nine

Donnie Darko - tell me what I just watched? Thought it was great but don't understand what the hell was happening.

Obvious as soon as his mum got on the plane that the engine falling through the house was actually at the end of the movie. But I don't think that was the point of the film.

Someone want to tell me what it was all about.

Kadath

If Donnie had lived, the girl he loved would have died, Swayze's house would have burned down and he would have been ruined, and there's a couple other things. Oh, right. His mother and sister would have died. So Donnie had to die in order to save the people he cared about. He knew it, and was at peace with it. I guess that's my take.
Oh, and about Swayze, some people choose to interpret the scene with him sobbing at the end as his redemption, i.e. he will reform his evil ways.
Or is this not what you meant?

__________________
it's quiet in here

nine

I thought the camera panning by all the key players at the end of the film was to show that they knew Donnie had given is life. The guy crying was in redemption of his actions - but primarily because he knew Donnie had given him a chance to correct his ways.

It felt like they all seemed to know apart from his girlfriend.

Porkchop

Very strange movie but brilliant all the same

__________________
Be cool b*tch now b*tch be cool
Sport 1976 Taxi Driver.

Xixox

Just rented the DVD, watched the show twice (once with commentary) and went through all the special features. Here's the general idea...

[SPOILER ALERT!]



The night the jet engine crashes into the Darko household is the beginning of an alternate universe. The jet engine is pulled through a wormhole in spacetime, landing 28 days in the past right in Donnie's room. Donnie is rescued by Frank, who leads him sleepwalking away from the house.

Frank tells Donnie that night that the world is going to end in 28 days, and he means it. Not just Donnie's life... all existance. When a parallel universe is created by an anomaly in spacetime - such as a big jet engine crashing into a house 28 days before the plane leaves the ground - the fabric of spacetime needs to correct itself within a few weeks, or the rend will fall in upon itself, creating a black hole.

They have excerpts from the book Philosophy of Time Travel on the DVD - they're really worth a look. There's discussion of tangent universes, artifacts transferred between them (like the jet engine), the receiver (Donnie) who is usually one gifted with 6th sense, and the manipulated (everyone else effected by the split between dimensions).

To fix this hole, people who are effected by the changes between the split realities are manipulated (without knowing it) to driving Donnie into repairing the rift. People who die in the split reality are able to make stronger impressions through the past - so we have Frank visiting Donnie in his dreamstates, and Gretchen falling in love with Don. Other people are manipulated as well - his English teacher works the connection to Gretchen in (and in deleted scenes she teaches about end-of-the-world scenarios through the novel Watership Down); his Physics teacher leads him to understanding time travel (and just happens to have a copy of the book Philosophy of Time Travel on him); and the ex-nun who wrote that book has remained alive long enough so she can make the last influence of events that pushes Donnie to his destiny. Every relationship that Donnie has is intertwined, and each has the purpose to push him towards having him patch the universe.

So 28 days after the jet engine falls from the sky, Donnie is up on the hillside. He causes the jet engine to fall from the sky, through the rift, back 28 days in the past. He goes home, up to bed... and he wakes up 28 days in the past (now that the tangent universes have returned to normality), thinking everything that just happened was all a vivid dream. Then the jet engine falls through the roof & kills him. Everyone else in town wakes up from the same vivid dream with just faint memories of what had transpired. The people you see at the end are those who were effected most: The teacher who now realizes that her hero the self-help guru is a perv, the self-help guru (who ends up killing himself later, heheee), the English teacher who still has her job & her hubby the Physics teacher, Frank, etc. There's even a hint of a connection between Gretchen & Donnie's mom, even though they've never really met.

I think I'll be watching this one several more times, and catching more bits every time.
As the song says, It's a mad world.

__________________
Incompetence
When you earnestly believe you can compensate for a lack of skill by doubling your efforts, there's no end to what you can't do.

Sparhawk

Incredible movie, I really enjoyed it. The relationship between Donnie and Gretchen was probably the "most real" I've ever seen hollywood portray a teenage relationship. But the real quality to all the acting made it so watchable, and the ending so tragic.

Highly Recommended!

__________________
"In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. It's - and it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. We're making progress. It is hard work."

h2ogo69

the movie was pretty fucin awesome

infamous

can't improve much on xixox's explanation, but i know i will never forget that "smurfs are asexual"

__________________
If your parents never had childern, chances are you never will either...

madsenj37

The best way to understand what you just watched is to watch it again. You can listen to others explanations, but if you do not know what they are talking about, what they say will have no meaning for you.

__________________
"Only two things are certain: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not certain about the universe."
-- Albert Einstein

rainincarnate

Personally i thought the directors explanation was a bit weak. It sort of wrapped it up a bit too nicely and relys heavily on stuff your never going to find out unless you get the dvd. I dunno, im sort of a fan of lynch and his whole - your interpretation is the right one, not the directors or some film buff on the internet....

As a film i think its astounding - it has a definite feel to it, ....a feeling i havent felt in a long time...(enough with the star wars quotes...)

seretogis

Jake Gyllenhaal.

*swoon*

__________________
seretogis - sieg heil
perfect little dream the kind that hurts the most, forgot how it feels well almost
no one to blame always the same, open my eyes wake up in flames

Sparhawk

I dunno... I've got a Baaaaaaaad feeling about this...

__________________
"In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. It's - and it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. We're making progress. It is hard work."

eyeronic

That was a great movie. After reading the thread, I want the DVD!

__________________
I hold with those that favor fire.

SecretMethod70

Xixox pretty much covered most of what I was going to say - I too have the DVD as it's one of my favorite movies.

There are a lot of relgious overtones as well. In the deleted scenes you find out outright what was only hinted at in the final cut, that Frank is a messenger from God. You will also take notice that the other movie playing at the theatre when he leaves to bun down the motivational speaker's house is "The Last Temptation of Christ."

Donnie is the oft-used (at least in literature) Christ-figure.

__________________
Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

attercop1

Loved this movie! Have watched it a few times now and have just ordered the DVD. Reminded me somehow of a movie I saw years ago on PBS called The Lathe of Heaven. Not the story so much as the general "feel" of the movie. Definitely 1 for the collection.

Lord Humungus

I thought it was awesome. I am getting very fond of Jake Gyllenhaal as an actor. I would like to see him in more movies. Every movie I have seen him in, he has been fantastic. Heres to Jake! *lifts beer mug* ZiggiZaggiZiggiZaggiHoiHoiHoi

__________________
I am still searching for the movie this quote was in...
"Make you strong, like bull", said in a russian accent
Post here if you know anything...PLEASE!

TheDave87

I agree about the relationship being very real... its one of the main points of why i love the movie. Ive still yet to fully grasp it enough to form a good theory on it, but Xixox did a pretty damned good job

__________________
Honk if you've never seen an uzi fired from a car window!

World's King

It was a fucked up version of "Harvey" with Jimmy Stewert.

__________________
heavy is the head that wears the crown

LuFega

My take on the Pedo crying was that he was full of "FEAR." He portrayed one person in public when in reality he was sad and messed up. I thought it was a good movie. It left me feeling a little weird. I love it when movies make me feel that way.

monody

wonderfully disturbing movie.

the director comes so close to so many truths in the movie, then seems to knock them all down. makes you wonder how much he really knows and how much he's attempting to cover up.

the movie gives me goosebumps every time i watch it. i wish there was the option to watch the deleted scenes in context.

in any case:

burn it down.

__________________
Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to explain the curious attractiveness of others.
-Oscar Wilde.

KWSN

OUTSTANDING film. What Xixox and Kadath said pretty much summed up everything I had thought about it, just Xixox's more in-depth than mine. BTW, you can get glimpses into the "future events" that occur after the film on the website, www.donniedarko.com .

That website creeps me out almost more than the damn movie.

__________________
Your arms are broken!

Stiltzkin

Watched it not too long ago (downloaded it actually ). The song at the end is really good, too. Downloaded it and listened to it over and over. Its called "Mad World" by the way, the song that is. And umm... yeah. Good movie. Really good movie, actually. I think the main point of the movie is that "we don't die alone". Of course, I never just watch something without questioning everything about it, including its fundamental roots: is dying alone really all that bad? I don't know. Maybe it is; I wouldn't know since I've never done it Guess we'll all just have to wait and see.

Oh, yeah, and if you liked Donnie Darko and you also like anime (shame on you if you don't), then also watch Neon Genesis Evangelion-- damn good anime.

__________________
The most important thing in this world is love.

Eviltree

loved it, didn't understand it.

crow_daw

I've only seen it once, and I liked it alot, I love a movie that actually challenges you to think. But having read this thread, I really wanna see it again, cause I'm remembering how brilliant that movie was. Its amazing because I've never heard of anyone not liking that movie. Even a friend of mine who likes mindless cinema because he's not much of a.........well........thinker, even he loved this movie. Its fantastic.

__________________
"We each have a star, all we have to do is find it. Once you do, everyone who sees it will be blinded." - Earl Simmons

The Atomic Boy

yeah I watched for the first time just last night(actualy about 2 am yesterday morning). Since it was so late I figured Id just watch first ten minutes to figure out what its about then go to sleep and watch it the next day but it was really compelling. I don't know how I've never heard of this film and neither have any of the friends I've talked to about it. Was really impressed with the website as well. Its not often you see a movie based website with that much if any depth.

__________________
All problems no matter how complex can be solved with fire and/or duct tape.

papermachesatan

It's made its way on to my favorite movie list.

Spartak

It's not incredibly hard to understand IMO, as it wraps itself nicely at the end.

Very cool film, kinda like Fight Club, where you spend 2/3s of the movie trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

__________________
I can read your mind... looking at you... I can read your mind...

giblfiz

A great movie, but the ending is not so clear cut. There are two major schools of thought as to why Donnie ends up going back to his room at the end to be killed. The first and aparently more poular is that he is martyring himself in order to save all the people he died. The darker opinion is that he forgets/doesn't realise that this is when his bedroom will be destroyed, and his death is due to simple human error (a rather black humor way to go, which fits the tone of the movie) The directors almost certinly intended for the first interpritation (given all of the christ overtones donnie being a martyr is just par for the course) but I think the second interpritation makes a much more interesting ending.

__________________
Use the star one and you'll be fighting off the old ones with your bare hands
-A Shoggoth on the Roof

SecretMethod70

Having seen the director's commentary, etc, I can tell you with certainty that the director intended the first interpretation that you give gibfiz

__________________
Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

The Atomic Boy

I've been thinking it over and while I agree Donnie Martyred himself I think its for different reasons then most people point out. Everyone points out the things like him burning down Swayze's house and causing his girlfriend to die but these were all things he had to do to send the engine back in time and keep the tangent universe from collapsing. If he had somehow lived after sending the engine back he wouldn't still burn down his house or flood the school because he wouldn't need to. I think the reason he dies in the end was he was supposed to be killed by the engine but first he had to right the whole tangent universe thing first.

__________________
All problems no matter how complex can be solved with fire and/or duct tape.

Meg

I think you just need to watch the movie 3-4 times and come up with your own interpretation. I think it's about sacrificing yourself for the better good. It's definitely one of my favorite movies.

Jesus Malverde

Yeah this was definitely one of those movies that my parents would SURELY not understand. I really liked it, just like all other movies that leave me thinking about their meanings. Too bad I don't know too many people who have seen it, I would love to talk about it with my friends.

__________________
...I'm that cat by the bar toasting to the good life...

Tickford

That movie was just alittle to odd for me.....

__________________
Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined.

Samuel Goldwyn

almostaugust

Yeah, i loved this film. The same day that i saw this i met the band that do the song 'Under the Milky Way Tonight' from the actual film, as their recording studio is in the same building where a mate of mine works. I was walking up the stairs thinking about the film and ran into them. Weird.

__________________
'And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember all the times I tried to tell my myself
To hold on to these moments as they pass'

gnort

seen the movie tons of times....and love it every time....brb, gotta go watch it

__________________
You had me at Qapla'

auswegian

Heh, I saw this thread, read up to the 'Warning Spoilers' part, then stopped and left and went and watched it. A very, very good movie. I love a good mindfuck.

__________________
"Look, I'm pretty relaxed for a guy who just lost money on a rave. And who's currently speeding down the highway drunk off my tits. And I'm being chased by someone in a blue Corolla. Woohoo! I just ran a red light!"

Hrothgar

very cool movie which requires repeated viewings. open to tons of discussion and analysis.

__________________
The fortunes of war favored Hrothgar.

WhoaitsZ

whoa

saw it, enjoyed it, understood it.

fucking brainfuck

ouch

Nimbletoe

This is one of the greatest movies i've ever seen.

__________________
Go Pistons!

Jam

yeah, and then theres movies like punch drunk love where you spend the whole movie trying to figure out what the hell is going on :P (adaptation had the same affect on me but i was half a sleep and thought nicolas cages brother was imagineary... )