DONNIE DARKO -- Reviews and Discussion (2 Viewers)

[artfag]

i think you should listen to the song "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead, which Donnie Darko is actually based off, and then you'll understand what the film is about

 

[crazyhomo]

i think you should listen to the song "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead, which Donnie Darko is actually based off, and then you'll understand what the film is about

that's one i haven't heard before

 

[Abu Ghurayb]

that's one i haven't heard before

Crazyhomo is the Thom Yorke of Richard E. Kellys

 

[abey85]

If you watch the director's cut, i think it is made very clear that the film is based around the concepts of time travel. It is much more complex than that, but it does have somehting to do with a tangent universe being created as a result of a crossing of an artifact (Plane engine) between the universes, through a time vortex.

 

[Slidey]

i think you should listen to the song "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead, which Donnie Darko is actually based off, and then you'll understand what the film is about

Funnily enough, that reminds me of Marvin the Paranoid Android from the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. Further funnily enough, the ending to that book was in many ways similar to the ending of Donnie Darko.

Not advised to read Mostly Harmless (5th book of the Hitchiker's trilogy), and then Watch Donnie Darko. You'll probably be very depressed if you do.

 

[Monkey Butler]

The Director's Cut of Donnie Darko is shit - it makes the movie totally dependent on these bullshit "rules" that the director made up about time travel. What makes it even worse is when you look back at the original version after seeing the Director's Cut - if the director had meant the movie to be all about time travel and the book and stuff, he sure didn't show it in the original cut.

The only good thing about the Director's Cut is the fan documentary on the DVD. One of the funniest, and creepiest, thigns I've ever seen.

 

[scoby_2000]

totally agree with you man...i watched the directors cut... was soo disappointed...

what was with putting in the inxs song....it was so gay...and the fact that donnie darko heard the his subconsious voice while he was awake...wtf?!

 

[inasero]

it is weird and something that i dont quite understand...

 

[Zoltan]

I've only seen the director's cut...

But my dad said that schizophrenics see something (like a cellar door) and "backdate" their memory from it... like they'll see a coincidence and unconsciously create a memory where someone warned them it was going to happen. So I couldn't figure out what was going on cos the entire tangent universe thing could just have been all in his head.

 

[kaylz]

i read an interview with david kelly, and he said that the film was not supposed to be about schizopphrenia, but that he left it open to the audience to decide. i suppose it depends on what you wanted it to be about. personally i'd like to believe in the tangent universe thing. i absolutely loved this movie.

 

[StGeorgeDragons]

Donnie Darko!!

can anyone please explain to me wat happens in this movie, especially the ending. it doesnt not make sense at all!!! its totaly illogical.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Sometimes I really doubt your commitment to sparkle motion!



Watch it again.

 

[lessthanthree]

The movie "Donnie Darko" is about Donnie's first successful quest in ending the temporal paradox cycle or "time-loop" which he is caught in (not unlike Bill Murray in the movie "Groundhog Day".)

Donnie is laughing (as if he remembers something that has happened previously) in the very beginning of the movie when looking at the sky. This is where the movie begins, and it is also where the PREVIOUS tangent is reset and begins when Donnie is NOT successful. Then the loop continues as we see when the engine drops into the past via a time corruption to create the tangent universe. On that previous previous quest , Donnie did not send the artifact back. He remembers something good from his experience in that tangent, and laughs (but not as much as when he laughs and laughs at the end of the movie after he is completely and finally SUCCESSFUL in ending the looping time paradox by preventing the jet-engine from landing where it already exists).

More evidence that Donnie Darko is caught within a repeating time-loop.

1. When the engine crashed through the house, an alternate universe had been created by the falling jet-engine; but Frank-Bunny already existed in that universe before the engine did; therefore Frank-bunny must have travelled from another point in time ie a previous tangent universe in the repeating cycle.

2. The only way Frank could have been killed by Donnie at the end of the movie was if Frank-Bunny had already saved Donnie at the beginning of the movie. Clearly, this was not the same entity, as an existing thing cannot create itself for the first time. Each different Manipulated Dead entity has expired in the FAILED quest to guide Donnie to "use his Fourth Dimensional Power to send the Artifact back in time into the Primary Universe before the Black Hole collapses upon itself." Frank had to die in a previous tangent before coming back to rescue (and guide) Donnie. Since the tangent universe is eventually destroyed, this is how Frank initially died, then returned in the next tangent universe as the Manipulated Dead and guided Donnie to eventually shoot him (part of the Ensurance Trap set for Donnie to send the engine back).

Stopping this cycle revolves around the free will of Donnie Darko. As the Living Receiver in the Tangent Universe, he will either be motivated and learn enough to be able to choose to send the engine back to the past, which closes the loop and prevents the engine from falling on October 31, or he will fail and the time loop will restart itself after being destroyed. With the evidence that this has happened many times previous, the greater power / Manipulated Dead has failed in all previous attempts to prevent the paradox, failed to get Donnie to send the engine back, failed because Donnie would either not survive long enough to send the engine back, or he would choose to not send the engine back knowing it would mean his own death. The Manipulated Dead and the Manipulated Living persuaded Donnie in many ways: Grandma Death (Sparrow), Dr. Monnitoff who gives him the Philosophy of Time Travel and explains his paradox theory with "chain reaction that could destroy the universe", Frank-Bunny, meeting and becoming close with Gretchen, Frank killing Gretchen, everything was part of the ensurance trap, so Donnie would a) know how, know why, and want to change things so that Gretchen will live again. Donnie finally realizes what's gone on in the previous loop and prevents the paradox from taking place by sending the engine back for the first time. The laughter at the end was Donnie knowing or feeling that he did something great, by finally ending the paradox in order to prevent the destruction of mankind. After the engine crashes and kills Donnie, the OTHER (identical) engine that already exists in that timeline will be investigated thoroughly, and will fly, or crash, on this October 30th timline, hence no tangent will be created, the cycle is over, that is how Donnies action saved the future.







just kidding, faggot, this movie sucks.

 

[erawamai]

Sometimes I really doubt your commitment to sparkle motion!

hahha...best line in the movie!

 

[funkoncrack]

In a nutshell all of it happened, then he went through a wormhole (google it) to go back in time to where the plane crashes. I only caught the last half hour, but from what I remember a couple of years ago he loses his life to save everyone elses or something.

 

[nwatts]

The film is far more rewarding when you figure it out for yourself. Alternatively, listen to an audio commentary and go from there. It spoils the experience for someone to tell you what's going on. It's a film that is meant to be interpreted by each viewer.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

I think there is a lot that can be taken from the film -- and sometimes it is the feeling that is produced rather than the plot that makes a movie so compelling.

There are many interpretations, which I love. If you really are craving to be spoon-fed the director's actual story, then read the spoiler below. My theory was somewhat different than that though. In fact I like mine more! I think it is better to stimulate different feelings and interpretations without giving a direct message than to be shoved a linear plot that makes perfect sense.

Spoiler

The plot of Donnie Darko is somewhat confusing, and much of it deals with paradoxes which are never explicitly explained. As such, multiple interpretations exist.

The film is set in 1988, an election year, in Middlesex, Virginia.

In the middle of the night, on October 2, 1988, Donnie is awakened from his sleep by a strange voice and led out onto a golf course where he converses with a man-size demonic-looking rabbit named Frank who tells him that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. (Some viewers have seen here a reference or homage to the 1950 motion picture Harvey, but director Kelly has denied any such intention and in fact has stated that he had never seen Harvey before directing this film. However, the film is situated within a larger cultural discourse in which rabbits have a paranormal quality, including the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland which leads Alice into a parallel universe through a rabbit hole - perhaps an echo of the wormhole - see below.) After waking up on the golf course the next morning, Donnie returns home to discover that a huge jet engine has fallen from the sky and into his bedroom. So begins a series of events which brings Donnie and a young woman named Gretchen together.

There is an early indication of Donnie's mental illness (specifically psychosis) when his sister accuses him of not taking his medication. Donnie continues to see Frank and begins to see "liquid spears" emerging from people's chests, the paths of which indicate the actions those people will undertake in the immediate future. Whether this is indicative of mental illness, science fiction, or both, is left to the viewer.

Richard Kelly, while not denying the viewers' personal interpretations, has made his own clear through the audio commentaries on the two DVDs, the included Philosophy of Time Travel, and in various interviews. His intended plot is as follows: At midnight a Tangent Universe spins off of the Primary Universe, signified by the appearance of an Artifact; here represented by a jet engine. Tangent Universes are inherently unstable and will collapse in less than a month, taking the Primary Universe with it, if not closed off. Closing the Tangent Universe is the duty of the Living Receiver (Donnie), given super powers to perform this task. Those who die within the Tangent Universe are the Manipulated Dead (Frank and, according to the back of the book, Gretchen) who are also given certain powers, understanding of what is going on, and the ability to contact the Living Receiver via the Fourth Dimensional Construct (water). Everyone else in the orbit of the Living Receiver are the Manipulated Living, who are subconsciously drawn to push and prod the Living Receiver towards his destiny, closing the Tangent Universe and, apparently, dying by the Artifact.

If we follow Kelly's interpretation, the chain of events in brief is as follows: the Manipulated Dead, Frank, rouses Donnie, the Living Receiver, from his bed, and compels him to leave his house, starting a causal loop. Frank tells him that the Tangent Universe will collapse in 28 days. The next day Donnie goes to school. His English teacher, strangely, tells new girl Gretchen to sit next to the cutest boy in the room and she chooses Donnie (this begins the romance that ends badly and pushes Donnie to his final action). That night Frank appears to Donnie and makes him flood the school. As a result Donnie walks Gretchen home and asks her out. A bit later, Frank appears to Donnie and tells him to "burn it to the ground", so Donnie burns down the house of Jim Cunningham, a motivational speaker. When the firemen come to investigate the fire, they discover a secret room filled with pedophilic material. As a result, Donnie's conservative physical education teacher decides to defend Cunningham, who she believes has been framed. This causes Donnie's mother to chaperone her daughter's dance troupe on their way to California to perform on Star Search (they board the airplane whose engine becomes the artifact in the Tangent Universe). Because of this, Donnie and his older sister, Elizabeth, are able to throw a party while the parents are away. This leads to a romantic interlude between Donnie and Gretchen. At the same time, Frank, a friend of Elizabeth's, realizes they've run out of alcohol at the party and drives off with a friend to pick up more beer.

After their interlude Donnie decides to take Gretchen to see Grandma Death (aka Roberta Sparrow, the author of Philosophy of Time Travel). They stumble upon two bullies that were searching through Ms. Sparrow's cellar for her rumored treasure. Donnie, Gretchen and the bullies struggle, and Gretchen is thrown into the road. Roberta Sparrow, a senile old woman, is standing in the middle of the road when Frank comes upon her in his car. He swerves to avoid her, but hits Gretchen, killing her. Donnie becomes enraged and kills Frank, becoming willing to do what must be done in order to save Gretchen. The plane with his mother and sister passes by the wormhole (or timestorm as referenced in the DVD) and the engine is ripped off and thrust back in time. The audience knows that the mom and sister are on this plane, after Mrs. Darko leaves a message saying that they are catching the red eye back. Donnie reappears back in his room in the Primary Universe, and lies in his bed laughing as the engine falls through the roof and kills him. After experiencing the Tangent Universe, and seeing the paths that every living thing follows throughout time, Donnie dies so that Gretchen, his mother, his sister and Frank may live. According to the Philosophy of Time Travel, every Living Receiver dies by the Artifact.

The film carefully leaves open the possibility that the entire alternate-universe sequence of events may be Donnie's (or even, perhaps, his mother's) hallucination, reverie, fantasy, or dream (and Kelly has hinted in interviews that dreams and alternate universes just might be the same thing). At any rate, the story draped on this science-fiction backbone includes a good deal more than speculative inquiry into time travel; the film is also, for example, a darkly comic satire of public education (although Donnie's school is in fact private), and so-called self help gurus; and Jake Gyllenhaal has received much praise for his performance as the disaffected, alienated, yet charming Donnie.

Much of the backstory is explained on the official Donnie Darko website, which acts as a combination puzzle and teaser for the movie. It shows that Donnie was institutionalized before the events of the movie occur, and offers other details that help in explaining the goings-on of the movie. The director's commentary on the DVD also gives crucial details, such as the point of departure between the real world and the alternate universe — not when the engine crashes through the ceiling, but instead a few minutes before, when Donnie is called out to meet Frank for the first time.

(Wikipedia)

 

[kimi]

I love this movie. You always find new things such as hidden symbolic messages, etc everytime you watch it. I agree with nwatts and moonlightsonata, its the different individual intepretation that makes the film so unique and otherwise awesome. If youre still confused, watch it more than once and watch the directors cut version- this version explains it so much better because it reveals abit more to everything, including stuff about Frank. Its the best movie in ever seriously.

Especially with Jake Gyllenhaal.seXonlegs

 

[loquasagacious]

An awesome movie. Watch again even if you thought you understood it the first time, subsequent viewings add nuances to the story/themes as you notice things you missed the first timea around.

Oh and I agree with Moonlight the directors explanation is sucky - In fact I don't even think its logical.

 

[shortygb]

pretty good movie, but i have to watch it again to fully "get" it.