Donnie Darko. WTF?

[Ethros]

I was watching bits and pieces of it again the other night on DVD, and listening to bits of the commentaries. I think Kevin Smith sums it up on one of them that in the end it all comes down to what most films do of that boy/girl thing (or boy/boy, girl/girl) and of Donnie sacrificing himself so the girl he loves can live

 

[Ryan]

My impression on first watching was that...

Spoiler: events in the film

It was an anti-It's a Wonderful Life. Donnie escaped death at the beginning and got to see what the world would be like with him living, including Gretchen dying, him shooting Frank, and his mother and sister dying in a plane crash. So he went back in time and died to save them. Unlike George Bailey, sometimes the world is better if you're not around.

Then I rewatched it with commentary and learned what Richard Kelly intended it to be about. I prefer my interpretation.

I don't think there's any definitive version of what happened. That's probably one of the reasons Donnie Darko is such a cult favorite: it's structured enough so not to completely fly off the rails in David Lynch levels of weirdness but is open enough for multiple interpretations.

 

[Ethros]

I finally got round to watching director Richard Kelley's second film Southland Tales last night.

Hmm, well if people are super confused by Donnie Darko I dread to think what they'd make of this mess

 

[Dave.Bowman]

When I watched Donnie Darko, I was reminded of the Twilight Zone episode of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (which was actually a re-edited version of a 1962 film directed by Robert Enrico based on a short story by Ambrose Bierce about a Civil War spy who escapes his hanging only to discover that he only imagined his escape in the few seconds between the trapdoor opening and his neck breaking). Did Donnie ever have a choice in his ultimate sacrifice? Or was the whole scenario something his mind invented between the time the jet engine fell through the ceiling and his death?

 

[TremblingBluStar]

When I watched Donnie Darko, I was reminded of the Twilight Zone episode of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (which was actually a re-edited version of a 1962 film directed by Robert Enrico based on a short story by Ambrose Bierce about a Civil War spy who escapes his hanging only to discover that he only imagined his escape in the few seconds between the trapdoor opening and his neck breaking).

The same story was reworked for the film Jacob's Ladder.

 

[Kirk's_Tights]

I think it's one of those movies you're meant to watch when you're high.