Donnie Darko - SPOILERS

[delalluvia]

My English teacher would have given me an “F” if my story ended “…… and it was all a dream”.

Yes, the "it was all just a dream" theory is my least-favorite, too. 

It wouldn't be such a bad ending, actually it would be extremely haunting.  Not that it's a dream, but instead, the fevered delusion of a young man who has gone off his medication and is finally, sadly, tragically, insane;  laughing to himself in his bedroom over nothing, late at night...[shiver]

I rented "Jacob's Ladder" once and after it was over, me and my friend looked at each other and said, "Man, that was one spooky-ass movie."  It was disturbing.

[ednbarby]

That's a good call, Del, on both counts.

I'm liking that theory a bit more, now...  As much as it creeps me out.

And yes, I found Jacob's Ladder disturbing, too.

I think the most disturbing such film I ever saw was one my English teacher showed us in the 8th grade.  I forget what it was called, but it was based on a classic short story about a Civil War veteran who is about to be hanged for desertion, but who somehow slips the noose, gets away from the Executioner and his captors, and makes it back home to see his wife and baby.  Then, just as he's about to embrace them, he is snapped out of his reverie by the trap door opening and actually being hanged by the noose.

*shiver*

It seems many stories like it have followed - "The Others" comes to mind, although in a different sort of way - you know, that mind playing tricks on you sort of thing.

But your version of DD is actually way more disturbing.

And makes me want to watch it again tonight with a leaning towards that angle...

[delalluvia]

That's a good call, Del, on both counts.

I'm liking that theory a bit more, now...  As much as it creeps me out.

And yes, I found Jacob's Ladder disturbing, too.

I think the most disturbing such film I ever saw was one my English teacher showed us in the 8th grade.  I forget what it was called, but it was based on a classic short story about a Civil War veteran who is about to be hanged for desertion, but who somehow slips the noose, gets away from the Executioner and his captors, and makes it back home to see his wife and baby.  Then, just as he's about to embrace them, he is snapped out of his reverie by the trap door opening and actually being hanged by the noose.

*shiver*

Ow, very scary.  I've always been frightful of such stories.  How far can your mind fool you and the horror that might suddenly come upon you?  I've not heard about that story, but I read a similar themed story as a kid in a comic book, and of course, even the movie "The Matrix" takes that route.  Your reality isn't your reality.  Your mind is being fooled...Stephen King wrote a short story based on this haunting premise called "Springheel Jack" which creeped me out and still does after all these years.

But your version of DD is actually way more disturbing.

And makes me want to watch it again tonight with a leaning towards that angle...

You want to watch for the little hints - I mean, I know this take is wrong, the director says so in his commentary -  but it's easy to find hints here and there.

Here's one hint that's it's all in Donnie's mind - when he wakes up and leaves his house and ends up on the golf course.  As he's leaving his house, he passes the refrigerator and picks up the marker that is hanging there next to the little refrigerator bulletin board.  He later uses this to write the date on his arm.

How did he know he was going to need something to write with unless it was all in his mind already?   

[Mikaela]

Well, I've never. Someone's apparently planning to make a DD sequel, where Donnie's kid sister Samantha is the main protagonist. This according to ComingSoon.net:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=44826

I think it's a bad idea. Great movies should be allowed to stand on their own, and be interpreteded without sequel interference complete with superfluous added-on tid-bits or ditto theories that only manage to dilute the mystery, ambiguity and impact of the original.

 

[ifyoucantfixit]

           I know what it is, and it is definitely one of his best acting jobs,, It was a very good
movie by all the actors in it.  I own it.  Funny and sad, and oddly interesting all at once.

[Front-Ranger]

I loved the trampoline shots, too.  I'm with you - something about it made my heart stop.  And I'm with you about Jake in this one.  Just perfect.

Elle, I think Melinda is right.  Watch the theatrical release first, then the Director's Cut.  I really loved the added Watership Down scene in the DC.  But having watched that my second time and then buying the original and watching that my third, I did notice that things were cut from the original that I had really loved, too.  Either way, though, it's all good.

Now I have to see the director's cut of this movie once again, now that I'm reading Watership Down. And, in another bunny coincidence, I actually played the bunny, the killer rabbit, in a recreation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, at the actual cave where it was shot. What a coincidence!

About "I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad that the dreams I have of dying are the best I've ever had" this makes a lot of sense, because the Tibetans think of dreams as the practice run for death. And, in an inside joke, the primary expert about Tibetan Buddhism in the United States is Robert Thurman, father of Uma Thurman.