Donnie Darko

Every creature on this Earth dies alone.

I loved this movie. Look up the backstory information - it fills in a lot of details (I think there were extras on the DVD as well). And yeah Jake was good and hot in this.

Here's the book in the movie:

You’re a moron, OP, and therefore it would be impossible to explain this film for you without the use of puppets and other visual aids. Watch High School Musical next time ...

OP, I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!

I didn't understand it either.

Parallel Earths? What's the Bunny? Is he dead or what?

Jake was too young here, not hot. He got hot in 2005 with 'Jarhead' and 'Brokeback Mountain.'

R6 he was hot. And ripped.

Basically it was an error in the universe due to some mistake with the airplane his sister and mother were on and a copy of the universe was created in a parallel dimension. The connecting point was the airplane engine. Everything from the engine falling on the house until the last few scenes of the movie was after the universe had split in two. The copy universe is connected to the main universe and it is slowly pulling the real universe into itself, which will destroy both of them. At the end in the copy universe,

One person - Donnie - was imbued with the power to fix the problem, by some unknown force or the universe or something. He is the most important person in the copy universe. He had telekinesis and power over the elements like water. He's given the book to tell him what to do. As the movie progresses he gains more control over his powers until finally at the end when he realizes what is going on and fixes the hole in the universe by pulling the airplane engine off and into the hole in the original universe. Then he wakes up in bed back in the real universe, but forgets about the airplane engine and it squishes him.

Everyone else was copied from the original universe to the copy universe but they were still somehow connected to their real selves. So when everyone wakes up in the real universe they remember what they did and what happened to them, but it never really happened in the real universe.

There's more to it but that's how I remember it.

A pocket universe was created, and it collapsed.

The engine that fell was supposed to kill Donnie, but he wasn't there. When the plane lost the engine at the end of the movie that was the engine that actually killed Donnie, and the pocket universe collapsed, and the regular universe was restored.

Thanks for the explantion R8, but that was confusing as shit.

I just finished watching the movie, and I still don't get it. The ending was especially confusing.

I guess you have to understand physics to understand this movie, and physics was never my strong point.

R9 the problem was also that the copy universe was also going to destroy the real universe unless it was fixed.

Explain the Bunny Guy, please.

R12 It's Donnie's sisters boyfriend, who in the alternate universe killed his (Donnies) girlfriend and was then killed by Donnie.

OP pretentious white people love this film. R4 you're still gay SOOOO no one cares about your shitty, bitchy nasty opinion.

R13, is he "dead" and reanimated like the confusing explanation I Googled?

Why did he kill his girlfriend?

Doesn't he help Donnie in the movie?

The characters in the movie - until the last few scenes - are all part of the copy universe. They are there for the purpose of trapping Donnie into fixing the error in the real universe. So everything they do is designed to push him to that goal. The boyfriend isn't dead and reanimated - he's alive in the real universe. But he died in the tangent universe so it gives him the ability to move around a bit in time. So when he shows up to Donnie earlier his job is to manipulate Donnie into actions that result in him fixing the universe. None of the people are real, just Donnie. So they may not be the same as the people in the real universe because they were being forced to try to trap Donnie by something, possibly the universe itself as part of its error correction.

How can DD gain super-powers? How can a duplicate boyfriend manipulate DD into manifesting powers?

If all these duplicates can hop around in time, why do they have to prod DD into saving the real universe?

Is there a force behind them?

Why is DD the only real person in both universes? Why him?

He wàs chosen by the universe to fix the problem. But the universe doesn't want to just leave it to chance, so all the other people around him are there to force him to do it. He is essentially destroying one universe to save another. As for why he was chosen, I don't know - maybe something to do with his attempted suicide.

Thank you, that makes more sense than all the other website explanations I've read in the last 6 or so years since I got the Blu-Ray.

It's a metaphor about the HIV epidemic.

[quote]he was hot. And ripped.

???

he looked like a kid

I liked Donnie Darko a lot, maybe because I like ponderous movies when they are done right. I don't understand the explanations upthread because my mind isn't wired that way. OP, just know that the movie draws you into a very complex story and you believe it. And there are funny bits along the way like the Catholic school kids dancing in slo-mo to Tears for Fears, Drew Barrymore as one of their teachers, and Sparkle Motion. Then, at the end, you find out that what you saw happen—that whole complex story—didn't really happen, and for as much as you believed it, you believe that too. It's a very well made movie.

It's too bad the director was a one movie wonder. His next two films were promising bombs.

r22, oh, what were his follow up films?

[quote]Also, should Jake Gyllenhaal have won an Oscar, for his portrayal of Donnie?

LOL, no.

And I saw this as a fan of the post-NIGHTCRAWLER Gyllenhaal career.

Sounds like it would make a good double feature with “Mulholland Drive”.

Make sure to get stoned first.

I’m voting for Dukakis,

R23, he directed a movie called Southland Tales, many parts of which were four storylines going on at once (the screen was divided into four sections), and The Box, with Cameron Diaz and James Marsden.

Southland Tales was good but weird too.

Thanks, r27, I remember seeing a trailer for 'The Box' but never saw it.

Donnie Darko was brilliant and amazing.

Southland Tales was terrible and unwatchable.

I wanted to fuck alt-Donnie-Darko so bad when I first saw this movie.

I liked the movie but didn't care for Drew Barrymore in this movie. She sounded like she had a swollen tongue.

Cellar Door

I liked Drew in it.

Hated the self-conscious 80s music. Hated Jena Malone. Hated the script which was made for people who thought THE MATRIX RELOADED was edgy.

It was set in 1988.

Piece of shit, overrated film. Life's too short to be watching movies like these, that try to be as confusing as possible just for the sake of it.

I'd rather watch White Chicks or Peyton Place again.

And most 80s music was awful, not this achingly hip shit.

R4 = shouldn't you be licking your shit off of some rentboy's dick??

Man, that bunny used to scare the crap out of me when I was a kid. My parents had the dvd, stuff of nightmares! Watched it when I was a teenager and the film is ok, better than a lot of films released now.

I just watched this movie on Showtime last night, and I had no idea what was going on. It was really hard to understand.

Trying to comprehend a movie, shouldn't be that much work.

All of my friends loved this movie at the time.

Also, Maggie did the movie as a favor to Jake (playing, of course his sister) but apparently he treated her horribly during the production and it screwed up their relationship for a while. He apologized privately and in interviews.

Been years since I saw this, but I seem to remember the original theatrical release was more open to interpretation (Is Jake hallucinating?), and the director's cut lays out the "correct" explanation. I preferred the ambiguity.

[quote]Trying to comprehend a movie, shouldn't be that much work.

I dunno, I think you can appreciate the mood and general weirdness on its own. Richard Kelly may want to overexplain everything but we can still choose to approach it as dream logic. Just enjoy the trip, man.

R43 even when it's explained, it's still not explained fully. Like why Donnie had to die at the end. Why the book is called The Philosophy of Time Travel - did Donnie travel in time? What caused the initial Error, was it Donnie? Why was Donnie chosen to fix the universe? Was time the dimension that was broken? What was the old woman's part in this - how did she know what was happening? Did she know it in the real universe? Why does a copy universe only last for 28 days and no more? The director's cut just included some additional information that should have been in the original which helped give it context, but it didn't really provide answers. So there's still lots to wonder about beyond "was it a dream".

[Quote] Sounds like it would make a good double feature with “Mulholland Drive”. Make sure to get stoned first.

I think that hobo scene would fuck me up if i did that.

Sadly, there was even more content in the amazing website that went with the movie... now long defunct. It was really a great puzzle website, and when you go to the end, there was a scene with the FBI removing the plane engine that fell onto Donnie's room at the beginning... that it had the same serial number as the engine that was lost with his mom in it.... that engine was never found. There was a time distortion there, where the engine landed more than two weeks before it fell off.

Note that there a sequel or two, but they were not made by the original director and he considers them a cash grab/abomination (they are panned as being terrible, too).

I think Donnie could time travel and he did so at the end when he fixed the universe.

We all do die alone...no one can help us through. I want to die alone in the hospital...or maybe in a forest?

I watched Donnie Darko but can't remember it.

[quote]Make sure to get stoned first.

A good rule of thumb for all occasions.

It's been years since I saw the film but I remember liking it. I just took the whole thing as a representation of Donnie Darko's mental illness and didn't think it further. I had a paranoid schizophrenic as a friend at the time which helped me come to that conclusion.

Jake was not a boy. This is him from the same time period. He was hot. The scene where you can see his arm veins and he starts masturbating in the psychologist's office was hot hot hot and fueled some younger me fantasies. I think I was about his age when I saw it, too.

The film came out in 2001, and was probably filmed in 2000. That would make Gyllenhaal around 20 during the filming.

R44 I'm going to take a stab at answering some of your questions.

1. Why Donnie had to die at the end - he was always destined to die. Once the primary universe had been restored, he was placed back at the point where it would have happened.

2. What caused the initial Error, was it Donnie - it's never explained.

3. Why was Donnie chosen to fix the universe - because he was destined to be kileld by the Artifact, so his life was already expendable.

4. What was the old woman's part in this, how did she know what was happening - she's a former Living Receiver.

5. Did she know it in the real universe - yes.

R53 can you show your math on that?

Gonna have to rewatch this now.

[quote] there was a scene with the FBI removing the plane engine that fell onto Donnie's room at the beginning... that it had the same serial number as the engine that was lost with his mom in it.... that engine was never found.

This part, I picked up from the movie.

[quote] There was a time distortion there, where the engine landed more than two weeks before it fell off.

This part, I never would have guess, unless you had mentioned it.

[quote] The scene where you can see his arm veins and he starts masturbating in the psychologist's office was hot hot hot and fueled some younger me fantasies

It really was hot! And when the psychiatrist mentioned something about one of Donnie's male friends, he didn't stop masturbating!

What was that all about?

If nthing else, the music cues were terrific.

There's no explaining it. It doesn't really make sense. But that doesn't matter. I love this movie. It's about tone and atmosphere.

"I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad. The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I ever had"

Dark. Darker. Darko.

I love Donnie Russo

[quote]4. What was the old woman's part in this, how did she know what was happening - she's a former Living Receiver.

r53, it has been a while since I've seen the movie. Can you please explain what a Living Receiver is, was this like a medium?

R61 The Living Receiver is the person chosen to send the Artifact back into the Primary Universe, thus destroying the Tangent Universe. It's alluded to in the film that Roberta Sparrow was once a Living Receiver, and based her book on her own experience.

Anyone mentioning DONNIE DARKO in the same breath as MULHOLLAND DRIVE should be horsewhipped.

Well how about “ Beneath the Valley of the Dolls” then?

In an odd coincidence the movie premiered on September 11, 2001 . It received good reviews but understandably flopped at box office (due to the fact no one was going to movies) and was almost forgotten .

Same thing occurred with Franzen’s novel The Corrections which came out sept 11 2001

Like R50, I also took the whole thing as a representation of Donnie Darko's mental illness and didn't think it further. Possibly that his mental illness was actually caused by some psychic ability. I’ll have to watch it again. Maybe tonight!

Love the movie and where I fell in love with Beth Grant. “He asked me to forcibly insert the exercise card into my anus.” Sometimes I doubt my commitment to Sparkle Motion. Beth I love you.

Kitty, do you know who Graham Greene is!

We all watched Bozanna.

Six Feet Under - chasing the rapture, struck down by a bus - ha!

[quote][R61] The Living Receiver is the person chosen to send the Artifact back into the Primary Universe, thus destroying the Tangent Universe. It's alluded to in the film that Roberta Sparrow was once a Living Receiver, and based her book on her own experience.

r62, thanks, I definitely have to watch this again.

it's the Jesus' story, OP. Donnie dies for the sins of mankind. The end.

R65: the movie premiered at Sundance in january 2001 and released in october 2001.

This is a film I somehow missed but had always intended to watch eventually. After reading this thread I have no interest in viewing it.

^it's less boring and annoying than this thread could make you think, r73

R56, one fact flows from the other... if you 'know' the first fact, then how can you not just assume the second one? It's necessary.

R73, your loss... it's a fantastic movie.

Well, maybe I'll check it out then. Thanks for the recommendations.

It's very memorable. Great music, great atmosphere, great characters, great lines.

It almost doesn't matter if you can't make sense of it by the end (though watching a second time can be helpful).

It was very exciting when it came out. The very depressing Mad World ended up being the Christmas No.1 in the UK. Christmas No.1s are usually Christmas or other types of novelty songs but it was big news that 'the Donnie Darko song' was No.1.

Actually, the biggest influence on DD was the Twilight Zone episode, "Ring-a-Ding Girl," though I don't think Kelly has every acknowledged it. The fact that he made a feature-length version of another Twilight Zone episode demonstrates that he's a big fan.

Richard Kelly really had a tragic career: Southland Tales and the Box were disasters, then he was preparing a movie with James Gandolfini who died, then nothing.

Just watched it again, and found it a horribly depressing movie this time.

Only the theatrical version is worth watching. The director's cut overexplains and saps the film of its poetic quality; also, it reveals that the original version was, truly, an "accidental masterpiece."

I vaguely recall an Outer Limits episode with a sort of similar theme. it was about people who were supposed to die in a crash but survived through some kind of cosmic glitch. The universe was correcting itself and the survivors were vanishing one by one. After they vanished no one would remember them except the other survivors.

Totally agree with R83. Saw the directors cut and came to the same conclusion.

Not available on Netflix or Prime. Maybe I'll see it again someday. I didn't like it first time.

Agree with R83 and R85 - the director’s cut showed he didn’t understand what worked in the film. He even changed some of the songs, which is unforgivable as they were the best part.

[Quote] He even changed some of the songs, which is unforgivable as they were the best part.

Is the Killing Moon still on there?

Why did the chinese girl keep telling everyone to shut up?

That made no sense.

I haven't seen the directors cut because half the genius of the theatrical release was the amazing soundtrack. Unfortunately, for some reason the only version available on streaming sites is the director's cut.

R90? CHUT UP!!

Was Donnie bisexual?

Those in the tangent universe are versions of real people who are doing things meant to provoke Donnie into doing things to return the jet engine to the regular universe which will collapse the tangent universe.

None of them actually did any of it and wake up the morning of the accident recalling it all vaguely the way you often recall a dream, but its closer to a collective delusion than a dream.

That’s why Donnie’s Mom & girlfriend awkwardly wave at each other in the final scene. They have never met, but have a vague feeling of familiarity due to a residue of the tangent universe.

Donnie didn’t forget about the falling jet engine in the end, he smiled and rolled over waiting to be crushed after realizing he had been resorted to the normal universe where he is meant to be crushed by the falling jet engine. His death restores the normal universe by returning the engine which collapses the tangent universe and avoids the fatal collision of the two universes which would destroy everything.

[quote]Richard Kelly really had a tragic career: Southland Tales and the Box were disasters, then he was preparing a movie with James Gandolfini who died, then nothing.

No, he lucked into making Donnie Darko. If you listen to the commentary track on the director's cut (it's him with Kevin Smith), you can tell very quickly that he has no idea what he's talking about. The performances--while I'll give Jena Malone a few demerits--are what make the film. Even the smaller supporting characters, like Noah Wiley and Katharine Ross.

Now THAT is a good explanation, R93.

Thank you.

I hated 'The Box.' Cameron Diaz is always terrible. "Open the box, use the key, someone dies, you get money, then the Monkey's Paw slaps you down." Been done a hundred times before and better. On The Twilight Zone.

'Southland Tales' was pretty good but it was stupid when Justin Timberlake was singing that Killers song. Plus, that was when Justin was still hot in 2006, and his character had that ugly face scar. Ugh. The Late Nineties/Early 2000s Saturday Night Live women were the best parts of the movie, whatever their names are.

"The Donnie Darko Song" could not be more pretentious. Ridiculous.

Oops! Should be: "Open the box, push the button, someone dies, you get money, then the Monkey's Paw slaps you down."

R93 That's incorrect. By the time Donnie dies, the corruption has already been fixed (by his actions in the tangent universe), that's why he's been returned to the primary universe.

True, R98. I meant that he is restored by the fix and accepts his fate which is to be crushed by the engine in the normal universe.

I always assumed he was ok with dying out of frustration over his mental issues and social isolation.

It’s a allegory that enforces that cis-white-males control the universe.

The existence of grandma death is inconvenient to your thesis, Saffie

R98:

I screwed up at R93 by implying that Donnie’s death is what restored things. That was unintentional error on my part.

My intended point there was that dying was part of the deal for Donnie once order was restored and he seemed at peace with that fact.

That peace could be due to frustration over his mental issues or perhaps influenced by seeing what happened to grandma death after surviving the experience of being a ‘living receiver’

I liked the movie then and turns out I didnt understand it at all.

R102 One theory is that Donnie either doesn't remember much about what happened in the tangent universe or that he thinks it was an amusing dream.

That would also explain his smile and rollover, bktbit also makes his death seem even more jarring.

This is such a fun movie for speculation, especially the original cut