this movie may be doomed to obscurity, and that's a terrible shame. produced by and co-starring drew barrymore, it is a story of a teenager, the title character, whose melancholia is punctuated with the dark music of his era, the 80s. it has all the intrigue of an early david lynch film without ever caving to make use of lynch's trademark nauseating dark surrealism. instead it chills you with its story and the excellent way the story is told. donnie is lured from his house one night by his new imaginary friend frank, a 6 foot tall talking bunny rabbit with a metallic skull face, and it's a good thing, too, because a jet engine crashes that night in donnie's room, fallen from a plane nobody can find. it seems that as his shrink suspected he is a paranoid schizophrenic, that is until coincidences that cannot be ignored start pointing him toward investigating the existence of time vortexes. is frank a time traveler from the future? what does he want if he is? why does he dress that way? the movie actually turns into a teen detective story for a while, playing with the mood it creates with total control and good humor, while never failing to frighten. donnie is pointed to the suggestion that all living creatures are doomed to die alone, and i think this is the last thought we see him ponder as he lies in his bed laughing. would he still be alone if his death meant that people he knew, and even loved, could live? could keep their careers? their reputations? has he ever even met these people? i'm not giving anything away. all i can do is urge you to see this movie.