When this film was first released in 2001 it was a box office flop. It was ignored by critics and moviegoers alike. At the time it was released I lived close to a large cinema and remember seeing it advertised. The photo of the large bunny rabbit in blue shading made me think it was a cheap horror film, so I ignored it. After its release on DVD people started noticing it, and soon it developed a cult following. I first took notice of it when talking to two friends of mine. One of them said that "Donnie Darko" was her favorite film, and the other replied "Yes, it's the best film ever made". That made me run out and buy it the next day, and wow! It's one of the best films I've ever seen.
I'll take a different path in this review. Usually I avoid spoilers, but I want to write an explanation of the film. If you've never seen the film, stop reading now. Go out and buy it. I recommend the original version. The director's cut has better music, but it's padded out by explaining things left vague in the original, making it less enjoyable. The spoilers follow the picture, so scroll down at your own risk.
I've read many interpretations of the film, and there are none I completely agree with. A guide to interpreting it is the excerpts from Roberta Sparrow's "Philosophy of Time Travel" that are included as DVD extras. Reading them isn't essential to understanding the film, but it helps.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TIME TRAVEL
Chapter One: The Tangent Universe
The Primary Universe is fraught with great peril. War, plague, famine and natural disaster are common.
Death comes to us all. The Fourth Dimension of Time is a stable construct, though it is not impenetrable.
Incidents when the fabric of the fourth dimension becomes corrupted are incredibly rare.
If a Tangent Universe occurs, it will be highly unstable, sustaining itself for no longer than several weeks.
Eventually it will collapse upon itself, forming a black hole within the Primary Universe capable of destroying all existence.
Chapter Two: Water And Metal
Water and Metal are the key elements of Time Travel.
Water is the barrier element for the construction of Time Portals used as gateways between Universes as the Tangent Vortex.
Metal is the transitional element for the construction of Artifact Vessels.
Chapter Four: The Artifact And The Living
When a Tangent Universe occurs, those living nearest to the Vortex, will find themselves at the epicenter of a dangerous new world.
Artifacts provide the first sign that a Tangent Universe has occurred.
If an Artifact occurs, the Living will retrieve it with great interest and curiosity.
Artifacts are formed from metal, such as an Arrowhead from an ancient Mayan civilization, or a Metal Sword from Medieval Europe.
Artifacts returned to the Primary Universe are often linked to religious Iconography, as their appearance on Earth seems to defy logical explanation.
Divine intervention is deemed the only logical conclusion for the appearance of the Artifact.
Chapter Six: The Living Receiver
The Living Receiver is chosen to guide the Artifact into position for its journey back to the Primary Universe.
No one knows how or why a Receiver will be chosen.
The Living Receiver is often blessed with a Fourth Dimensional Powers.
These include increased strength, telekinesis, mind control, and the ability to conjure fire and water.
The Living Receiver is often tormented by terrifying dreams, visions and auditory hallucinations during his time within the Tangent Universe.
These surrounding the Living Receiver, known as the Manipulated, will fear him and try to destroy him.
Chapter Seven: The Manipulated Living
The Manipulated Living are often the close friends and neighbors of the Living Receiver.
They are prone to irrational, bizarre, and often violent behavior.
This is the unfortunate result of their task, which is to assist the Living Receiver in returning the Artifact to the Primary Universe.
The Manipulated Living will do anything to save themselves from Oblivion.
Chapter Ten: The Manipulated Dead
The Manipulated Dead are more powerful than the Living Receiver. If a person dies within the Tangent Dimension, they are able to contact the Living Receiver through the Fourth Dimensional Construct.
The Fourth Dimensional Construct is made of Water.
The Manipulated Dead will manipulate the Living Receiver using the Fourth Dimensional Construct (see Appendix A and B).
The Manipulated Dead will often set an Ensurance Trap for the Living Receiver to ensure that the Artifact is returned safely to the Primary Universe.
If the Ensurance Trap is successful, the Living Receiver is left with no choice but to use his Fourth Dimensional Power to send the Artifact back in time into the Primary Universe before the Black hole collapses upon itself.
Chapter Twelve: Dreams
When the Manipulated awaken from their Journey into the Tangent Universe, they are often haunted by the experience in their dreams.
Many of them will not remember.
Those who do remember the Journey are often overcome with profound remorse for the regretful actions buried within their Dreams, the only physical evidence buried within the Artifact itself, all that remains from the lost world.
Ancient myth tells us of the Mayan Warrior killed by an Arrowhead that had fallen from a cliff, where there was no Army, no enemy to be found.
We are told of the Medieval Knight mysteriously impaled by sword he had not yet built.
We are told that these things occur for a reason.
The plot, at its simplest, is this: an alternative parallel universe has occurred spontaneously, and due to its instability it threatens to create a black hole and destroy all of reality. Donnie Darko is chosen as the saviour to prevent this happening.
Is it God who appoints Donnie to this task? That's unclear, although the film does mention God briefly, and the religious symbolism is unmistakable. Donnie saves the universe by sacrificing himself. Like the Mayan warrior and the mediaeval knight mentioned in chapter 12 of "The Philosophy of Time Travel", Donnie died crushed to death by an airplane engine.
Now the full plot, with my interpretation:
On October 2nd 1988 Donnie is woken up by a person wearing a rabbit costume and led to a golf course. The person, who calls himself Frank, tells Donnie the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. When Donnie returns home he sees that an aircraft engine has fallen from the sky onto his house. Nobody knows where it came from. This is the metal artifact described in Roberta Sparrow's book.
From this point on Frank guides Donnie's actions. Donnie floods the school basement, he vandalises the school mascot, and he sets the house of a local motivational speaker on fire. These are not random acts. Frank is one of the "Manipulated Dead", and he guides Donnie to seemingly random acts of vandalism that will steer events towards the final solution. Flooding the basement leads to school being cancelled, which in turn leads to Donnie dating Gretchen, so that when Frank kills Gretchen Donnie takes revenge and kills Frank. This is Frank's death within the Tangent Universe, after which Frank gains powers and is able to travel back in time to guide Donnie. Setting the house on fire leads to the speaker's child pornography collection being discovered by firemen, so the sports teacher Kitty Farmer decides not to accompany the school singing team to Los Angeles, leading Donnie's mother to be in the plane when the lightning hits it and the engine falls off.
Donnie saves the universe by catching the airplane engine as it falls and projecting it into the real universe. His death was a necessity.
One thing that I've missed in other reviews is a comparison with "Lost Highway". If you scrape away the surface the two films are so similar that writer/director Robert Kelly must have been influenced by it. The main difference is that the time loop in "Lost Highway" is supernatural, whereas "Donnie Darko" is scientific. Maybe I'll go into this in more detail when I review "Lost Highway".
Click here to view the trailer.
I am not one for scary movies of any kind. I like comedy chick flicks things like that where I can escape for a couple hours the way movies were intended. This movie was put to me as a “cult classic” so of course I was very curious about it. Never once out of all the people that mentioned this movie to me did anyone say it was scary or even a “psychological thrill”, which I find interesting. It was just merely, “You have to see this movie.” Well I am glad that nobody felt the need to go any further in their descriptions of why I needed to see this movie, because had I known about the creepy ass rabbit I would probably have never watched this movie. Had I not watched this movie I feel like I would have been missing out on a piece of cinematic genius. This was a great movie I would recommend to anyone but would do so exactly the way it was recommended to me, “Only if you are willing to watch it twice”. The first time it was good, the second time it was great. Movies like this that provoke thought and debate are rare and should be treasured among intellectuals and movie lovers everywhere.
ReplyDeleteWhen I told you that I had watched it, you went on and shared with me some of your thoughts on it, which as chance would have are different from my own thoughts on it. I paused and rewound and listened closely and thought deeply about the scene with Noah Wyle and Jake Gyllenhaal where he says he can’t go any farther with the discussion without losing his job. For me this is the pivotal scene in the entire movie. This is where in my interpretation the movie broaches the religious implications of time travel. I keep replaying the scene in my head as I’m sure anyone that watched the movie did time and time again, and I have no doubt that the writers knew this scene would elicit the most debate as it could be interpreted in a number of ways.
The cast in this movie turns in award winning performances that I think actually got better the second time I watched this movie. I’ve actually avoided movies with Jake in them because I never cared for him as an actor, my opinion has now changed. I want to find other things he’s been in and give them a second chance in case I have missed any of his other brilliant work. I cannot imagine he will ever live up to the performance he put in on this movie but I will happily watch anything else he is in now. Thank you to Donnie Darko for enlightening me in so many ways. I will never look at another cellar door the same way again.
Thanks for your thoughts, Dakota, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's interesting that you latched onto the religious interpretation of the film. I'll give this some more thought next time I watch it... although I admit that I've already seen it so often that I can remember most of the dialogues.
ReplyDeleteIn a way the film disguises itself as a horror film. The first time anyone watches the film they think it's a horror film, then as it progresses they realise it isn't. As we see at the end, the "creepy ass rabbit" isn't a monster, it's just a boy who was wearing a rabbit costume for a Halloween party.
This was the first film I ever saw with Jake Gyllenhall. Yes, he delivers an incredible performance. I haven't been as impressed with any other film of his that I've seen since.
It was the first film directed by Richard Kelly, who also wrote the story. Due to the critical acclaim of "Donnie Darko" he soon received financial support for two other films, "Southland Tales" and "The Box". Both films flopped at the box office. "Southland Tales" is poor quality, in my opinion. "The Box" is an interesting film, quite well made, but it's missing that magic spark that makes it great.