Review: 'Donovan's Echo', starring Danny Glover and Bruce Greenwood

A film about finding hope out of tragedy tied together with a bit of science-fiction is what Donovan’s Echo is about. Every now and then it seems the spirit of The Twilight Zone still appears in a filmmaker’s work and this is one of those cases. Jim Cliffe seems to enjoy stories of older men that withdraw from society that are brought back into for some reason or the other. This happens in his 2004 short film Tomorrow's Memoirand it’s in Donovan's Echo as well.

The film opens in 1994 with Donovan Matheson (Danny Glover), an emotionally tortured man who returns to his small town home after a thirty year absence. Donovan was an accomplished physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, yet is full of regret at what he used his skills to make there. He was constantly working on a theory for cold fusion as a way to make up for it, but this also caused him to ignore his wife and daughter.  When his family is killed in a tragic car accident, Donovan never recovers from that loss which he feels could have been prevented. Now returned Donovan is constantly dealing with severe cases of Déjà vu after meeting his young neighbor Maggie (Natasha Calis) and her mother, Sarah (Sonja Bennett). He has this intense feeling that they will have the same fate as his family on the anniversary of their death if he doesn’t help them.

Donovan’s Echo skates a line between a familiar drama focusing on an old tortured man and sci-fi movie. The cast is relatively small with good performances by Danny Glover and Bruce Greenwood as his Brother-in-law Finnley Boyd.  It’s the times where they have Donovan delving into the possibilities of why he’s having Déjà vu and its connection to his past that the film gets interesting, and more than just a pretty standard character piece about a sad old man.  The middle section of the movie is a bit dull though, and it feels to be treading water until it reaches the third act and regains its footing.

Donovan’s Echo is a decently entertaining movie that can keep your attention pretty well for its ninety minutes. After completely viewing the movie it has the feeling of television movie of the week from the year the movie takes place in. The ending is a bit sappy and fairy tale-like in the way it ends some characters’ arcs, and at a certain point toward the end you totally know what is going to happen. That can be a bit boring especially since the filmmakers do a really good job of gaining your interest. Donovan’s Echo is available on Netflix now and if you have the time it’s an ok way to waste an afternoon.