Donnie is an upper middle-class American teenager - on medication, seeing a psychiatrist and a heartbreaking worry for his loving, loveable parents. He is prone to sleepwalking and has an imaginary friend in the shape of a giant bunny rabbit who tells him at the start of the film that in 28 days, 6 hours, 24 minutes and 12 seconds, the world will end. After waking up on a golf course with this information written on his arm, he goes home to discover a passing plane’s engine has crashed through the roof, into his bedroom. Then things start to get really weird.

The film unfolds through Donnie’s schizophrenia, via hallucinations and the acts that Frank the rabbit makes Donnie get involved in. There is a fantastic stream of consciousness journey to Donnie’s school early on where we see everyone that is going to be part of this journey, simultaneously starting their day, rather like something out of Virginia Woolf. The film is full of wonderful moments like this, whether through deeply philosophical discussions about the sex lives of Smurfs, pondering the meaning of ‘fuck ass’ and ‘suck a fuck’, musing over the inevitability of a lonely death, metaphysical considerations of time travel, gravity, portals and just exactly what Stephen Hawking was on about in ‘A Brief History of Time.’ Donnie get his facts via Frank the rabbit and from a book on time travel written by the local eccentric, Grandma Death, who spends her days going back and forward to the mailbox looking for a letter that never arrives.

Jake Gyllenhaal is a revelation in the lead roll, Patrick Swayze plays a reasonable cameo as the lifestyle guru with a dodgy past, and Drew Barrymore (who was also Executive Producer) is excellent but practically unrecognisable. This is a dream-like, cryptic, eerie film that sticks in your mind and confounds you for days after you’ve watched it. It also has great 80’s soundtrack (if that’s not a contradiction in terms) and a splendidly chilling website (see link on left.) The Director’s Cut version of the DVD includes and extra 20 minutes of additional footage, enhanced sound, more special effects, and an expanded soundtrack.

Laura Hird is the Orange and Whitbread nominated author of the collection, ‘Nail and Other Stories’ and novel, ‘Born Free.’ Her short stories have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies internationally. Her new collection of short stories is due to be published by Canongate Books in May 2005. She runs and edits her own loosely arts-related website on which she seeks out and publishes new poetry, short stories, reviews, interviews etc. She was born and lives in Edinburgh.

© 2004 Laura Hird All rights reserved.