Donnie Darko
Perhaps the picture which truly shot the Gyllenhaal name into the cinematic stratosphere. Whilst Jake had performed prior (October Sky et al), it was Richard Kelly‘s startlingly ambitious and ethereally odd Donnie Darko which made the eyes and ears perk.
An independent tale channelling enlarged, emotionally complex ideas, Kelly formed what is now surely regarded as the definitive cult title of the 2000s. His eponymous Donnie is a young man plagued by harrowing visions of a peculiar bunny rabbit named Frank who manipulates him to embarking on a prolonged parade of criminality – after narrowly avoiding an equally odd accident – in which the acts escalate in danger and lawlessness throughout.
The actor in question employs all his assets to make him as outlandishly unordinary as possible – bulging eyes flicker, shaggy hair dances over a furrowed brow, dialogue is barked and spewed at his own warped reflection. Kelly’s equally excellent screenplay renders a character of tremendous intricacies and anxieties but does so with respect and resonance.
