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Can someone help me understand Donnie Darko?

 
 
Can someone help me understand Donnie Darko?
11-29-2009 10:53 AM by JurassicUtility. 44 replies.
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I-Weapon-X:

Mechazawa005:
Primer is another good one if anyone is looking for related film concerning time-travel.

So is Back to the Future Stick out tongue

I could always understand Doc's rants in BttF 100% of the time.  Primer went WAY over my head and made me do some extra reading to try and grasp concepts.  Not saying I always want homework with my movies, but I can appreciate Primer's uncompromised approach and asking the audience to apply themselves in order to follow along.

...and IMO BttF was the better movie.  Stick out tongue

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Mechazawa005:

Zenverse:
Edit: However, I did enjoy Butterfly Effect with it's sort of interpretation of Chaos Theory.

If you didn't watch Director's Cut of Butterfly Effect, check it out at some point if you rewatch the movie.  It has a few different elements that really add to the story...

...and the alternate ending is  Zip it!  ...much better IMO.

 

Primer is another good one if anyone is looking for related film concerning time-travel.  Good story once you watch it to the end, but bring a pen and paper since the first 30+ minutes is like getting a lecture in advanced engineering theory.

Actually, I think I did watch the director's cut which was much better than the theatrical release. I thought the alternate ending fit better with the movie, despite...well, you know. I'll have to check out Primer and perhaps watch Donnie Darko and Butterfly Effect again. I like movies dealing with time travel/alternate universes, even if they sometimes make my head hurt just thinking about them. :)

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Zenverse:

Mechazawa005:

Zenverse:
Edit: However, I did enjoy Butterfly Effect with it's sort of interpretation of Chaos Theory.

If you didn't watch Director's Cut of Butterfly Effect, check it out at some point if you rewatch the movie.  It has a few different elements that really add to the story...

...and the alternate ending is  Zip it!  ...much better IMO.

 

Primer is another good one if anyone is looking for related film concerning time-travel.  Good story once you watch it to the end, but bring a pen and paper since the first 30+ minutes is like getting a lecture in advanced engineering theory.

Actually, I think I did watch the director's cut which was much better than the theatrical release. I thought the alternate ending fit better with the movie, despite...well, you know. I'll have to check out Primer and perhaps watch Donnie Darko and Butterfly Effect again. I like movies dealing with time travel/alternate universes, even if they sometimes make my head hurt just thinking about them. :)

I would also recommend watching the tv series LOST

Pm me your email addy for Lockerz invite have 9 left redemption coming soon

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batmania15:

Zenverse:

Mechazawa005:

Zenverse:
Edit: However, I did enjoy Butterfly Effect with it's sort of interpretation of Chaos Theory.

If you didn't watch Director's Cut of Butterfly Effect, check it out at some point if you rewatch the movie.  It has a few different elements that really add to the story...

...and the alternate ending is  Zip it!  ...much better IMO.

 

Primer is another good one if anyone is looking for related film concerning time-travel.  Good story once you watch it to the end, but bring a pen and paper since the first 30+ minutes is like getting a lecture in advanced engineering theory.

Actually, I think I did watch the director's cut which was much better than the theatrical release. I thought the alternate ending fit better with the movie, despite...well, you know. I'll have to check out Primer and perhaps watch Donnie Darko and Butterfly Effect again. I like movies dealing with time travel/alternate universes, even if they sometimes make my head hurt just thinking about them. :)

I would also recommend watching the tv series LOST

I already watch it. :D

Believe me, I was super excited when they first found out about the time discrepancy.

Love the show and can't wait for the final season. I'm kinda sad it will end, but I'm glad it will have a planned conclusion.

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I thought it was fairly straightforward. A jet engine falls on a kids house while he's not there because he followed some hallucinations, and he does a bunch mostly unrelated stuff resulting in his mother being on that plane, all the while having visions about stuff that hasn't happened yet. And for no discernible reason the jet engine is magically warped through time to land on his house but this time he is killed because he never left his room. The whole thing is sort of a 'for want of a nail' story with him staying home or following the bunny as the point of divergence.

I thought it was fairly enjoyable, not particularly well written and definitely overwrought and pretentious, but the plot is fairly solid and presented in a way that you can still enjoy it despite its flaws. It wasn't nearly as mindblowing or deep as I heard, but when I went in I was expecting some horribly overrated juvenile garbage. It was pretty decent.

Also the best time travel movies are Back to the Future, 12 Monkeys, and Groundhog Day. Oh and Primer was sort of interesting in concept but ended up pretty boring, I really don't care about some remotely feasible technobabble but they go into it in almost pornographic detail. I prefer the Back to the Future rule of time travel which is "inconsistencies be damned we change the rules when the plot calls for it". And I hated the way they ad-libbed the dialog and talked over each other, I know its realistic but that's not how I want my people in movies to talk.

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mrkekeru:
Also the best time travel movies are Back to the Future, 12 Monkeys, and Groundhog Day.
I enjoyed Groundhog Day and Back to the Future, although I haven't seen 12 Monkeys. I've heard some good stuff about it though. It's another movie to add to my "movies to watch" list. :)

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mrkekeru:
Also the best time travel movies are Back to the Future, 12 Monkeys, and Groundhog Day

No love for Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure??  Wink

mrkekeru:
Primer was sort of interesting in concept but ended up pretty boring, I really don't care about some remotely feasible technobabble but they go into it in almost pornographic detail. I prefer the Back to the Future rule of time travel which is "inconsistencies be damned we change the rules when the plot calls for it". And I hated the way they ad-libbed the dialog and talked over each other, I know its realistic but that's not how I want my people in movies to talk.

If I remember correctly, it was written by a person who had degrees in mathematics and engineering who was one of the principle actors as well - which explains alot about the dialogue quality and liberal use technobabble.  The presentation of time-travel was also done in one of the more believable ways i've seen in a film.

For what it was (and the fact it was filmed for next to nothing) I found it enjoyable, but not something you want to toss on during a casual movie night.

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I actually much preferred the theatrical version to the director's cut of Donnie Darko.  The director's cut dumbs it down and wrecks the pace by inserting those Powerpoint Slides in the movie, and while the much more convoluted description fits with the film (as it was the writer/director's intent), I found the "This is the story, and this is what happened, and I'm not giving away all the details" version (the Theatrical version) to be much more powerful.

If it's about time travel (which the director's cut is obviously) makes it convoluted and nonsensical.  It ends up relying on a particular theory of time travel rather than allow the audience to use their imagination.  It also cheapens a lot of the story, as it makes much of it seem inevitable, and who wants to see a movie where everything is a foregone conclusion?

My wife pointed out that she always interpreted the movie as a "moments before death" situation, with a twist.  Instead of dying, the movie happens in the moment of Donnie's death, which is why his situation seems entirely focused on him (as it's entirely his production) and explains the supernatural elements.  The fact that at the end of the film people who were in the film still felt an impact made it mean more than that -- that maybe it wasn't just all in his head, but actually had some real world impact.  The fact that they all had different responses at the end made it more powerful, IMO.

I always saw it as more of a mix -- hallucination and a little time element.  But there's no sci-fi element so explaining it like in the director's cut makes it just philosophical babble. 

Anyway, I think that's why many people enjoyed it when it was in theaters but why it's dropped off in popularity -- the director's cut is the less engaging film, yet is more widely available.

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mrkekeru:
definitely overwrought and pretentious,

Smile

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Larpi says he hates Groundhog Day almost as much as he hates Footloose

He told me that one day he will get his revenge on Kevin Bacon for stealing 2 hours of his life away.  

 

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Mechazawa005:

mrkekeru:
Also the best time travel movies are Back to the Future, 12 Monkeys, and Groundhog Day

No love for Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure??  Wink

This.

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Pretentious and not well written??  Maybe you didn't understand it, there was nothing pretentious about it.  It was extremely well written not to mention original.  The only people i've spoke with who have disliked this movie were those who were unable to understand it fully. 


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kevlar51:

mrkekeru:
definitely overwrought and pretentious,

Smile

Cool Yes thank you.
ericengler:

Pretentious and not well written??  Maybe you didn't understand it, there was nothing pretentious about it.  It was extremely well written not to mention original.  The only people i've spoke with who have disliked this movie were those who were unable to understand it fully.

Actually, I understood it fully, I just think they laid it on a little too heavy with the foreshadowing and deliberate convolution. And if you read my post, I did say I enjoyed it.

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Wouldn't Groundhog's Day be exactly the opposite of time travel?

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ooo good movie i had a hard time understand it too

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