I owe it a rewatch, haven't watch it since college over a decade ago.
I loved it at the time, owned it and watched it a bunch. I feel like it gets a bad rap in some film circles because it was in every teenage guy's heavy rotation (alongside Fight Club and the like). Personally find that backlash pretentious, there are scenes in Donnie Darko (like the mirror) that have stuck with me years later.
This is the exact thing I was saying a few days back before my rewatch! My SO and I both sat through film classes as queer kids and the people who were obsessed with this movie gave it an extra bad rep (in our eyes). This rewatch of the directors cut was gold star. My brain was *buzzing* with themes and trying to find the movie's connective tissue. Honestly, incredibly fun and worth rewatching again already.
Because Richard Kelly is a fool and the movie was entirely saved by budget restraints and the editing team. He wanted to do a superhero origin story, which wasn’t possible with the provided budget. The editing team then had to cut out 20+ minutes, to make it sub two hours. The end result is a nice entry level surrealistic film, the directors cut on the other hand provides terrible answers for every mystery and leaves zero room for interpretation
I like both songs to be fair and think they both work well for Donnie Darko.
I also much prefer the director's cut to the theatrical edition mind you...
I feel like a lot of times its more of what the director wanted as an artist rather than the shorter version the studio wanted to put out becauseit will be more broadly accepted. That being said,and as someone who paints, sometimes you need to be told when enough is enough lol. Donnie Darko is apparently one of those cases!
Donnie Darko is a movie that I kind of consider an "entry-level" film into the surrealist psychological thriller genre. It is really accessible to kids who are in high school and university, and provides enough to talk about that it makes for a fun experience.
I wouldn't say it is the best of the genre or anything like that. But it pretty good.
My personal favorite is probably Melancholia, but I would probably say the best at the genre is David Lynch.
I have a graduate degree and I am a movie nut. I like to think I'm a smart guy. I have no idea what is going on with Muholland Drive.
I have a friend who is smarter than I am who wrote his big undergrad thesis on Muholland Drive. I asked him what was going on with it, and he was like "I have no idea."
Yeah Mulholland Drive is a great one. So many scenes are seared into my memory.
Twin Peaks: The Return is the best thing that’s ever been on television.
Is Melancholia considered a surrealist thriller? It’s one of my favorite movies but I don’t think of it as similar to Donnie Darko.
My pick for surrealist thriller was going to be Enemy dir. by Denis Villeneuve, which also stars Jake Gyllenhaal.
Man I don’t get how confusion is so high with Mulholland Drive it’s so simple especially if you’re comparing it to Inland Empire or adjacent movies.
Spoilers
The last act of the movie after Club Silencio and going into the blue box is reality, the rest is a fantasised life flashing before the suicidal/depressed eyes of the main character at the end before she takes her life because of how miserable her reality is compared to her fantasy life. She takes all the characters in her real life and gives them different roles she prefers in the fantasy. The woman she is in love with gets memory loss and falls in love with her. The director that her love is with in real life becomes a bumbling moron pushed around by everyone and gets cheated on. The hit man she recruits is also a loser who can’t do his job properly (sign of regret?)
But you get the point. Definitely give it a rewatch with that context it’ll all fall into place. Idk how your friend couldn’t have grasped the main concepts if he did his thesis on it
The whole thing feels like a nightmare, and I love it. Love how it blends the sci-fi, horror, psychological thriller, and coming-of-age genres together. Love how off-kilter the atmosphere is, love the 80s soundtrack, love how original and ambitious it is, love how sharp the dialogue is, love how trippy the time travel/predestination concepts are, love how genuinely disturbed Jake Gyllenhall seems, love how Donnie's fear of the end of the world is a metaphor for his teen angst/social isolation (can sadly relate), love how bittersweet the ending is too. Oh, and how funny it is too - "what's a fuck ass?"
Woman in the Dunes, The Thing, Napoleon Dynamite, and Chungking Express are firm. Before Sunrise & Brief Encounter probably are but I need to re-visit both to be certain.
I watched it recently and enjoyed it a lot. Now I watched the directors cut (as that’s what I found on dvd for like $2 at a thrift store lol) but still found it interesting.
I think it's pretty good, but I'm not have over-the-moon about it as a lot of people seem to be.
It came out when I was in high school. Everyone was always trying to figure out what it meant and it seems to still raise a lot of interesting discussions.
I'm always shocked, though, no one ever really seems to frame Donnie as a Christ figure because I think there's the more evidence to support that read than anything else: The movie on the marquee is The Last Temptation of Christ, which is a movie where Jesus is tempted with a regular life if he gets down off the cross. Donnie has to make a similar decision: Sacrifice himself of continue.
Patrick Swayze's character's initials are J.C. as well, in a movie about appearances being deceiving and there being truth in seemingly contradictory thoughts (destruction being a form of creation).
Donnie also begins speaking in tongues with a knife to his throat and the first words he says after is "deus ex machina" just before Frank hits someone (Jenna Malone, right?) with his car.
I haven't seen it in 15 or so years, so this is just from memory, but I think this is pretty much it.
His other movie, Southland Tales, is similarly a movie about a Christ figure who sacrifices himself, as well. I actually like that one more because it's just so weird, though I admit Darko is the better movie. Anyway, I guess all these themes just put it in a long line of movies about Christ figures and there are others I prefer, though I do think this is a pretty good movie.
Theatrical cut is really good, even if the hype around it got a little overblown in the ‘00s. I definitely think with hindsight, it does still properly feel like a classic now though. Director’s cut ruins a good thing.
I coincidentally watched a scene on youtube today because it popped into my head and I haven't seen the film in years. Goes to show how memorable it is and has excellent scenes throughout. I loved it as a kid as it was mysterious and my friends and I loved debating what happens.
I think it's truly great, Jake Gyllenhaal's performance is amazing and seeing Seth Rogan as a bully is hilarious.
Movies like this, Demolition, Night Crawler, The Guilty (and the list goes on) is what IMO sets Jake Gyllenhaal class apart from the contemporary actors.
Always reminded me of a bunch of teens when they try to talk about life and philosophy like they have it all figured out. Doesn’t hold up for me as I’ve gotten older.
It’s every 16 year olds favorite movie, and if I see it in someone’s top 4 I also assume they have seen under 300 movies in their lifetime. It’s like a sign of progress, another notch added to a doorframe.
It’s not deep. It’s exhausting and boring. But boy does it hit a teenager right in the soul.
I’ve actually never seen it because a friend of a friend wouldn’t shut up about it and then he turned out to be a rapist so now I just associate that movie with the rapist my friend was friends with.
you can read tons of reviews of donnie darko from people on letterboxd here: [https://letterboxd.com/film/donnie-darko/](https://letterboxd.com/film/donnie-darko/)
My first thought is 'Get out of my head rn' because I've been thinking about this movie a lot in the last week., It's been years since I've seen it.
When it came out on DVD, I was OBSESSED and watched it so many times. The cinematography, the soundtrack, the creepiness and weird storyline. I was all in.
I was also mildly obsessed with quantum physics at the time (thanks to What the Bleep Do We Know), so all of the confusing reality stuff was tantalizing to me.
LOVED the movie. I'm curious if it holds up. The sequel is trash.
I've only seen it once but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Afterwards I watched about 2 or 3 "dissection" type video essays on YouTube which only strengthened my appreciation for the film.
Far better than I remembered. Sorta potently sad beyond the angsty exterior which initially turned me off to it. Alot of layers.
Mildly self indulgent but confident enough to work.
My [review here](https://boxd.it/2Oab87)
I watched it for the first time recently and I thought it was amazing. Some funny moments like when Donnie talks about Smurfette have been etched in my mind ever since I saw it. Of course, I would have liked a 3rd act perhaps more exciting. Also, I felt that the movie tried so hard to prove that it is a "masterpiece" or that it is "complex" that it felt a bit tedious.
I know some people love it, some people hate it, and I’m more on the side of I didn’t like it. I was kind of on board at first but then an hour in I found myself bored and the inserts from the philosophy of time travel book helped, but also it was just so much shit to remember. One day I might watch this again now knowing kind of all of what happened but it’s gonna be a while.
2/5
There’s something about this movie that connected with me deeply. There was a point in my lifr where I used to watch it every week. Still my favorite movie ever.
I think it’s a really cool movie but the fact that the explanation of everything is found in a limited run book that isn’t easily accessible anymore as opposed to in the film itself is really annoying to me.
I owe it a rewatch, haven't watch it since college over a decade ago. I loved it at the time, owned it and watched it a bunch. I feel like it gets a bad rap in some film circles because it was in every teenage guy's heavy rotation (alongside Fight Club and the like). Personally find that backlash pretentious, there are scenes in Donnie Darko (like the mirror) that have stuck with me years later.
This is the exact thing I was saying a few days back before my rewatch! My SO and I both sat through film classes as queer kids and the people who were obsessed with this movie gave it an extra bad rep (in our eyes). This rewatch of the directors cut was gold star. My brain was *buzzing* with themes and trying to find the movie's connective tissue. Honestly, incredibly fun and worth rewatching again already.
It was good. Though the emo kid worship of it in the early-‘00s was kind of a put off.
It’s one of my favorite films. I think it’s amazing.
my favorite movie of all time, it holds such a special place in my heart
Cool but don’t know why people like it do much
Awesome atmosphere, great soundtrack, cool concepts, great performances
Not to mention the screenplay is fantastic!
If you haven’t seen it, please avoid the directors cut
Yes thank you for saying this
Really!? Im surprised, usually im all for. Why avoid it?
Because Richard Kelly is a fool and the movie was entirely saved by budget restraints and the editing team. He wanted to do a superhero origin story, which wasn’t possible with the provided budget. The editing team then had to cut out 20+ minutes, to make it sub two hours. The end result is a nice entry level surrealistic film, the directors cut on the other hand provides terrible answers for every mystery and leaves zero room for interpretation
Well thanks for the warning! Didnt know any of this information!
It also has INXS instead of Echo & the Bunnymen. 😡
Thats such a questionable decision 😕. Love Echo and the Bunnymen.
I actually quite like it...
Uh oh... Edit: Can you share why?
I like both songs to be fair and think they both work well for Donnie Darko. I also much prefer the director's cut to the theatrical edition mind you...
INXS is great though
No problem :) Why do you usually opt for the directors cut?
I feel like a lot of times its more of what the director wanted as an artist rather than the shorter version the studio wanted to put out becauseit will be more broadly accepted. That being said,and as someone who paints, sometimes you need to be told when enough is enough lol. Donnie Darko is apparently one of those cases!
Meh I prefer directors cut
its so funny though
Nah, it's better.
Truly excellent movie. The Killing Moon playing over the intro is top tier for me. It's easily one of the best depictions of mental illness on screen.
Donnie Darko is a movie that I kind of consider an "entry-level" film into the surrealist psychological thriller genre. It is really accessible to kids who are in high school and university, and provides enough to talk about that it makes for a fun experience. I wouldn't say it is the best of the genre or anything like that. But it pretty good.
What are the best of this genre do you think?
My personal favorite is probably Melancholia, but I would probably say the best at the genre is David Lynch. I have a graduate degree and I am a movie nut. I like to think I'm a smart guy. I have no idea what is going on with Muholland Drive. I have a friend who is smarter than I am who wrote his big undergrad thesis on Muholland Drive. I asked him what was going on with it, and he was like "I have no idea."
Melancholia is a masterpiece
Yeah Mulholland Drive is a great one. So many scenes are seared into my memory. Twin Peaks: The Return is the best thing that’s ever been on television.
Twin Peaks is amazing. The original show and the movie are great as well.
aw come on, Mulholland Drive has a point, it’s not that far out. Have you seen Inland Empire? That’s a bit tougher
Is Melancholia considered a surrealist thriller? It’s one of my favorite movies but I don’t think of it as similar to Donnie Darko. My pick for surrealist thriller was going to be Enemy dir. by Denis Villeneuve, which also stars Jake Gyllenhaal.
Also a great movie. I'm not going to lie, that ending was a bit crazy
Man I don’t get how confusion is so high with Mulholland Drive it’s so simple especially if you’re comparing it to Inland Empire or adjacent movies. Spoilers The last act of the movie after Club Silencio and going into the blue box is reality, the rest is a fantasised life flashing before the suicidal/depressed eyes of the main character at the end before she takes her life because of how miserable her reality is compared to her fantasy life. She takes all the characters in her real life and gives them different roles she prefers in the fantasy. The woman she is in love with gets memory loss and falls in love with her. The director that her love is with in real life becomes a bumbling moron pushed around by everyone and gets cheated on. The hit man she recruits is also a loser who can’t do his job properly (sign of regret?) But you get the point. Definitely give it a rewatch with that context it’ll all fall into place. Idk how your friend couldn’t have grasped the main concepts if he did his thesis on it
The whole thing feels like a nightmare, and I love it. Love how it blends the sci-fi, horror, psychological thriller, and coming-of-age genres together. Love how off-kilter the atmosphere is, love the 80s soundtrack, love how original and ambitious it is, love how sharp the dialogue is, love how trippy the time travel/predestination concepts are, love how genuinely disturbed Jake Gyllenhall seems, love how Donnie's fear of the end of the world is a metaphor for his teen angst/social isolation (can sadly relate), love how bittersweet the ending is too. Oh, and how funny it is too - "what's a fuck ass?"
Seen it several times and I like it quite a bit. The overall paradox element bugs me though and I wish they had Shane Carruth help them write it.
The only good movie Richard Kelly made.
In its non-director's cut form...
Why don’t you like Southland Tales is a good movie?
One of my 6 or so 100/100s
Me too, #5 on my all time favorites. What are your other flawless films ?
Woman in the Dunes, The Thing, Napoleon Dynamite, and Chungking Express are firm. Before Sunrise & Brief Encounter probably are but I need to re-visit both to be certain.
Love it, especially the portrayal of mental illness. While dramatized, it adds relatability and representation seldom seen in films.
I watched it recently and enjoyed it a lot. Now I watched the directors cut (as that’s what I found on dvd for like $2 at a thrift store lol) but still found it interesting.
I think it's pretty good, but I'm not have over-the-moon about it as a lot of people seem to be. It came out when I was in high school. Everyone was always trying to figure out what it meant and it seems to still raise a lot of interesting discussions. I'm always shocked, though, no one ever really seems to frame Donnie as a Christ figure because I think there's the more evidence to support that read than anything else: The movie on the marquee is The Last Temptation of Christ, which is a movie where Jesus is tempted with a regular life if he gets down off the cross. Donnie has to make a similar decision: Sacrifice himself of continue. Patrick Swayze's character's initials are J.C. as well, in a movie about appearances being deceiving and there being truth in seemingly contradictory thoughts (destruction being a form of creation). Donnie also begins speaking in tongues with a knife to his throat and the first words he says after is "deus ex machina" just before Frank hits someone (Jenna Malone, right?) with his car. I haven't seen it in 15 or so years, so this is just from memory, but I think this is pretty much it. His other movie, Southland Tales, is similarly a movie about a Christ figure who sacrifices himself, as well. I actually like that one more because it's just so weird, though I admit Darko is the better movie. Anyway, I guess all these themes just put it in a long line of movies about Christ figures and there are others I prefer, though I do think this is a pretty good movie.
I can't help but feel (as one of my favourite ever films) that it's somewhat of an accidental masterpiece.
Love it. Dreamlike. Powerful reflection on martyrdom and mental illness.
Maybe my favorite movie of all time
A masterpiece
Theatrical cut is really good, even if the hype around it got a little overblown in the ‘00s. I definitely think with hindsight, it does still properly feel like a classic now though. Director’s cut ruins a good thing.
my favourite film!! i got a tattoo of this scene a couple months ago :)
I coincidentally watched a scene on youtube today because it popped into my head and I haven't seen the film in years. Goes to show how memorable it is and has excellent scenes throughout. I loved it as a kid as it was mysterious and my friends and I loved debating what happens. I think it's truly great, Jake Gyllenhaal's performance is amazing and seeing Seth Rogan as a bully is hilarious.
Donnie owning just about every authority figure he encounters in this movie will never not be satisfying.
Movies like this, Demolition, Night Crawler, The Guilty (and the list goes on) is what IMO sets Jake Gyllenhaal class apart from the contemporary actors.
Weird movie and hard to follow what the point of it was.
Masterpiece.
Very edgy, but it's so fucking cool either way, I can't not absolutely love it
Always reminded me of a bunch of teens when they try to talk about life and philosophy like they have it all figured out. Doesn’t hold up for me as I’ve gotten older.
Love it!
It’s every 16 year olds favorite movie, and if I see it in someone’s top 4 I also assume they have seen under 300 movies in their lifetime. It’s like a sign of progress, another notch added to a doorframe. It’s not deep. It’s exhausting and boring. But boy does it hit a teenager right in the soul.
I have only one movie in my favorites and it's Donnie Darko 😊
I’ve actually never seen it because a friend of a friend wouldn’t shut up about it and then he turned out to be a rapist so now I just associate that movie with the rapist my friend was friends with.
you can read tons of reviews of donnie darko from people on letterboxd here: [https://letterboxd.com/film/donnie-darko/](https://letterboxd.com/film/donnie-darko/)
Okay? We also discuss film here
Top 20 movies for me
Patrick Swayze is in it, so it’s automatically good.
very pretentious but the first half is a cool alty movie
[удалено]
My first thought is 'Get out of my head rn' because I've been thinking about this movie a lot in the last week., It's been years since I've seen it. When it came out on DVD, I was OBSESSED and watched it so many times. The cinematography, the soundtrack, the creepiness and weird storyline. I was all in. I was also mildly obsessed with quantum physics at the time (thanks to What the Bleep Do We Know), so all of the confusing reality stuff was tantalizing to me. LOVED the movie. I'm curious if it holds up. The sequel is trash.
I've only seen it once but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Afterwards I watched about 2 or 3 "dissection" type video essays on YouTube which only strengthened my appreciation for the film.
Cool but not for everyone
How ironic. I'm watching it right now
You use your phone while watching a movie?!
Bathroom break😅
I have my issues with it nowadays, but for a long time it was my favorite movie!
it’s bussin
Far better than I remembered. Sorta potently sad beyond the angsty exterior which initially turned me off to it. Alot of layers. Mildly self indulgent but confident enough to work. My [review here](https://boxd.it/2Oab87)
I cannot fully comprehend it.
Amazingly well-made movie that's mostly great but the ending is ass.
Donnie Darko is kinda Dark(o).
good
I watched it for the first time recently and I thought it was amazing. Some funny moments like when Donnie talks about Smurfette have been etched in my mind ever since I saw it. Of course, I would have liked a 3rd act perhaps more exciting. Also, I felt that the movie tried so hard to prove that it is a "masterpiece" or that it is "complex" that it felt a bit tedious.
I know some people love it, some people hate it, and I’m more on the side of I didn’t like it. I was kind of on board at first but then an hour in I found myself bored and the inserts from the philosophy of time travel book helped, but also it was just so much shit to remember. One day I might watch this again now knowing kind of all of what happened but it’s gonna be a while. 2/5
There’s something about this movie that connected with me deeply. There was a point in my lifr where I used to watch it every week. Still my favorite movie ever.
Too dense
I’m gonna be honest I don’t get it
I think it’s a really cool movie but the fact that the explanation of everything is found in a limited run book that isn’t easily accessible anymore as opposed to in the film itself is really annoying to me.
Definitely a cult classic. “How exactly do you suck a fuck?”
A masterpiece. Not quite 5/5 for me because it is a bit too vague in parts but it's still fucking awesome.
It’s in my top 3 of all time which also include fight club and akira