Looking for something to do on a rainy Sunday? Avoiding your problems? If you’re looking for an intense, funny, and distinctly mind-boggling movie to watch on Netflix, I recommend Donnie Darko.  

In Donnie Darko, the actor Jake Gyllenhaal plays the main character, Donnie. Many teenagers may find themselves resembling Donnie: a strange kid, with a unique mind and a different way of going about life. Essentially, the movie is about time travel and the discoveries that Donnie makes.

Honestly, the 2001 classic, sci-fi film requires intense thinking and analyzing. The movie begins with Donnie surviving a near-death experience, that is avoided with what is portrayed as solely luck. The incident of a jet engine crashing into his room, and him concurrently being asleep on a golf course, introduces Donnie’s seizing of the power to alter time and destiny.

From the beginning, the movie is intriguing as it encompasses Donnie’s discoveries of love and the meaning of life. Although his romantic relationship is slightly irrelevant to his quest, it is a wonderful and charming asset to the movie. The two teenagers go through comical awkwardness, and then later blossom into an endearing couple. Through all the confusing concepts of time travel and the mystery to exactly how he avoided his death, the romance is an uplifting feature to the movie.

The movie itself is quite dark. After the freak accident, Donnie makes a new imaginary friend, Frank. Frank, a man in a rabbit costume who leads Donnie to reveal hidden secrets of the universe and other people. Throughout the whole movie, Frank and other characters are key features that foreshadow and push Donnie to his final destination– death.

Donnie Darko is set in an alternate universe until the end. Frank died in the tangent universe, traveled back in time, and saved Donnie from the jet engine in the first scene. As he is a figure of imagination, he helps Donnie on his adventure to return the Artifact, which is supposedly the jet engine. This information was discovered  in the end of the movie, when Frank ran over Donnie’s girlfriend and revealed himself as a human from the tangent universe.

The movie coerced me and others to apply ourselves in order to understand the confusing story. I found myself captivated, laughing, and shook after watching Donnie Darko. It was a wonderful experience, and a great classic Netflix film.