Let me start with a joke on the late US President Ronald Reagan, who was finally laid to rest last Friday. Poor Ronald Reagan, after a 10-year battle with Alzheimer's disease, he died never knowing he did.

Let me devote much of this post to a film which I have become so fascinated about lately, that film is "Donnie Darko" (2001).

To begin with, I first became interested in this film after I read this article in Entertainment Weekly about its omission along with several other films in the magazine's then-recent "50 Greatest Cult Films" issue (that was a year ago, BTW). While I was in my home province of Albay channel-surfing, the Japanese cable channel WOWOW broadcasted it (without Japanese dubbing, thank God). Unfortunately, I was only able to watch from the halfway point of the film, but nevertheless, I became fascinated with this growing cult classic. Once I returned to America this year (where I still am right now), I was able to rent a DVD and I had to view it not just once but twice to understand the film's logic & figure out some clues to important plot points towards the end of the film. It was one mind-bending cinematic experience! I was also hooked by its retro soundtrack, which featured Gary Jules' haunting rendition of the Tears for Fears classic "Mad World" that played towards the end of the film.

"Donnie Darko" is strangely set in October 1988, and tells the story of Donnie Darko (played by Jake Gyllenhaal, most recently seen in "The Day After Tomorrow"), a borderline-schizophrenic teenager who rebels against hypocrisy and authority very often. One night, a jet engine out of nowhere crashes into the Darko residence and destroys much of his room. Luckily, he was sleepwalking that night after hearing the voice of 6-foot-tall rabbit named Frank. It turns out that Frank is from the future, and has warned Donnie that the world will end in exactly 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds. This sets a chain of events as Donnie has to figure out why he survived and he also has to deal with the people around him. Frank, meanwhile, forces Donnie to create havoc with mixed results. In one scene, Donnie torches the house of a charismatic self-help guru (played by Patrick Swayze) while his family is watching her younger sister perform in a talent show. The next day, Swayze's character gets arrested coz it turns out, his house was hiding a room full of child porn! The supporting cast is also terrific, aside from Swayze, they include Jena Malone (most recently seen in "Saved!") as Donnie's tragic girlfriend, Drew Barrymore (who also produced) and Noah Wyle as his teachers, Katharine Ross as his concerned shrink. Jake's sister Maggie (recently seen in "Mona Lisa Smile") also has a role as, well, his sister! This films cleverly mixes a story of teen angst with elements of sci-fi, fantasy, suspense-thriller, social satire and gallows humor. In another scene, Donnie asks Drew Barrymore's character, a noncomformist English teacher, why she scribbled the word "Cellar Door" (another clue!) in the chalkboard on her last day. She replies: "A famous linguist once said that of all the phrases in the English language, of all the endless combinations of words, 'Cellar Door' was the most beautiful". It flopped partly due to the fact that it was released after the events of 9/11. Nevertheless, it found its following through video and midnight screenings, and recently, Richard Kelly (the writer/director of the film) announced he was releasing a "Director's Cut" edition of the film in select theaters this summer. Another growing testament of its cult success is its strong following in UK and parts of Europe (in fact, Gary Jules' cover of "Mad World" reached #1 in the UK charts during X'mas). For a review of the film from TV Guide, click here. Also check out this link to a fan website featuring "The Philosophy of Time Travel", a book-within-the-film (it's not long as you think, it's like a pamphlet) which is very important and essential to the plot (and for the viewer to understand everything in the film, be sure one has indeed watched it before accessing the site!). Even though it is a work of fiction presented as real in the film, I was intrigued by the concepts presented in it (I see a bright future for Richard Kelly!). To know the lyrics of "Mad World"-even if you don't know the music yet the lyrics speak for itself-click here.

"What if you could go back in time, and take all those hours of pain and darkness and replace them with something better?"
- - Gretchen (Jena Malone) to Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal), "Donnie Darko" (2001)