Donnie Darko WOW 9.5/10

[Deckard]

Off the bat I can appreciate that this film is aimed at a very niche market........ one that I fall smack bang into.

With that said I must declare, shouting from the rooftops DONNIE DARKO RULES "sounds like the name of a superhero?"

Never can I recall a film that engaged me 100% intellectually and at the same time had me 100% emotionally invested in the charecters. An eloquent, poetic script and stunning use of montage. Truly majestic audio visual editing (Tears for Fears through the hall anyone?) and some of the most surreal ideas ever put on celluloid Donnie Darko will change your life.

Its a Sci Fi, horror, teen comedy,drama with rich social satire riddled with metaphors??? (Who knows). But when its funny its funny, when it scary its scary, when its touching and sad its touching and sad and at the same time its all just a surreal, creepy melancholy dream.

To give you a synopsis of even one second of this film would blemish your own personal interpretation, a film that you get out of it as much as you want to invest in it.

In the years to come I only pray this film get raised onto a pedastool alongside the true classics of each generation as Citizen Kane, Larwrence of Arabia, The Godfather......or at the very least a cult gem along with Manchurian Candidate, Jacobs Ladder, Seconds and Virgin Suicides...........changing the way we look at cinema and the way celluloid storytelling morphs into an art form unto itself. Touching on portions of the human experience that no other form of creative expression can quite match.

I apologize for my unrestrained drooling over this film, and I probably sound like a ranting idiot but hey, I saw it for the first time six months ago and just recently got my hands on a copy so Ive been rewatching it. The first time on the big screen stunned and moved me like no other film, but on second and third viewing the film gains so many more dimensions...... Please everyone I emplore you see Donnie Darko and hopefully be moved?

[Caitlyn]

Everything I’ve heard about this movie has been good so I’m looking forward to seeing it…

[blibblobblib]

Originally posted by Deckard


Never can I recall a film that engaged me 100% intellectually and at the same time had me 100% emotionally invested in the charecters. An eloquent, poetic script and stunning use of montage. Truly majestic audio visual editing

Its a Sci Fi, horror, teen comedy,drama with rich social satire riddled with metaphors??? (Who knows). But when its funny its funny, when it scary its scary, when its touching and sad its touching and sad and at the same time its all just a surreal, creepy melancholy dream.

In the years to come I only pray this film get raised onto a pedastool alongside the true classics of each generation as Citizen Kane, Larwrence of Arabia, The Godfather......or at the very least a cult gem along with Manchurian Candidate, Jacobs Ladder, Seconds and Virgin Suicides.
Please everyone I emplore you see Donnie Darko and hopefully be moved?

I totally agree. This film blew me away, emotionally and mentally. This is always what i see as a great film "Sci fi, teen comedy, horror, drama" a mix of everything that makes a good movie! i absoloutly loved it and found my brain working away through the whole film trying hard to figure out everything that was coming at me. By the time i got out of the cinema (after walkiing out like a zombie, drooling) i felt like i wanted to write down what happend so that i could try and figure it all out. :eek:

If its ok, how about you guys start placing your own interpretations of this film on here? I understood it till the end, then i was just so blown away and i kind of got all swept up in the emotion but couldnt figure out what happend exactly. I think i know the message the film gives us but id like to hear you thoughts on it?:confused:

[FiLm Fr3aK]

Excellant movie.
already a thread on it HERE (http://www.movieforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2160&goto=newpost&highlight=donnie+darko)

and another
HERE (http://www.movieforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2535)

[Vyse]

Well it's only just been released in cineams over here in the UK.

However, I doubt anywhere locally will be showing it. Althouh this is something I really want to see, so will probably end up purchasing the Region1 DVD :)

[blibblobblib]

Youll be suprised actually. its showing in both my local Odeon and UCi cinema. And if youve got an arthouse cinema near you it will definatly be showing there. I saw it this weekend in an art house cinema in SouthHampton and it was superb. :yup:

[Deckard]

BUMP

[n7of9]

Originally posted by FiLm Fr3aK
Excellant movie.
already a thread on it HERE (http://www.movieforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2160&goto=newpost&highlight=donnie+darko)

and another
HERE (http://www.movieforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2535)

why bump...weren't those two links enough :rolleyes:

[verbal penguin]

didn't like it :/

[drexal parks]

well Verbal Penguin is a moron. DONNIE DARKO WAS SUBLIME a butiful movie with a story that blew me away. and lets not forget the fabulous cover of the tears for fears song mad world. jake J is a great actor and realy sold me on the hole inches from mad thing. I was very impressed and was very very choked up at many parts(and that does not happen)the scripts was soo well written I could watch many times over and have it was the first DVD I bought and the first soundtrack(either than a cupple Tarinteno's and oh, brother were art though)I actully PURCHASED. I was soo startled by the movie I I sent copies of it to my cosuins in syblings for christmas.

the smerf senario. come on.

[verbal penguin]

Verbal Penguin might be a moron, but even he realizes that movies are a matter of personal taste.

[LordSlaytan]

Originally posted by drexal parks
well Verbal Penguin is a moron.

Everybody is entitled to their own opinions dude, so chill please. :yup:

[Sexy Celebrity]

I'm gonna try to give this movie a real try, but no promises. From the parts I saw, I came to the conclusion that the rabbit was stupid looking and the whole show reeked of a teenage depression era I just don't follow. And I'll never forgive the cheesy scene with the woman at the front door worrying about her "Sparkle Motion!"

[LordSlaytan]

Wonderful. :rolleyes:

[Kong]

Kong enjoyed Donnie Darko, but fails to see its "greatness." Kong was intrigued and engrossed by the premise and plot of the film, but was never particularly emotionally moved. Kong also had some problems with the acting (not Gylenhaal of course), and some of the dialogue (it's been way too long for Kong to recall specific instances though). Still, it's a cool,slick, and well-made movie.

*** of ****

[Sexy Celebrity]

Originally posted by LordSlaytan
Wonderful. :rolleyes:

Yes, the sun still shines.

[LordSlaytan]

I was only teasing, Jason. You answered in the same sarcastic manner when I mentioned I would write a small essay about the same movie in another thread. Smart-ass. :p

[drexal parks]

hello friends it is me...(pause)Drexal Parks
my sincear sorries.
I do relaize that an opinon is an opinon but I do state for the record that he gave no reasons no purpose. he just didn't like it?
okay okay I will never be soo judgmental again on a forum of movies or anything in the like.
nice opinon Verbal Penguin.

[LordSlaytan]

Be as judgemental as you want bro, just take 'er easy on the name calling. BTW: I love DD. :yup:

[drexal parks]

I find myself frustrated I watched DD so long ago and so manytimes since I have lost all ability to elaberate my feelings toward it. to the point when I love it is just not enough.

[LordSlaytan]

Yeah, I watched it 3 times in a row a couple of weekends ago so I could write a short essay and make a quiz (which Yoda says will be up soon). The movie is nearly flawless, as far as I'm concerned. The mood and atmosphere is perfect, the music is haunting, and the acting is top notch virtually all across the board. Of course people will disagree, but if we all had the same taste, then there would be one very tired woman out there.

[drexal parks]

I am laughing out loud!!!!!!!!!!(I hate those abreviations)

[LordSlaytan]

Are you saying I amuse you??? :laugh:

[drexal parks]

yes like a clown you amuse me like your funny like a your hear to make me laugh.


goodfellas? if so your a good fella

[LordSlaytan]

I hope this makes sense...



I’ve watched Donnie Darko six times now. Every time I watch it, I see something else that I had missed before. I’m not sure if I’ve figured out what is going on, I think I have, yet I’m not positive. One thing certainly helped, and that’s the scene titles on the DVD, I’ll be using those titles in my definitions. I’ll put them in (parentheses).

The movie begins with a confused Donnie laying alongside the road up on (Carpathian Ridge). It makes me wonder if he was being manipulated at this point, but it is never really implied. Donnie rides his bike back to town, and on the way passes an orange Trans Am (Frank?). We later find out that Frank does indeed drive an orange Trans Am, and is the boyfriend of Donnie’s sister, Elizabeth.

Later that evening the clock chimes its midnight hour, there’s a storm raging outside. Later we’ll discover that it’s actually a (Time Storm) raging with a wormhole opening up and with it, creating a (Tangent Universe). It’s like another dimension layered on top of our own. I believe it’s the entire town that’s caught in this alternate universe, with the rest of the world still being able to relate to it. I mean, the FAA gets involved, right? I’m a little unclear on this part, quite obviously. I think that when they show the close up of the grandfather clock, that’s when the rift actually transports the inhabitants of the town to the (Tangent Universe). They’re all stuck in it, and when Frank tells Donnie at the golf course that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds, he’s telling him that’s how long he’s got to get things in order before the (Tangent Universe) collapses, disintegrates, whatever, it’s never disclosed exactly what will happen.

Okay, I think that this next segment of the film is extremely important in cluing us in on what has happened, and what exactly the implications are because of it. Donnie comes home to find out that Frank has saved his life. He stands outside watching as the pull the engine out of the house, and there’s a scene where he stares at the spiral on the engine. That’s the clue to the whole film right there I think. The spiral signifies the time rift that they are all caught in. It spirals onto itself, beginning and ending pre-determined. This same jet engine already exists and will fall again later, repeating, concluding, and beginning the cycle again.

Donnie doesn’t understand the message or know that he’s not in his own dimension, but as the story progresses he starts to understand. Frank is used by ??? to deliver the knowledge so Donnie can set things in motion, albeit unwittingly at times, but he’s the one who is chosen to accomplish all the goals needed to get that jet engine back to the wormhole on time. Man, I can wrap my mind around this until I get a nervous tick in my eye, time traveling concepts coupled with spiritualism, not the easiest thing to grasp. Frank asks Donnie if he believes in time travel. I don’t know if Frank is a ghost, angel, or disguised alien, but he’s obviously been killed. So when he asks Donnie that question, I don’t believe he’s trying to tell him that he’s traveling in time, rather that Donnie has the capability to do it himself. He’s trying to teach him as well as guiding him. Is it God with His Angels, or are they good willed Aliens? The film doesn’t really ever tell us that, though Donnie does struggle with his faith, or lack thereof, but he also mentions ‘them’ numerous times, and the message in front of the statue does say, “They Made Me Do It”.

All I really know, is that everyone is in a (Fourth Dimension), and they are all being used by ‘them’ to guide Donnie. Each and every one of the central characters gives him some clue as to what’s going on, and to unwittingly give him clues as to the secrets of time travel. He sees the ‘manipulators’ using the people when he has the ‘visions’ of the (Liquid Spear’s). He follows his own numerous times, and he begins to understand, with the help of Roberta Sparrow’s book, the true significance of his ‘visions’. That they’re not visions at all! They’re real, and everything that he’s seeing is real. He’s not disturbed at all, more that he’s been gifted with some kind of special sight. At this point all he cares about is figuring out the truth.

There are different times through out the movie where it seems that one character or another show some sign that they sense something is not quite right, with the exception of Donnie. Donnie is being ‘allowed’ to see what is really going on. This is where I have a little trouble. There is not one single point during the entire movie where we learn what it is that is manipulating Donnie and the people around him. There are implications of God himself, but we are not given a perspective that puts us in the know. It would be easier to think that they are ghosts or aliens, other than God. Because, if it is indeed God, then there is the whole ‘free will’ topic again. Is it really pre-destiny? Everything that Donnie does with the guidance of Frank and the others, can he choose not to? He tells Dr. Fisher that he has to follow instructions, but then at another time he implies that he only has to do it out of obligation to Frank, for saving his life. I think if Donnie veers of the path laid out to him by ???, then he will doom the inhabitants that are stuck with him in this new (Tangible Universe). It will collapse with everyone trapped inside it. The future has already happened in the new (Tangible Universe), Frank is already dead, and the jet engine fell, so we know that that’s true. That must mean that Donnie has never had a choice??? Gahhhh….. <twitch> Okay, I’m alright now.

Near the end, when Donnie receives his final clue from Miss Pomeroy, with her cellar door, and he follows the clue to Frank’s death, he understands everything. 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds the (Tangible Universe) will end, it’s future already played out. But because of all the people who slipped out of their dimension into this alternate one, it’s future was put into jeopardy. They could have played out the future differently, that’s why they were manipulated into helping Donnie make sure things played out the way it needed to, in order for that jet engine to make it to its destiny. Sigh, it has to be God, it’s the only thing that really makes any sense. Earlier in the movie though, it’s mentioned that if God controlled time, then he also controls the future and free will. That would explain it being such a huge thing that Donnie has actually been let in on the truth. Gahhhh….. <twitch> <twitch> Crap, it’s getting worse.

I think the only real choice Donnie had was at the end. He could have chosen not to stay in his bed I think, but he felt it was better that way, and he was ready for God. Or maybe it was his reward. The reason I believe that the entire township were all in the (Fourth Dimension) with Donnie, is also because of the ending. When it pans across all the characters with that terribly sad song playing in the background, we see them all waking up, remembering it all, only to have it slip away. There’s the clue earlier when Donnie and Gretchen are talking about dreams and how they fade. That’s what happens to them all. They went into the (Fourth Dimension) with Donnie, lived those 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds, some dying, some having there lives torn apart, all experiencing something painful…just to have it all go away and to start over. Except this time with no Donnie. Donnie made sure that it would be different.

The thing with Donnie Darko is that it is totally open to different interpretations. If it was allowed to be a three hour movie, then I think things would be more conclusive. As it is, there are too many things left unknown, but maybe that’s its real appeal.

[drexal parks]

if it is suposed to be blank then yes it does.
at least I think so.
have you seen the web site? most people couldn't under stand that all the optins and menues were hidden and the whole thing was pretty blank...though I could be reaching....probably am.

[LordSlaytan]

That's a spoiler tag, just highlight it to see the text.

[drexal parks]

sorry now I'm a moron...I'm a computer iliterate monkey


I'll read it now and reply

[LordSlaytan]

You're not a moron! Quit with the name calling jackhole!

oops :laugh:

[drexal parks]

okay everyone who loves and hates the mini epic that is Donnie Darko should read that theory. it has all the great interpritations that I think were to be explored. I wont really say anything about what you said either than I think that you have it as close as we are going to get with out a directors cut.... I'm having a real hard time putting things into words today and I should probably get off this and watch a flick.:yup:

OH CHECK OUT DREXAL PARKS'S CLASSIC DIALOG GAME IN GENERAL MOVIE DISCUSSION....(SHAMLESS PLUG):D

[LordSlaytan]

There is already two other threads like that one, so it might not take off.

[james k]

just wanted to say quickly THIS FILM IS QUALITY. i've read loads of interpretations and have been fascinated by the amount of imagination this film has sparked.

all in all a MUST see.

btw www.donniedarko.com has a lot more info on the story behind the film.

it will enlighten you on a lot of questions you have asked yourself LordSlaytan

;)

[sphericthor]

I guess I'm the only person on the planet that hasn't seen Donnie Darko yet. I've been meaning to watch it but I need to buy it first