Donnie Darko, past and present

[Johan 72109]

Has anyone here seen Donnie Darko? And also, has anyone seen the director's cut, and if so what's it like in comparison to the original? :confused:

Man, I love that film though... Has to be one of my favourite films ever. Brilliant. :D

[Sam]

I love that film too, although I watched it so many times when I first got the dvd that I've had to give it quite a rest. As for the directors cut, I've not seen it but I think I read that it's basically the same film with the cut out scenes (from the old dvd) put back in. Couldn't swear to it though...

[rosymole]

DD is superb movie! After I'd watched it with a friend we spent ages going through our local library, and then the internet lokoing for a copy of 'The Philosophy of Time Travle', oh dear, the tradegy of blind youthful enthusiasm!
I've seen it about 4/5 times, but I still don't really 'get' it i think. I understand my own interpetations of it, but possibly not what it was trying to convey?

[Johan 72109]

Hehe, same... I've got about four different interpretations of the movie, all of them probably very very wrong... :confused:

[waterhogboy]

Gimme gimme gimme Johan!!! I aint seen it yet!!

[Sam]

I don't think there is a 'right' interpretation. If you try to make literal sense of everything in it, you end up with a 'huh?' :confused: expression on your face. so, the more interpretations the better. I'd be interested to hear some of them , if anyone wants to share. (quick WHB, watch it!)

[Johan 72109]

Argh... sorry WHB, it's in my bro's (disturbingly enormous) collection of DVDs... However, I'm sure he'd lend it to you if you asked him... In fact, d'ya want me to ask him to bring it next time he comes over, and I'll pass it on to you? Really, you need to watch it... It's weird, it's dark, but oh-so-good... :D

[waterhogboy]

Your brother's room is a bloomin black hole!!!!!! How much of my stuff is in there!!!!

[Johan 72109]

Nah, his DVD collection's at his (well, his wife's) house now, as is almost everything else. Except, so it seems, your game I'm afraid :( Sorry dude.

[inkspot]

No doubt DD is a tragic film that ends in heartless hopelessness? What is it about?

[Sam]

well, not hopelessness exactly, but definitely sadness. Nothing for Johan to complain about ;) It's difficult to summarise, but here are a few themes:

time travel,
family,
adolescence,
hypocrisy,
individuality,

and that's just a start. It is pretty weird though, so if you like things that are strictly realistic and wholly logical, then it may annoy you. However, I think you might be interested, and even if you don't like it, you can come here and talk about it with us!

[Thanatos]

I love this film. The first time i watched it was a bit confused...but when i watched it a few more times, things started to make sense. Then when the director's cut came out i had to buy it,and i did. My friends and i all got together to watch it. Everything made sooo much more sense after that. Amazing film!! Probably on my top 10 list. I even have a patch with the numbers on it.

[Johan 72109]

Ah... that's what I heard about the director's cut... This sounds weird, but I think I'd actually enjoy it more if it DIDN'T make lots of sense, so I could draw my own conclusions... That's one thing I love about the original film, its ambiguity. I dunno, I'm tempted to get the director's cut just to see if any of my theories were right. :)

Okay, quick synopsis of the basic idea, no spoilers of the ending, just the sort of thing you'd get on the blurb...

Donnie Darko is a brilliantly talented, but confused and angst-ridden teen, who has to go and see a psychiatrist because of his many problems, among them sleepwalking around the countryside at night. One night, he is woken up and ordered outside by a giant, freaky bunny rabbit called Frank, who tells him that the world is going to end in twenty-eight days. While he is out of the house, a jet engine falls from the sky and destroys his room. No one knows where it came from.

And then it starts to get WEIRD. :)

Basically, don't watch it if you don't like being confused, and if you don't like slightly weird things. This IS a Johan sort of film. :) Brilliant.

[inkspot]

Sounds cool. I will put it on my rental list. I'll try to rent the directors cut. Thanx! :)

[Zion]

I'm still thinking whether or not to watch the director's cut... what if all my theories are wrong? I'll be pretty dissapointed by myself. At least now I think that I've understood some of the ideas in the movie :)
However, it is a great movie and involves a lot of thinking. You should watch it at least three times- one to enjoy it, one to undestand it and one to understand that all you think you understand is misunderstood. :)

[waterhogboy]

I think Johan will be able to give you the best answer to that question. Welcome by the way - hope you enjoy yourself here!!

[inkspot]

Welcome, Zion. I didn't see you post before. Feel free to pop over to the intrcductions thread and tell us all about yourself.

[Jadis]

I liked the movie but I must confess that the only reason I gave it a chance was because of my love for Patrick Swayze, hehe. I did like the movie though.

[rosymole]

Ol' Patrick is superb in it- I was pleasently suprised! But I wonder why it didn't kick start his career? It worked for John Travolta with Pulp Fiction?!

[pacifiquesea]

Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!

[rosymole]

lol
er er er
10 thingy (had to be acknowledged..sorry!)

[MrsKeynes x3]

I thought Jake Gyllenhaal was awesome in it! I love Jake. He's awesome. But anyway, I cannot believe I found a forum about Donnie Darko on here! I just saw it for the first time yesterday, and I watched it because Ty (my friend who's obsessed with it) told me how GREAT it was and said i HAD to watch it. But afterwards when the credits came on and the movie ended, I was like "what the heck did I just watch?" haha in a GOOD way though! I've never seen anything like it in my life. It was awesome. It's like so many different things like sadness, humor, mystery, romance, scary, weirdness, EVERYTHING! I loved it.