Donnie Darko - Classic Movie

[bez]

Awesome!

[white Boy]

this movie is incredible...

[The Ghost When I Zone Off]

Thanks, definetly a great movie (confusing at first of course) but good nonetheless. I'll have to watch it again now.

[Storm]

sorry, im drunk, but this movie is just terrible. it tries to be all deep and phillisophical but its retarded. I really dont understand how anyone really likes and respects this movie. its not art, its a piece of trash.

peace

[The Ghost When I Zone Off]

Haha, thats what i thought at first. Speaking of trash that ain't St. Ides malt liquor is it? I don't know how anyone likes that shit, and I drink O.E. speakin of drinkin, I',m actually kinda bent right now too my stomach fuckin hurts.

[Thirteen]

just watched it tonight because people said it was kinda like butterfly effect... i'd just like to hear some other opinions of this movie and what some people thought about the ending....spoilers for anyone taht didn't see it...

























































now the way i see it,  donnie was visited from a spirit that was soon to be in his future...the story then went on to show you how all the actions of Donnie would play out...and in the end the plane engine was the "craft" that was able to go into a worm hole, travel back in time, and which corrected the whole situation.

and i'm thinking that when the Bunny said that it was the end of the world on a certain day, it was the end of Donnie's world because he would have died alone. his girlfriend was dead, his mother and little sister were both killed. he still had a father and older sister but he didn't get along with the older sister and i think the director gave the father a behind the scenes role to show that he's not a factor in donnie's life either.

if i'm wrong or you have another theory, i wouldn't mind hearing it

[Rain]

im a big fan of Donnie Darko and am eargerly waiting for the director's cut when it gets released in Australia next month.

its a confusing movie - and the first few times i saw it i certainly thought it was mostly Donnie's fantasy or that he travelled back in time to ensure his own death so that his mother, little sister and girlfriend may survive. however ive certainly had different thoughts on it since reading the following article:

The plot of Donnie Darko is somewhat confusing, and some of the events border on paradoxical. Fans have discussed the film, its meaning, and multiple interpretations.

The engine of a jetliner apparently falls from the sky and lands in Donnie's bedroom. Donnie is not killed, however, because he was told by a voice to leave the house. The audience soon learns that the voice belongs to a human-sized bunny named Frank (who is actually, we learn later, a human being in a bunny costume). (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.)

Donnie's mental illness (presumably a severe form of schizophrenia) is alluded to early in the film with a comment about his decision to quit taking his medicine. Much of the following film, dealing with Donnie's experiences in high school and his burgeoning romance, seems to be interweaved with hallucinations caused by a psychotic break. (The deleted scenes included on the DVD release indicate that Donnie's meds were placebos anyway, but there is no way to be certain that this revelation is veridical. At any rate, Donnie's belief that he was going off his meds could have triggered such a break.)

Yet the film's website and the director's commentary on the DVD indicate that the director believes that Donnie is capable of time travel: some sort of corruption has occurred in the fabric of time, and Donnie, somehow chosen to correct it, has entered an alternate universe by leaving his house and not being crushed by the falling engine. (Indeed, on this view the engine is now actually falling in the alternate universe.) The alternate universe is highly unstable and will collapse in just over 28 days, probably taking the original universe with it. The only way to prevent this outcome is for Donnie to divert the falling aircraft engine from the alternate universe/timestream to the original, thereby also mending the temporal corruption and preventing the collapse of the alternate universe. (The logic behind this view seems to be that, had Donnie not created an alternate universe at the beginning of the film, the engine would have fallen in the original universe but, paradoxically, would have had nowhere to fall from. In creating the alternate universe Donnie has provided a source for the engine, but has not yet re-diverted it back to the universe in which it is "supposed" to land.) At that point the alternate universe, rather than collapsing, simply ceases to exist, and everyone (including Donnie) returns to the original universe, with some dreamlike memories of the alternate timestream.

Whether Donnie's death is necessary for this restoration is a matter of some contention. Some viewers believe the bunny exists to convince Donnie to die, by manipulating him into a position where his mother and girlfriend will die, making him shoot Frank (that is, the 'real' alternate-universe, pre-bunny Frank) and become willing to sacrifice his life to bring his loved ones back. On this view, Donnie's actions parallel those of Jesus in Martin Scorsese's production of Nikos Kazantzakis's The Last Temptation of Christ, the name of which appears in the film on a movie marquee. Other viewers question the necessity for Donnie's death for the salvation of the original universe; director Kelly himself, in the commentary included on the DVD release, gives two possible reasons for Donnie's death, neither of which seems to entail that he needed to die in order to preserve the main timestream. (Then, too, the death of Donnie's mother and sister in the alternate universe seems unnecessary as such a means, since the aircraft on which they fly would presumably have travelled the same flight path whether those two people were on it or not; some viewers have therefore suggested that the object of getting Donnie's mother to go on this trip is simply to get her out of the Darkos' house so that the concluding Halloween party can take place.) On any interpretation, the purpose of the bunny is to induce Donnie to rescue the main timestream in some way.

Whatever the precise details, Donnie ultimately brings about the restoration using what appear to be telekinetic powers. During the entire month of October 1988, Frank the bunny induces Donnie to carry out a series of bizarre and apparently vandalistic acts, all of which turn out in fact to help in bringing about a final resolution in which Donnie telekinetically sends the falling aircraft engine through a wormhole into the original timestream. As the film concludes, the engine falls into the Darko house in the original universe, this time killing Donnie.

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, 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.

While receiving a fairly lukewarm reception in the US, it gained a massive fan base in the United Kingdom, oddly enough in an area at which the pointed satirisation of American society present in the film is not pointed. However, the British are generally receptive to such satirisation.

[white Boy]

great movies,

[Storm]

I think its a retarded movie, not because I didnt understand it, but because it was just a bad movie.  There is no point in looking for the deeper meaning unless you are an idiot, no offense. (im a little biased because of a friend of mine who likes it)

peace

[bez]

I think its a retarded movie, not because I didnt understand it, but because it was just a bad movie.  There is no point in looking for the deeper meaning unless you are an idiot, no offense. (im a little biased because of a friend of mine who likes it)

peace

I don't understand how anybody can call this a bad movie.....I bet you love "hollywood" movies where the storyline is simple and shit blows up. lol.  I and I am sure many other on the boards love complex and wierd movies that make you think about the movie after watching it. 

[Storm]

I don't understand how anybody can call this a bad movie.....I bet you love "hollywood" movies where the storyline is simple and shit blows up. lol.  I and I am sure many other on the boards love complex and wierd movies that make you think about the movie after watching it. 

i like complex psychological movies (Ex: Back to the Future...jk) but the acting in this movie is terrible, and the whole bunny thing is just stupid.

[bez]

I don't understand how anybody can call this a bad movie.....I bet you love "hollywood" movies where the storyline is simple and shit blows up. lol.  I and I am sure many other on the boards love complex and wierd movies that make you think about the movie after watching it. 

i like complex psychological movies (Ex: Back to the Future...jk) but the acting in this movie is terrible, and the whole bunny thing is just stupid.

Nar man you just dont understand it.  THE ACTING IS DDDDDDDDDDOPE!.

Oh well, nevermind, everyone has different opinions and stuff.

[Throwback]

this is one of my fav movies. check out www.donniedarko.com there are some kind of riddles/games related to the movie. makes some things a bit more clear. its freaky tho..

[Montana00]

Its funny because i just got done watching it about 3 days ago, and all i have to say is that movie was overrated.

Dont get me wrong the movie was good, but you people hyped it way too much.

[bez]

I watched this movie again the other night but no matter how many times I watch it I still get confused as to what is happening. I mean the whole time travel thing is going on yeah but it does it in such a strange way that its so hard to follow, great movie though.