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Friday, October 30, 2009

Donnie Darko

A friend of mine recommended the movie Donnie Darko to me, and I just finished it. Following are some rambling thoughts from the film - SPOILER ALERT- If you haven't seen it and don't wanna know what happens, read no further!

When the closing credits started rolling, all I could think was WTF just happened? So let me get this straight, he traveled time on purpose, to sacrifice himself and change the outcomes? Was he saving human existence? It makes sense that he believed so, since he repeats that it's all going to be alright several times throughout the film. But is it? Cunningham, the perv life coach - in the end, he's still a perv, and wasn't caught. So Donnie Darko did right a lot of wrongs, but wasn't it all just his own wrongs (which in turn, changed the outcomes of those closest to him)? I'm left confused about Frank - at first I was convinced he was the dead kid his parents talked about from high school, but then we see him again at the very end with the drawings of the scary rabbit and the crazy mask? What about all the references to God? It's almost like he defied God in creating his own destiny vs. accepting the path God has laid out for us. What about the teacher (played by Drew Barrymore...nice surprise), I got lost on her purpose in the film, unless it was just all some weird coincidence that she crossed paths with Donnie Darko. Perhaps she's the person who allows us to see his intelligence and lucidity despite the mental illness. Riddle me this, Batman - was it mental illness? Was he really a schizophrenic? Oh, and Grandma Death - did she still get the letter? I'm assuming so, it was a tangible he mailed to her before going back in time. There were so many factors that depended upon each other in the film to make it all fit, i.e. the bully waiting in the cellar for him near the end, which causes the girlfriend to get run over. Why would the bully have been there? I definitely need to watch this film again, it's one of those I'm sure I'll have "A-ha!" moments every time I watch.

If you watched the film - please, tell me what you thought, and by all means, enlighten me with your take on it. If I'm spending this much energy pondering a film at its end, you can assume I enjoyed it. The cast was phenomenal, the movie moved at a very good pace and I always love a movie that makes me think about it for hours after it's over. It was the mind screw I was promised!


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3 comments:

Jill - GlossyVeneer said...

I just barely watched this too and was left with the "WTF?" feeling at the end. I watched the Director's Cut and already sent it back to Netflix, but I'm going to re-request it. I feel that I need to watch it again. And maybe watch it with commentaries on... and just watch it again. There's a lot of depth there that I feel I've barely toed the surface.

Bar L. said...

Donnie Darko? I cam over looking for a pic of Maddy in a Halloween suit :)

Miss you!

Cupcake Blonde said...

I never got this movie. I think need to see it again. Maybe the director's cut explains more?