'Mulholland Drive'.

Not bad for a $4million production and the debut of 27 year old writer and director Richard Kelly. One I'm sure I'll watch at least a half a dozen more times before I can squeeze most of the juice out of it.

In the review you said that Donnie was a teeneger in college. But on the official Donnie Darko website, it says that he was born in 72 which would make him 16 in the movie, right? So I doubt that he was in college even though it seems like his school is a college. Also, he shares a school with his little sister so I think it is a private school...a k-12 type arrangement. Just thought I would bring your attention to that.
Also, I know that everyone has their own take to the meaning of the movie and it's ending, but to call it "simple" would be an extreme understatement. In no way would I ever call this film "simple". It has so many different things going on at once that it keeps you enthralled the entire time. And it isn't exactly a love story either. The whole movie primarily focuses on the idea of time travel and this parallel universe that only Donnie knows about. The love story between gretchen and donnie is only a small part of what is really going on. To understand you should go to www.donniedarko.com and read all about the time traveling and whatnot. Gretchen was merely a helper in his quest to save the world. He dies at the end because he has to sacrifice himself in order to close the parallel universe so that Gretchen and everyone can live and not die like they did in that universe. I'm sorry I can't explain it clearer, it would take me all day but you can look it up, just look up "Donnie Darko time travel" in any search engine and you will find someone who can explain it better. That is if you are interested. Anyways, thankyou for your time, I just felt I needed to clarify things in your review that would upset other Darko fans.