DARKO and DIRECTING

[TomTowers]

I got this on DVD from America.. Which was before it had even reached the cinema in the uk.
Love the film think it's an absoulute classic!

[GREATwarEAGLE]

Spoilers ahead I guess.

In sequential order, the acting and character behavior/relationships that caught my attention:

-Dad ambushes his own daughter, aiming the leaf-blower in her face, then up her a$$, then laughs to himself about it

-First dinner table scene, teenage kids are arguing, swearing, in the presence of their pre-teen sister. So what does Dad do? Rather than telling the kids to stop swearing, he advices the pre-teen to cover her ears.

-Dad saying to his wife
"You're not a bjtch. You're bitchen. But you're not a bjtch"

- Donnie saying to his younger sister
"Godamn right I will"

- Donnie's enthusiastic response to Gretchen's dad having emotional problems, "I have those, too!!" He's so happy and excited.

-Dad unable to control his laughter after hearing what Donnie told the teacher to do with the book.

-The entire sequence where Donnie confronts Patrick Swayze during the little seminar. But specifically, Donnie's embarrassment after calling him "the f*cking Anti-Christ." This is the scene that really does it for me. The Principal ushers Donnie out of the auditorium and Donnie smiles innocently like, "What did I do?" He's not basking in glory for speaking out, like other movies would show. He's seems a bit embarrassed about it, laughing at the ridiculousnees of the situation and shows modesty after the crowd's applause.

These are most of the scenes. There might be a few more.

It's because it's in the context of a teen sci-fi movie that these scenes stood out for me. I think even in the most serious of subject matter (which most of my film interests are), a sense of humor is a must. As someone who was in Manhattan on 9/11 and had to work in close proximty to Ground Zero for the aftermath and following months - if I were to ever make some kind of film about that day, I'd still maintain a constant sense of humor.
I wouldn't try to be a manipulative tear-jerker. There's even room for comedy.

Just look at how a proud Jew like Mel Brooks handles Hitler. And I don't believe it's insensitve.

[emjen]

I agree about humor. Everyone has some kind of sense of humor, and in the most serious films they still should be able to laugh. This will get both a very realistic effect, because the characters seem real, you get to like the characters more (or dislike if they like beating up cats) and it's entertaining for the audience.

I still don't get the end with donnie darko. It was all good and kind of funny, yes, but the ending... I just don't get it. For some kind of reason I feel that it doesn't 'fit' (is correct, there's a fault in it).

(Reminds me of Mulholland Drive. I felt the movie was just being too smart on me to like it.)

[thelaughingduck2001]

Darko is one of my top five favourite films (after Taxi Driver, Reservoir Dogs, Desperado and the original Matrix) and I think the ending is in no way confusing-It just takes a few screenings to understand it.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Donnie Darko is a normal kid given superhero-like powers by the spirits to show people the error of their ways. An angel (in the guise of Donnie's older Sister's boyfriend Frank) comes and shows him the way. Therefore, when Donnie (with his new powers) brings his Mother's plane to a halt and kills himself, he has stopped any of the things he has done happening-But shows others the error of their ways through their 'dreams'.

Still a bit hard to understand? Go through the web page clips on the DVD extras to find out what happens to Jim Cunningham (Swayze) the next day. That'll help you understand a bit more.

[twister!]

One point of view is: why not say it in the film - why make the audience go away and have to sift through DVD extras and search the web to try and explain what the director didn't/couldn't?

An alternative point of view is: by leaving it confusing and with clues to explain it on DVDs etc is quite post-modern and interesting BUT, importantly, this only works if your audience can actually be arsed to do the research - otherwise the audience is left with the thought: 'that film was a bit of a mess' which is the way it will be remembered by the majority (me included).

[GREATwarEAGLE]

I agree. And when I watched the movie with DVD commentary, I thought director Richard Kelly was dreaming if he expected people to come to some of those conclusions. Quite like David Lynch.

But as I stated, it's not the plot that interests me. It was the human interaction. And the instrumental score.

2 other parts I liked:

-Noah Wyle ending the time travel discussion because he could lose his job. This may be only a U.S. issue and unclear to a European audience. In America it's the separation of church and state.

-Noah Wyle's subtlety in telling the 2 punk trouble maker students to simply "Get out" in a controlled tone of voice, after their cruel and insensitive mocking of Gretchen and her unstable father.

[miker]

well I couldn't be left out from the buzz so I finally got around to seeing Donnie Darko.

I think it's a very good, thought provoking film. It didn't occur to me until afterwards, but it is very sparse on action in the traditional (Hollywood) sense.

I don't think I understood it all, and I totally missed Frank being Donnie's older sister's boyfriend.

I liked the subplot with the fat chinese girl. It suggested to me that it is the outcasts who have the richer life experience in the longer term. That's just my interepretation.

The premise reminded me a lot of Twelve Monkeys, but Darko handles it totally differently. Darko gives me the impression that not only is time not linear, but it's beyond rationale. (My personal sense tells me that time is a measurement and all measurements are created by humans constrained by ways of thinking within their restrictive physical world - but that's just me ;-) - Donnie even remarks at some point that such things are beyond debate. Nice touch.

I'm not sure of the significance of the exchange at the end after Donnie's death between his would-be girlfriend and his mother - that sets me off on other trains of thought that are no doubt red herrings. But generate fresh ideas of my own. For instance, a combination of a pub conversation about Matrix Revolutions and seeing Donnie Darko (in that order, on the same day) has led me to include a philisophical scene in a screenplay I'm writing. A scene that otherwise would have been a flatter conversation of persuasion and vague motivation.

I liked Darko, it created some random synaptic action which has helped me. It's one of those ones that stays with you.

[thelaughingduck2001]

the Twelve Monkeys thing might be true, as I've read in mny a Richard Kelly interview that Terry Gilliam was THE big influence whilst the writing was taking place of the movie.

And what else is weird, is me and my friends at school were talking about The matrix and Donnie Darko in the same sentence today.

We were saying how amazing it could've been is Jake Gyllenhaal would've been cast as Neo.