Donnie Darko

[D]

Has anyone seen this?

id love to discuss this with everyone, interpretation, what u think happened etc

so if anyone has seen this movie and wants to discuss what happened, post away and ill join in

i watched it last night and i have an idea but im still a little iffy on certain things.

[R4tfink]

Nope havent seen it...however i am willing to discuss with you D.

Its shit!

[loretian]

Yeah, that is a great movie.  Did you see the Director's Cut or the original?  The Director's Cut is a lot less ambigious.

There's an old thread on it here that explains a lot.

[Izzy]

The films terrible - u have to read the book to understand it, who's idea was that?

Pretentious beyond belief

[loretian]

Pretentious beyond belief

It's pretentious, sure, and a little over-indulgent... but that never stopped me from liking something.  The movie is still great, imo, even if you don't understand it.  It's just an awesome movie.

[Dave_Rose]

Yes the film is awesome my friend lent me the film and said you have to see this I watched it and bought my own copy cos it rocked my socks!

[Eeebs]

I saw this movie... the original movie, about a year ago, and it totally freaked me out.  I think it had to do with the fact that I predicted how the girl was going to die before she was going to die.  Yeah, that creeped me out for awhile!!  Overall, I thought it was a pretty good confusing kind of thinking film. 

[im rickjames bitch]

that movie is cool and very confusing. so was donnie in a parellel universe when he woke up in the golfcourse? was that girl an imagination? whats up with that old lady?

[D]

I think the rabbit was the portal and he went forward in time, which is why he could fast forward it through those self help videos that patrick swayze did.

i think the old woman was so miserable and alone because she had the gift of time travel like Donnie did, but she changed her fate and everyone around her died.

notice had Donnie lived, his family wouldve died, his girl died, he shot that one dude so his life wouldve been over. so he stayed in bed and died and let his loved ones live.

thats what i thought happened.

[Rain]

Has anyone seen this?

id love to discuss this with everyone, interpretation, what u think happened etc

so if anyone has seen this movie and wants to discuss what happened, post away and ill join in

i watched it last night and i have an idea but im still a little iffy on certain things.

At the time it went out in theaters I went to see three times ! I loved it but each time I came out with a different explanation ...
I have the DVD, I haven't watched it in awhile but whenever I think about the movie the geant rabbit comes to my mind ! 

[loretian]

From the moment he wakes up at the beginning of the movie, Donnie is in the tangent universe.? Everyone is real and exists, even Frank, but they are all being manipulated (theoretically by God) in order to drive Donnie to one ultimate goal and purpose, and all of them, except Frank, don't even realize it.? That's why the two teachers (Drew Barrymore and what's-his-name) are just sitting there and they say, "Donnie Dark... <laugh>", "I know..."? They don't even know why, he's just on their mind.

D, you saw the Director's Cut which has him fast forwarding through time during the Swazy part, but the original version doesn't have any of that, or any of the excerpts from the Philosophy of Time Travel.? Patrick Swazy's self help stuff did nothing for Donnie, Frank taught him how to travel through time.

Since he was killed in the tangent universe, Frank became the manipulated dead, and was therefore able to do all the things that he could do.? ?All the "events" that took place took place so that Donnie would kill Frank, and being dead, that allowed Frank to teach Donnie the things that he did, which ultimately allowed Donnie to return the living artifact to the original universe, saving the universe, and also killing himself in the process.

He did not choose to die in order to save the people that died during the movie, he choose to die to save the entire universe, all of humanity, and every living thing... (and so implied, noone is alone, contrary to Donnie's greatest fear)

[loretian]

I received a fairly long document that does an excellent job of explaining the whole movie as well as all the other theories behind it.  If anyone is interested in it, just let me know and I'll e-mail it to you.

I learned a couple of new things I didn't know before, like:
*Frank honking his car horn after he drops Elizabeth off was to try and wake Donnie up before the engine kills him...
*Donnie actually rips the engine off the plane with his power of telekinsis
*Gretchen was just an "ensurance trap" for Donnie.  The whole reason she is brought into his life is to make sure that he does rip the engine off the plane, which he basically does to save her, not to save the whole world, even though he already knows he's supposed to.

[Izzy]

I received a fairly long document that does an excellent job of explaining the whole movie as well as all the other theories behind it.? If anyone is interested in it, just let me know and I'll e-mail it to you.

I learned a couple of new things I didn't know before, like:
*Frank honking his car horn after he drops Elizabeth off was to try and wake Donnie up before the engine kills him...
*Donnie actually rips the engine off the plane with his power of telekinsis
*Gretchen was just an "ensurance trap" for Donnie.? The whole reason she is brought into his life is to make sure that he does rip the engine off the plane, which he basically does to save her, not to save the whole world, even though he already knows he's supposed to.

What a triumph - a film u have to research to understand

I must be old fashioned in that expect a film to be understandable, just from whats on the screen.

[Narcissa]

how the girl was going to die before she was going to die.?

Hey thanks for ruining it for everyone else.

[kj_jive]

I received a fairly long document that does an excellent job of explaining the whole movie as well as all the other theories behind it.? If anyone is interested in it, just let me know and I'll e-mail it to you.

I learned a couple of new things I didn't know before, like:
*Frank honking his car horn after he drops Elizabeth off was to try and wake Donnie up before the engine kills him...
*Donnie actually rips the engine off the plane with his power of telekinsis
*Gretchen was just an "ensurance trap" for Donnie.? The whole reason she is brought into his life is to make sure that he does rip the engine off the plane, which he basically does to save her, not to save the whole world, even though he already knows he's supposed to.

I don't know man...I mean I think the movie is open to interpretation.  There is no evidence of Donnie ripping the jet off the plane.

Izzy, movies and books are great when they are open-ended.  It's not that it's so hard to understand, it's just vague and open to interpretation.  It makes you think a little bit and maybe watch it again under more scrutiny.  I would hate it if every movie was cut and dry, feeding you the plot.  And I'm not trying to lecture you so don't get offended, this is just how I view it.

[loretian]

I don't know man...I mean I think the movie is open to interpretation.? There is no evidence of Donnie ripping the jet off the plane.

The original movie is definitely open to interpretation, and I completely agree with you - that's what makes it so great.

That said, though, if you do the research, visit the website, view the deleted scenes, and especially view the Director's Cut, there is definitely a real explanation he had in mind, and the one I'm giving is that.? You should read this document I have, he addresses the fact that it is open to interpretation, as Richard Kelly himself has stated, but has recently, especially with the Director's Cut, seemed to be pushing towards there being an "official" explanation and interpretation of it all.? That doesn't take away from any of the ambiguity of the original movie, though, or mean that anyone has to accept it.

It's just the explanation the creator had in mind, but he obviously meant for it to be ambigious, and left open to interpretation.? I think the Director's Cut was for the people that really wanted an explanation behind it all, not just their own interpretation.

For the record, Richard Kelly does state that Donnie uses his powers of telekinsis to rip the engine off the plane in the DVD commentary, so if you're going for the official explanation, that's a fact, not my own interpretation.

[kj_jive]

I don't know man...I mean I think the movie is open to interpretation.? There is no evidence of Donnie ripping the jet off the plane.

For the record, Richard Kelly does state that Donnie uses his powers of telekinsis to rip the engine off the plane in the DVD commentary, so if you're going for the official explanation, that's a fact, not my own interpretation.

Regardless, that's just fucking stupid.  Where in the movie do we once see evidence of Donnie possessing telekinisis?  It's been a little while since I've last seen it but i don't remember him having any super-powers like the ability to move things with his mind.   Even if he did, why would he crash the jet if that is the entire problem in the first place?  Sometimes writers get too wrapped up in their own bullshit and spit out crap like the "telekinisis" solution.  Doesn't that seem, not a little bit, but very corny to you?

[loretian]

Regardless, that's just fucking stupid.? Where in the movie do we once see evidence of Donnie possessing telekinisis?? It's been a little while since I've last seen it but i don't remember him having any super-powers like the ability to move things with his mind.? ?Even if he did, why would he crash the jet if that is the entire problem in the first place?? Sometimes writers get too wrapped up in their own bullshit and spit out crap like the "telekinisis" solution.? Doesn't that seem, not a little bit, but very corny to you?

Well, no, not really.  I don't even think it's important in the original movie.  That's why he doesn't make it clear - it doesn't matter.  You'd only pick up on it if you were paying very close attention in the director's cut.  But yes, he does have super powers - time travel, telekinisis, and one other I can't remember.   In the Director's Cut, he also uses his time travel ability earlier in the film, demonstrating that he has the power.

The way I see it, the original movie is completely open to interpretation.  Some people think the whole movie is a dream Donnie has as he's descending into complete madness, right before he dies.  That's totally cool and a completely different take on it.

[DizzyReed63]

Yea, this movie was awesome.
I think Donnie is a superhero, born to save the world.

My band actually wrote a song about Donnie...it's about how he'd be at 40 years old, drinking at a bar and talking about Halloween.

Listen to The Philosophy of Time Travel on our page:   www.myspace.com/bandelive