The Corner of Chaos
Created | Updated Aug 16, 2005
Cellar Door
An advert for Donnie Darko at a bus stop intrigued me a few weeks back seeing as the film had been released, both at the cinema and for home entertainment (VHS or DVD, whatever way your inclination may take you), and even the subsequent art exhibition had long since gone by. After logging on for more details I discovered to my joy that a certain company were hosting an outdoor showing of the film in London's lovely Kensington Gardens with a selection of the film's score being played by the National Symphony Orchestra and composed by the score's composer, Michael Andrews.
Certainly a novel experience for me, the event did not disappoint. Arriving at what I thought was early my girlfriend and I were surprised to see the long queue ahead of us, even more shocked were we when we noticed the even longer queue behind us that almost backed out of the park a mere 5 minutes after we arrived. After being admitted we looked around for a suitable place to sit on the floor and unpack our plastic sheet (well, rugs and the like would get wet from the dew wouldn't they?) and found a spot almost exactly in the centre, if not a little far away from the huge screen adorned with the host's sponsorship sign.
The weather was surprisingly clement, the Sun shining but it wasn't too warm and the clouds occasionally hid it, creating a beautiful array of colours, while a buzz of people around welled up the ambience of a dashingly good time and the '80s music coming over the speakers took us back to the decade the film is set in - well as much as it can take one back to a decade one has spent 3 years as a young child in. A small hut to the side of the large screen was soon occupied and admittedly I had hoped for a larger orchestral arrangement but nonetheless I recognised some of my favourite incidental music, as well as other parts I hadn't remembered, from the film and the speakers loud volume set the apt mood of hope, fear and a sanguine acceptance.
The orchestra broke earlier than I thought they would and I was slightly annoyed but to my surprise half an hour later they set up again and started playing as the screen read the letters 'August 6th, 2005 (30 Minutes Remain)' in the same manner as appears throughout the film. The same music they played before repeated but as the sky became darker and the clouds parted the atmosphere was certainly spookier, despite the annoyance of waiting twenty minutes in the queue for a drink - still, as the first drink was free from entry it wasn't too bad. As the time counted down on the screen we were surprised to see that actually 0 Minutes meant that Michael Andrews was now to come out and sing his cover of Tears For Fears' 'Mad World', without the aid of Gary Jules who sung on the Christmas 2003 single. A suitably emotional voice was backed by a calming operatic female which gave this well-known song just that hint of freshness before Andrews wished us a good viewing and departed; finally Richard Kelly, the film's producer, gave a televised introduction to the film (which I felt was him advertising his new film more than anything sadly) which made way for a striking film about a boy called Donnie, a girl called Gretchen and a giant rabbit called Frank.
