Hey, Penth, I figured this'd get your attention.
I wonder how you figuered that, lol
I can't get Tears for Fears' "Mad World" (the song played at the end) out of my head. I keep hearing the line "I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad that the dreams I have of dying are the best I've ever had." Such a beautiful, haunting melody. And movie.
As far as I know the version of Mad World played in DD is not by Tears for Fears, but by Michael Andrews. I know the older version too, but it never "got me". But the slower, newer version, the one by M.Andrews haunts me since a couple of years. Every time I hear it on the radio I can't get it out of my mind (and don't want to). I'm melting, it is so beautiful and sad. I loved this song before I saw DD. And didn't know it was in the movie. Can you imagine my reaction at the end of DD, when this melody started?
And the lyrics. Yes, it's exactly those line you have quoted which haunts me.
I'll be damned, but I think I've fallen in love with another one of Jake's characters. (And that's rare - honest. I've seen pretty much all his movies and Jack Twist was the only one. Until now.) I just adore Donnie Darko. I love his courage - the way he never backs down to the bully who's constantly harassing and trying to intimidate him, the way he speaks up whenever he sees injustice - and he sees it a lot - the way Frank fascinates him but doesn't scare him. I love the family relationships - how the parents first of all actually look like they could be his (and Elizabeth's/Maggie's and Samantha's) parents and how they're actually likable - something you almost never see in high school type movies. I also like how the bully isn't some pumped up jock (usually the jocks are not the bullies - they're too busy doing their jock-ish thing) but a ne'er-do-well asshole like they really are. And I really love how none of the characters fits neatly into some stereotype. They are all fully-realized human beings. Now that's original, especially in a movie mostly about high school age kids.
"I made a new friend today."
"Real or imaginary?"
You are so right in everything you said about the characters. Well, I haven't fallen in live with them (yet?), but find them very likeable.
I can't give any insightful or elaborate comment right now, because I feel just like Mikaela said: my head is spinning and I have
some many questions about the movie,
some many things that had not become clear to me. I simply *have* to see it again.
Luckily, it was repeated the next night and I taped it!
And like Mikaela, I absolutely love the weird humour in DD: the conversation you quoted, the bunny suit exchange and the one in the car with his dad, nearly hitting Grandma Death (hilarious name btw, nasty but hilarious anyway):
"Dad!"
"What?"
"
DA-AD!!!"
And later on, Dad's comment: "I didn't know she's still alive until I almost killed her" (my translation, I've seen the dubbed version, hope it's the same in English).
At the 29th there will be another movie with Jake on TV and I will see it (Moonlight Mile). Hope he won't die at the end of this one, too. Otherwise I will quit any Jake movies for good, I guess