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BL!NDMAN & DONNIE DARKO

The cult film with live music
Eric Sleichim + [sax]

VIDEODROOM, the annual dream date between 404 Arts Centre and Film Fest Gent, opened in 2024 with a bang: BL!NDMAN [sax] performed live their new soundtrack to the cult film Donnie Darko.

This dark sci-fi gem from 2001 grew into one of the cult films of the early 2000s largely through word of mouth. Director Richard Kelly’s debut had a forgettable run in cinemas, released just two months after 9/11 with promotional focus on a plane crash, seemingly destined to fail. Despite this rocky start, Donnie Darko became a true underground hit on DVD, a ‘must see’ for cinephiles drawn to eccentric cinema.

I want to emphasize the different storylines with BL!NDMAN without falling into the clichés of traditional ‘horror-movie’ accompaniment. The typical eighties songs (Duran Duran, Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division, …) are of course preserved as such. It’s an arsenal of instruments (saxophones, percussion, turntables, electronics, …) that will give the film’s sound a physical presence. The musicians on stage are part of another parallel world, a tribe elsewhere in time and space.” Eric Sleichim

The brooding saxophones added an extra energizing layer to the story, and the more Jake Gyllenhaal mentally deteriorated, the more that overexcitement made sense within the context of the film. In that way, an already feral film became even a tad more intense.”
Tobias Cobbaert for Focus Knack 11-10-2024

Live music
Eric Sleichim: composition and sounddesign, e-guitar, turntable and electronics

BL!NDMAN [sax].
Pieter Pellens: soprano saxophone, percussion
Hendrik Pellens: alto saxophone, percussion
Piet Rebel: tenor saxophone, percussion
Sebastiaan Cooman: baritone saxophone, percussion

 

Film.
Richard Kelly: director

Cast
Jake Gyllenhaal: Donnie Darko
Holmes Osborne: Eddie Darko
Maggie Gyllenhaal: Elizabeth Darko
Daveigh Chase: Samantha Darko
Mary McDonnell: Rose Darko
James Duval: Frank The Rabbit/Frank Anderson
Arthur Taxier: Dr Tad Fisher
Patrick Swayze: Jim Cunningham

as part of VIDEODROOM 2024, in coproduction with 404 and Film Fest Gent

pictures: Patrick Van Vlerken and Thierry van Dort

Agenda

2026
21 Mar
Nijmegen (NL)
07 Jan
Amsterdam (NL)
2024
10 Oct
Theaterzaal Vooruit (première)
Ghent (BE)

THE FILM

Donnie Darko is best described as a surreal odyssey filled with bizarre visions, intricate time travel, and a standout performance by a young Jake Gyllenhaal. He compellingly portrays a troubled teenager grappling with hallucinations and paranoid thoughts aided by antidepressants, complicated by the haunting presence of a sinister man in a rabbit suit offering cryptic glimpses of the future. Spoiler alert: it’s far from reassuring.
Despite its potential as a bleak psychological drama on paper, ‘Donnie Darko’ blends mystery and darkness with delightful, pitch-black humor and visual ingenuity. These elements contributed to its cult success as a Lynchian mind-bender. The film rightfully secured the 2nd spot in Empire’s 50 Greatest Independent Films of All Time and 53rd in Empire’s 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.