Donnie Darko

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * * )

You find yourself laughing at the oddest things in Donnie Darko, a surreal suburban fable of teenage gloom and, yes, doom that is the debut of twentysomething American director-writer Richard Kelly.

The soundtrack, for one, is hysterical. And not just because it reinforces the year - 1988 - in which it's set and to which it pays a sort of pop cultural homage.

It was hard not to chuckle hearing Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen as it cued the arrival of Frank, the possibly imaginary friend of Donnie. Frank, it would appear from his floppy ears, furry costume and gargoyle mask, is, indeed a bunnyman.

And just to reinforce that all may not be well inside young Donnie's mind there's Tears for Fears' Mad World, while it's possibly the first time that hearing Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart has provoked a chuckle.

And if that's not 80s enough for you, there's a definite whiff of this being a sort of twilight-zone Back To the Future, with time-travel featuring among Donnie's apparent delusions.

But is Donnie (Gyllenhaal) mad to think the world is going to end in few weeks time as Frank has warned? Or is he just a mixed-up, overly intelligent kid in a world he knows is more complicated and sinister than anyone is letting on?

His parents are reasonable and loving, despite his difficulties - there's a telling scene between Gyllenhaal and Mary McDonnell, who plays his mother, when he asks what it's like to be the parent of someone suffering mental illness. Her response shows the movie has a heart underneath its peculiar sense of humour.

The biggest punchline comes care of a stray airliner jet engine which crashes through Donnie's bedroom. Fortunately, Frank had dragged Donnie out to his equivalent of Wonderland that night.

To ponder what actually happens after that invokes the clause "your guess is as good as mine". Which could be a bad thing but for the guiding intelligence behind Kelly's fervent imagination and the performance of Gyllenhaal, who makes Donnie an unhinged distant cousin of Rushmore's Max Fischer and American Beauty's Ricky Fitts.

It's a little too deliberately paced, and some of the supporting performances by the adult stars - especially Barrymore's ultra-liberal English teacher and Patrick Swayze's New Age guru - seem out of register with the tone of the film. And the ending is less than resounding.

However, Donnie Darko - this week's second study in teen alienation (see above) - is still one that stays in the mind long after a reprised, acoustic version of Mad World plays over the closing credits.

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, James Duval

Director: Richard Kelly

Rating: R16 (offensive, language)

Running time: 112m

Screening: Rialto