Donnie Darko

Lex_Diamonds

Just back from seeing DD, what a great way to spend two hours
The film was consistently interesting, cleverly written with some great humour and you'll undoubtedly be turning it over in your head for a good while after you leave the cinema.

Go and see it at the IFC, im not sure if it's getting a wider release, but it sure as hell deserves one.

Karl Hungus

Retard Galway cinema isn't showing it.
Bastards.

Mr E

It hasn't got a country-wide release. Inexplicable.

- Dave.

Mr E

Actually, who is in charge of this kind of thing? If I wanted to enquire as to the reason for limited release, who could I contact?

- Dave.

ObeyGiant

As far as I know, the distributors for the UK and Ireland is Metrodome distribution. They're a pretty small distributor that tends to handle the more independent end of the spectrum. As a result, they don't have the same amount of resources at their disposal as the big boys, meaning their films do tend to get very limited releases.

Especially not in the same week as the new Harry Potter movie.

I'm sure if you were to contact them, you'd hear pretty much the same thing as what I have just written.

I didn't find Donnie Darko too amazing. It would probably still make my top 10 list of films this year, but this has been a very, very fallow year for films. I didn't like Drew Barrymore in it at all - it felt like she was whoring her position as executive producer to give herself a role.

I didn't think it was particularly groundbreaking, since it was doing nothing particularly new. It just felt like Heathers with a bit of the leftover wackiness from Meeting John Malkovitch added to it. And the giant bunny from Harvey, too. But, then again, Heathers was such a good film to begin with, I didn't mind seeing it done again.

Still enjoyable though.

deco

Originally posted by AngelWhore
Retard Galway cinema isn't showing it.
Bastards.

The Galway Film Socicty will prob. show it...

They usually get the movies that the omniplex ignores...

plastic membrane

Originally posted by AngelWhore
Retard Galway cinema isn't showing it.
Bastards.

Bollicks. Somebody in Gaway better show it soon.

yellum

I liked it and the soundtrack. Some great quotes in it, like the whole smurf sexuality thing. Classic ! Or the way he rips that guy to bits at the parent student meeting. Go Donnie. Not bad for some kids first film.

You can get it on DVD from cdwow.ie , I got it ages ago, it will be playing in the Kino in Cork soon I believe and I'll prob see it then on the bigger screen.

Karl Hungus

Originally posted by deco
The Galway Film Socicty will prob. show it...

They usually get the movies that the omniplex ignores...

Yeah, but when they showed Shadow Of The Vampire, it was about 2 years after it was released. I had already seen it on video by then... I hope this isn't the case with Donnie Darko, because I'm really dying to see the film.

ozpass

You can get it on DVD from cdwow.ie , I got it ages ago

I'll be pestering you for that tomorrow then!:p

My brother rates it as one of his 'top three of all time' so i'm desperate to see it.:D

kirn

donnie darko.

fantastic film.
i mean, its not the best film ever, but its clever, intelligent without being patronising, and enjoyable.

the dialogue was good too.
why drew darrymore is in it i don't know.... however...

so any suggestions on a meaning?

in spoilers obviously....

shotamoose

I enjoyed it, and the more I thought about it afterwards the better it got. They deliberately left it very ambiguous, to the extent that a mate of mine was quite seriously putting forward the theory that it was a parable about Christ and the Devil. There's certainly enough clues in there to encourage that kind of speculation.

Anyway whatever the 'real' meaning (if any) I enjoy it when a film gets you thinking about stuff like free will and predestination and ontological paradoxes and junk. Go Donnie.

Donnie Darko. One of the best films ever. I bought it ages ago from play.com but I want to see it on the big screen but no cinemas are showing it. They'll show The fu!king Santa Clause 2 but they wont show Donnie Darko. What are they thinking.

ozpass

Probably the best film I've ever seen (it's an opinion, guys- don't tear me to shreds!)

It's Mulholland Drive without the deliberate obtusity, and it's designed like Memento, without being overwrought.

Excellent stuff. Beg, borrow or steal a copy (cheers Yellum).:D

richindub2

Saw it last night, was excellent. Recommend anyone who hasnt seen it yet to see it before its gone

megameaty

I was a little disappointed after seeing it. The beginning wasn't great. It got better toward the end though. I found it terribly pretentious...and I also found the relationship between Donnie and his girlfriend, very reminicent of the relationship Janey had with her boyfriend in American Beauty. That's not to say it's a bad thing, just interesting.

yellum

Its now in the Kino in Cork

Illkillya

I just watched it, all I can say is WTF?!

If you watch the directors commentary on the region1 dvd it clears up a lot of questions, but not all of them. As the whole point of Donnie Darko is you come to your own conclusions.

spooky donkey

Ive watched the first 20 mins and it looks great. And i was suprised to see drew Barrymore in it so late on in the film.

I must get back to looking at the rest of it now after reading all the good stuff in this thread!

Mewzel

i saw it a few days ago and i thought it to be an amazing film! very impressive for a debut in my opinion.

and as for the limited release, this was done because the film's original release in america was quite soon after the september 11, and due to the pivotal plot point of the jet engine crashing into his bedroom it was thought it could be slighlty upsetting and inapropriate for full release

spooky donkey

Well i saw the whole film now. And it rocks great and unuasual sound track mix of 80`s and i dont know what...

The film leaves you thinking about it for a while afterwards alright!

yellum

http://hope.falling-star.org/donnieq.html

Which Donnie Darko Character are you ?

( I got Jim FFS )

GoneShootin

Congratulations, you are Frank. How does it feel to be a human-sized bunny rabbit with a metal face?

im scared now....

Mewzel

i got frank too.... what exactly does that say about my mindset?

I got Donnie. Now what does that say about me?

PiE

Seriously though, I know it's intentionally left obtuse at the end, but what do you think actually happened?

Did he actually travel back in time? If he did, it would have been to save his girlfriends life by being dead before she met him, right?

Looking at the website, the book by the old woman seems extremely important. The science teacher dies apparently and he sends it to a friend for safe-keeping - "Don't let them get it"?

And... um...

Argh, theres too many things to consider

richindub2

The way i saw it frank showed him all that would happen if he decided to get up out of bed that night over the course of the next month. His smiling and rolling over and going back to sleep at the end seemed to mean that he accepted death... :R

DadaKopf

There were lots of references to the life of Christ in there, too. As well as to some capital 80s movies.

According to Roberta Sparrow's book, what happens in the film is a tangent universe is opened up. This can bring about the end of the primary universe (all stuff to do with the 'Living Receiver' and the 'Manipulated Dead'). In the end, what Donnie does is saves the primary universe from being destroyed and taken over by the tangent universe.

I haven't fully worked it out yet but it's all here.

PiE

"The Philosophy of Time Travel" helps, but this helps more

http://www.angelfire.com/wi2/rgounder/files/donniedarkoexp.txt

Before reading this, it is best to have read Roberta Ann Sparrow's pamphlet, A Philsophy of Time Travel. I have included this at the end of this document.

This is a movie about several things; time travel, predestination vs. free will, and most of all, divine intervention.

Donnie Darko is a schizophrenic, sleepwalking teen who believes that he will die alone. There are at least two places where this is mentioned. First, when he and his dad are driving, they almost hit Roberta Sparrow, or Grandma Death, in the road. Donnie gets out to ask her if she is all right, and she whispers something to the effect of, "Every living creature on this planet dies alone," to Donnie. In addition, when Donnie is talking to his psychologist, he mentions that he is scared because he thinks he will die alone.

This movie is about divine intervention. A jet engine crashes right into Donnie's room, which kills him. God, however, creates a Tangent Universe, and uses Frank, along with Donnie's sleepwalking abilities to draw Donnie out of the room before the jet engine hits. Donnie learns from Frank that he only has around 28 days before time runs out. This signifies the duration of the Tangent Universe. We get a hint of this divine intervention at the end of the movie, when Donnie has just exited the cellar door as a hostage. As a knife is being held to his neck, he utters "deus ex machina" which means "an unexpected character [usually divine in nature] who is suddenly introduced into a work of fiction to resolve a plot or extricate the protagonist from a difficult situation."

The Artifact is the jet engine and marks the beginning of the Tangent Universe.

Throughout the Tangent Universe, all of the characters help Donnie towards the ultimate goal of him getting back to his room so that he can die and time can go on. These are the Manipulated Living. There is only one significant instance of the Manipulated Dead, that being Frank, the bunny.

Frank is Donnie's sister's boyfriend. He tells Donnie about his master plan and time travel and manipulates Donnie into committing various acts of mischief. First, Donnie floods the school by breaking the water main. At the scene of the crime, the words "They made me do it" are written on the ground. Incidentally, this handwriting also matches the handwriting on the whiteboard on Donnie's fridge during the Halloween party that says "Frank was here - went to get beer." We get a glimpse of Frank without his mask on in the movie theater scene. Frank says that he's sorry, which is a foreshadowing of his hurting of Gretchen, Donnie's girlfriend. Donnie asks him what happened to his eye, as it is bloody. This, of course, happens when Donnie shoots him in the eye, after he runs Gretchen over with his car, with the gun he found in his parents room when he follows the vector coming out of his chest.

The other characters help Donnie along his way. His english teacher mentions the phrase "Cellar Door" to him, which indicates where to go on the final night of his existence. His science teacher discusses time travel with him and gives him the pamphlet on time travel. Jim Cunningham, the motivational speaker, has his house burned down by Donnie, which leads authorities to undercover a kiddie porn ring. Kitty, his obnoxious health teacher, is distraught over this news, and can not attend the Sparkle Motion's appearance on Talent Search. Donnie's mom must accompany them, leaving the house free for the party and the rest of the events.

Roberta Sparrow is an interesting character. She writes her theory of time travel, which describes Donnie's condition precisely. She is always checking her mail, because she fears that in the future, that her pamphlet is not a work of fiction and that someone will need it and write her. Donnie does send her a letter, and on that fateful night, Roberta is checking her mail. Since she finally does receive mail, the car being driven by Frank avoids Roberta, since she's not on the road, and swerves to run over Gretchen, which prompts Donnie to shoot him, etc.

After all of these evens transpire, Donnie realizes what has happened. He returns to his bed and understands that the entire parallel universe was God's way of signaling to Donnie that he was not alone in the universe. The master plan showed him that someone was willing to create an alternate universe for him to prove that he wasn't alone. Donnie laughs as he realizes he has so much to look forward to after death, and accepts the fact that the jet engine will crash into his room.

The other characters have a vague recollection of the events of the Tangent Universe. Jim Cunningham cries because he knows he will be caught. Kitty is upset because her hero will be proven a pervert. Chirita Chen is smiling, remembering Donnie's comment to her that everything will be ok. Frank has just completed his plans for his Halloween costume, as we see sketches of the evil bunny suit. The world has been righted again.

Perhaps the only fault of this movie is that Richard Kelly made it too complicated for its own good. None of the above explanation could not have been created without the facilitation of the pamphlet about time travel. Even so, it is a good movie.

Mr E

For those interested, Donnie Darko is showing in Limerick next Thursday (23rd) in Bedford Row.

- Dave.

Mewzel

anyone know if i can get it on video/dvd yet? after all it was released in 2001......
and if ya can, where can i get it? :rolleyes:

You can get it on R1 off play.com now or preorder the R2 version.

yellum

www.cdwow.ie

Volvagia

Saw it a while ago thought it was brilliantif not a little confusing. Left me thinking about it for the whole night and most of the next day!
the above post by pie made some more sense of things.
if you havenet seen it yet do now!

Illkillya

Originally posted by DadaKopf
There were lots of references to the life of Christ in there, too. As well as to some capital 80s movies.

According to Roberta Sparrow's book, what happens in the film is a tangent universe is opened up. This can bring about the end of the primary universe (all stuff to do with the 'Living Receiver' and the 'Manipulated Dead'). In the end, what Donnie does is saves the primary universe from being destroyed and taken over by the tangent universe.

I haven't fully worked it out yet but it's all here.

Thats a good link DadaKopf, although I think it explains everything a bit too well... theres not much to think about anymore. Divine intervention is deemed the only logical conclusion for the appearance of the Artifact (jet engine in this case) follows up on all the references to the life of Christ that you mentioned, confirming that Donnie Darko, The Living Receiver, is the new Jesus, since the portal can only be opened by "an act of god", and he saves the world through the sacrifice of his own life.

I read a few reviews and they all mentioned the tribute to 80's movies, but I didn't pick up on any of them except for the Evil Dead playing at the Cinema, and the presence of ET's Drew Barrymore in the film. Can you name some of the other ones that you noticed?

After reading that, its all clear now except for one thing... why did the tangent universe open to begin with? That link makes it sound like tangent universes just open randomly by themselves, but I would think that Donnie had something to do with its creation and that its meant to be ironic, mirrored in Donnie's analysis of the Destructors: "they just wanted to tear the world apart and see what would happen" or something. Whats all that about? :<

Mewzel

thaks for the help.

Gordon

I wasn't sure which Donnie darko thread to dig up, theres a few out there.

What a great film, as most of you seem to agree with. I recommend it thoroughly. I particularly liked the soundtrack and have been trying to find it in the shops. HMV say they can't get it - Tower says only HMV can get it and its €35! So I downloaded some of the tracks. That "Mad World" cover by Gary Jules is fantastic.

Anyway, go out and see it - it's on DVD now. Let your spirit trail lead you to the rack to find.

LFCFan

you can get it here for only €17.95. I bought it on pre-release 2 years ago and loaned it to a few of my mates. Apart from one chap who thinks he's a film critic they all loved it and so did I. Great acting, soundtrack, storyline, scenes etc etc. Definatly in my top 10 of all time.

Ivan

Yes I complete agree LFCFan it is an excellent film.

The ending however is a bit unusal but that only serves to force you to work it out in your head.

Its been the spark of many conversations I've had with friends.

Excellent film

fisty

Chut up!

Kingp35

ok first off im going to revive this thread instead of starting a new one.

I finally got out donnie darko and my god was I glad I did. This has got to be one of the best films ever made it has absolutely everything in it. Some people complain about the overly complexity of the film but I think this really adds to it. I didnt totally get the ending, I had some theories, but then I looked at this thread and it all made sense and I imediately watched the movie again and it just blew me away.

The acting is top notch and the soundtrack is briliant with so many 80s gems in there and also Gary Jules brilliant version of the Tears For Fears track "Mad World".

Its so refreshing when you see a movie like this that gets the brain working and really makes you think instead of the mindless rubbish that hollywood keeps pumping out.

Anyway just thought I had to post up something abut this movie as its just fantastic.

10/10 and I would never usually give a movie such a high score

Necronomicon

One of the main complaints I've heard about it is the complexity, but the way it's written is outstanding. Every character, large or small, is important to way the film unfolds. It's so refreshing to come across a film like this, had me thinking for ages. I have yet to see the director's cut though, I'm told it clears up a lot of questions.

county

sill did not get it

Basq

Heh.. funnily enough - i was just looking for this thread!

Bought the Director's Cut in Golden Discs a couple of weeks back for €9.95 (even though i do have the original Region 1 edition) and never watched it!

Got my mate who never saw it to watch the original last week and he loved it! So we watched the Director's Cut the other night. Was a bit disappointed really - doesn't really add a whole lot to the story.

They've blended in a couple of

deleted scenes from the original DVD, cool shots of eyeballs / pages from 'The Philosophy of Time Travel' and messed with some of the music: most notably changed the music in Donnie's opening bikeride from Echo & The Bunnymen's fantastic 'The Killing Moon' to INXS's 'Precious Heart' (really wish they didn't do this) and also, they have an instrumental version of The Church's 'Under The Milky Way Tonight' when Gretchen and Donnie come downstairs at the party. Both fantastic songs which didn't require changing!

Empire gave the original Donnie Darko 5 stars.. and gave the Director's Cut 4 stars. And i can kinda see why. While the DC isn't bad, it doesn't necessarily add anything new to experience of the film really.

Still remains one of my favourite films EVER!

Kingp35

Necromomicon wrote:

Every character, large or small, is important to way the film unfolds.

Ok there is only one thing I dont get about the movie and that is what is the significance of the character "Cherita". She is the fat chinese girl who seems to be bullied alot.

She appears in the film quite alot but I still dont get what exactly her significance was. Anybody have any ideas?

Basq

Kingp35 wrote:

Ok there is only one thing I dont get about the movie and that is what is the significance of the character "Cherita". She is the fat chinese girl who seems to be bullied alot.

She appears in the film quite alot but I still dont get what exactly her significance was. Anybody have any ideas?

Well.. i think the pivotal scene is when Donnie confronts her in the hall and tells her everything will be OK. She runs off and a notebook falls out of her bag with lovehearts surrounding "Donnie Darko"..

My opinion is I think she thinks of Donnie as a hero for defending her.. possibly on numerous occassions.. but we see this at the start when Donnie's friend tells her "go back to China, bitch!" and Donnie tells him "to leave her alone". This would also go hand-in-hand with the superhero / saviour aspect of the film.

In a world where Cherita is alone and being bullied, she sees something positive in Donnie..

.. that's just my thoughts on it! Cherita's definantly the most mysterious character in it!

Big Nelly

Love this film! still pull it out every so often to watch and try and figure out!

StonedParadoX

christ this topic is 3 years old and i donno how iv ignored it for so long BESIDES THE FACT that iv only been here what 6 months? i dont know when does it say i signed up?
it says on the left lol but im typing away ANYWAY!!

yeah i read in Empire and from other people that the DC version was complete bollox and it totally ****s up the film

Donnie darko is what made me realise that hollywood films aint worth **** and i prefere the "thinker" movies .. ones that make u think ones that u know in a few weeks time you will think hmm that was a good movie and think about the charactors and stuff ..not like spiderman or f4 or xmen or the pacifer or bloody hell most of the films in the cinema at the moment

mind u mean creak and The jacket were also Superb films anyone see them?

does anyone know any films like Donnie darko as in "thinking" movies?

Necronomicon

StonedParadoX wrote:

christ this topic is 3 years old and i donno how iv ignored it for so long BESIDES THE FACT that iv only been here what 6 months? i dont know when does it say i signed up?
it says on the left lol but im typing away ANYWAY!!

yeah i read in Empire and from other people that the DC version was complete bollox and it totally ****s up the film

Donnie darko is what made me realise that hollywood films aint worth **** and i prefere the "thinker" movies .. ones that make u think ones that u know in a few weeks time you will think hmm that was a good movie and think about the charactors and stuff ..not like spiderman or f4 or xmen or the pacifer or bloody hell most of the films in the cinema at the moment

mind u mean creak and The jacket were also Superb films anyone see them?

does anyone know any films like Donnie darko as in "thinking" movies?

Well, going off-topic a bit, I guess The Machinist would fit into that catagory.

I've heard mixed reviews about the Director's Cut. Some say it answers questions, others say it spoils the movie. Is it worth getting?

Mossy Monk

Donnie Darko thread

excellent film and i recommend it to everyone although some i know said it was **** :mad: but they're all wrong

may aswell watch it again tonight