'Donnie Darko' is a psychological thriller/fantasy film directed by and written by Richard Kelly. It's success is backed up by a range of A-list actors, including Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayzee, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Jake Gyllenhaal's performance as Donnie Darko is, for me, what makes him a brilliant actor.
In the scene i've chosen, Donnie is haunted by his imaginary friend Frank, and has a conversation with him in his mirror.
Jake's facial expressions show confusion and it would appear he's on drugs - the issue of drugs often being associated with this particular film. Upon first watching the film i questioned whether Jake's character took drugs because of the blank, delayed expression on his face throughout the film. He laughs at one point, which makes the audience feel he's slightly insane as his laugh is forced and harsh, his face also looks demented when his laugh turns into heavy crying. From this, we see Donnie's vulnerable side, which makes his character hard to read, thus making him performance more interesting to an audience.
His body language is limited, he sways back and forth on the spot and sticks his arm out mechanically as if to touch Frank. He cuddles himself when he cries which is again very effective in showing his misunderstanding of his situation and his vulnerability.
Gyllenhaal dresses in metallic shades of grey, black and white. This could reflect that his life has little brightness and lacks colour. It could also suggest his life his very plain and he looks into the shadows as a character.
When Donnie briefly speaks, he talks as if he's about to cry. His words are sometimes muffled and his sentence structure is childlike, from this we see that Gyllenhaal wants to show the audience his fear when faced with his unwanted imaginary friend.
Jake Gyllenhaal's representation of Donnie definately makes the film dark, edgy and compelling.
