Donnie Darko - SPOILERS

[ednbarby]

Hey, Penth, I figured this'd get your attention. 

OK, so I watched this for my third time ever on Sunday night and I have to say - big shocker - I've become somewhat obsessed with it.  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.

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?"

[opinionista]

I had a good laugh with the hungry hungry hippos line and the "smurfette doesn't fuck". That was very funny.

[Mikaela]

Pops in lured by the thread title:

I second everything you said. DD is a fantastic film, one that gets better and more nuanced (more solutions, but also more questions) upon repeat viewings. First time I saw it my head was completely spinnning! Love the parents, the way they're supportive of their son. Love the sessions with the shrink. Love the "Why are you in the bunny suit/why are you wearing that man suit" exchange. Talk about chills down the spine! Love the weird humour. And Jake is fabulous in it, oh-so-good, balancing all those various Donnie moods to perfection. Wow! And.... OK, the ending. **gulp**

I could go on. And on. But you get my drift.  

It's not certain I'd have seen DD except for BBM, which has made me make a point of watching as good as all of Jake's films and most of Heath's. I'm so glad BBM led me to the gem that is DD. Several of the others are also very good.

[Sashca1007]

Barb -

Yep...  me, too.  What you said.    Jake is perfection in this movie, and it IS easy to fall for his character.  Donnie is admirable for all the reasons you stated--  pretty level-headed considering all that was happening to him.  I, too, have been haunted by the very line of that song that you mentioned.  When I hear even a second or two of that song (my daughters have the song and play it) I feel sadness for Donnie.  I do own the original version of the DVD, but recently I saw the newer version (director's cut) at the theater. It was  the beautiful big screen at the Parkway in Oakland, the same theater with 'all-couch' seating where Eric (sfericsf) and I went to see Brokeback Mountain.  Wow.  Donnie Darko on the big screen was glorious (well, yeah, it was Jake, right?    )   I'd love to chat more about Donnie and the movie right now, but I'm already going to be late for work--  darn you, Barb, enticing me with the words 'Donnie Darko'!  I'll be BACK.   



Beautiful boy....


Oh, wait--!  Don't you wish Dr. Thurman had waited a bit longer before she interrupted Donnie's 'hypnosis'?  You know which scene I mean!   

[Penthesilea]

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 

[ednbarby]

I think there are only three Jake movies (so far) in which his character dies at the end, so let's hope that's the end of that little streak for a while. 

Melinda, of course I know just which scene you mean.  Poor Donnie - that damned Dr. Thurman keeps waking him up in compromising positions, doesn't she?  There's that hugging one, too.  And yes - if I were her, I'd definitely wait a while longer in both cases (and then eventually be arrested and/or institutionalized, I reckon).

Yes, Penth, this one demands at least a second viewing.  I also thoroughly enjoyed my third.  But now I feel so sad for Donnie that I think I'll just have to watch it again in the hopes of tempering that sadness a little bit.

Really, it's such a lovely movie, and everyone with one exception is pitch-perfect in it.  The exception being Drew Barrymore.  I like the character a lot, but her readings fall flat a couple of times.  I can overlook it for the greater good, though.  And I appreciate her greatly for getting the thing made in the first place.  You're right, Mikaela - it is indeed a gem.

[Penthesilea]

DD is a fantastic film, one that gets better and more nuanced (more solutions, but also more questions) upon repeat viewings.

That's my impression, too.

First time I saw it my head was completely spinnning!

That's me now after one viewing. So many questions, especially about Frank. I doubt if I got anything straight about this movie. Frank was another high school kid who plaid a trick on Donnie, wasn't he? But if so, how did these strange things happen? How is it that Frank has a kind of "shield" around him? I don't get the logic behind all this time-shift-thing.
I know what happens in the end (time-travelling backwards, lying in his bed to change the realitiy/future). But I don't have a clue how.

[Penthesilea]

I think there are only three Jake movies (so far) in which his character dies at the end, so let's hope that's the end of that little streak for a while. 

Cross my fingers. One one hand I'm tempted to ask which one is the third, but on the other hand I don't want to spoil any movie for myself. Hmmm... If I was to give it a shot, I'd say maybe in Bubble Boy.

[ednbarby]

Cross my fingers. One one hand I'm tempted to ask which one is the third, but on the other hand I don't want to spoil any movie for myself. Hmmm... If I was to give it a shot, I'd say maybe in Bubble Boy.

I'm not tellin'.  You'll just have to see them all. 

I will give you a hint, though - it's my third favorite of all of his movies.  (Ooh.  Weird how that works out.)

[Mikaela]

Hmmm... If I was to give it a shot, I'd say maybe in Bubble Boy.

I don't think I'm giving too much away if I'm saying that Bubble Boy is the film for you if you want to see Jake in diapers at the end - not if you want to see his character dying. 
Won't tell which film the third one is though - except I'll say it's about the only one of his I haven't seen myself and now I'm motivated to get hold of it. (Not because of the dying, but because it's among Barb's favourites.)

I absolutely loved Bubble Boy, btw. Didn't expect to, as not all crazy comedy  hits the right spot for me, but I thought it was completely, madly, over-the-top hilarious. Irreverent. Silly and fun as uhm.....hell. And Jake....... is so endearing and cute in the middle of the chaos. I can't see *anyone* else managing that potentially über-embarrassing role without making a total ass of himself.

But I do see how it won't be the film for everyone.