Anyone see Donnie Darko?

i LOVED this movie.

the website is wicked too:
http://www.donniedarko.com/

Me too, and I agree the movie was great

Any idea what it was about? *L*

I just saw it again the other day (gotta love kazaa). I think it's a movie that means different things to different people. As I watched it, I was trying to find a unifying theme that the director was going for, and I couldn't find it. What do you think?

although, i hate to over-analyze movies, this one sort of begs for it...

i thought (one of?) the "theme(s)" was how unexplained events can change a person, and even a small town. donnie searches for meaning in life and the universe, and is instead confronted with chance and arbitrary actions.

sort of how it doesn't matter how hard you try to control your life... something unexplained will come along and change more than you can.

That was definitely one of the themes.

While I enjoyed the social aspect of the movie and its commentary on life, I spent most of my time trying to figure out the whole time travel aspect of the movie, as well as why the whole story took place. If you've visited donniedarko.com, you probably looked at all the stuff there about the tangent universe, etc. The thing I was thinking about is why the tangent universe ever had to occur in the first place.
One simple, non-insighful explanation is that it was more or less a random occurence due to the laws of physics, however all that stuff about Frank talking to Donnie along the way had nothing to do with physics, and had a more religious tone. I think the purpose of it all was that Donnie's time was up, he was destined to die, and the almighty created the tangent in the timeline so that Donnie could die happy. He got to experience more of life, fall in love, ponder some philosophical issues, and at the end of it all he would see the death of his loved one. This way by going back and dying, he gets to feel like he's also saving the girl.

What do you think?

i just have to say that time travel is fucking cool.

and it makes my head hurt.

i have always found it hard to discuss this movie with anyone because everyone i know has taken something different out of it. it's hard to see other points of view and share your own...

i think i need to see it at least 4 more times.

Ni hao! I love this movie! He talks to the mystical bunny, sees what life would be like if he had avoided death and that it would have been better for others if he had died, so he time-travels and dies so that others might live and life be better for all----very heroic. At least this is what I came away with from movie.
Very deep film on many levels with message for all from very young filmaker.

That rabbit gave me the serious creeps, but the movie was amazing. Movies like this are so refreshing because you can't predict what is going to happen next.

GGiblet is right on the money. That is totally what the movie was about. It was about what would his life would've been like if he wasn't killed when the plane crashed into his bedroom. I had to watch that movie tons to actually understand what was going on.

Fab flick. I watched it with my 16 year old son and we both really loved it. I'd like to see it again.

Donnie Darko was superb.

I think it wasn't so much that he chose to go back but that he had to - he had to destroy the 'artefact universe' that was created.

I think..

hallo people and a happy new year. need urgent clarification. i take it all tha we have all burned a couple of brain cells in order to understand kelly's movie, but im still burning mine over the following: where does the engine that crashes on donnie's room come from? is it from the future? it can not be. the engine falls from a plane which is flying in the future (or on another parallel universe). BUT this future or paralell uni will not occur and as kelly shows DOES not occur. so how can a jet engine crash in the present while originbated in a future which will not happen?

my brain is like mash potatoes

ps. what mulaholland drive/ whar 12 monkeys/ what lost highway /what memento????? these movies we manged to figure out, but donnie darko.......

also who the hell is the guy with the ornage track suit and white ribbon on his head?? hes seen at the forest where donie and gretchen go for the kiss and at donnies house party??

I LOVED this movie. Most critics found it overrated because the plot was so complicated and open, but I loved that it was open to interpretation. I personally found that it was about justifying death and action and reaction theories. Donnie got a chance to view his life through unsually circumstances (I think he was seeing the future through a dream personally) and he choose death. I think that fact is one of the key great facts about this movie. Plus I loved the interesting references to Edgar Allen Poe who was the fanous linguist (Cellar Door) and Graeme Greene.

Alrite, so I'm new to this! But here's my analysis... I've watched the movie about 8 times, each time I picked up on something new...but it wasn't enough. SO, I went to the Donnie Darko website and read 'The Philosophy of Time Travel'. Not that I presume to be the 'all knowing-one' concerning the movie, I have come to several conclusions. The appearance of Frank prior to Donnie's actual encounter with him in this 'Tangent Universe' is a result of the 'Manipulated Dead' theory of Sparrow's book. As for the engine that appears in both the Tangent Universe and the Universe of Actual Reality (as I like to call it) is caused primarily by Sparrow's claim of 'Artifacts'... you see in the Tangent Universe the engine first falls into Donnie's room-the first indicator that a Tangent Universe has occurred. Later on, in this Tangent Universe Donnie's Mother and Sister are on a plane that crashes as Donnie's world (as it had been foretold to him) comes to an end. As a result, the Tangent Universe ceases to exist and the engine reappears in the Universe of Actual Reality-where Donnie willingly accepts the fate.... He can 'breathe a sigh of relief'. While I agree with the previous posts in that this was a somewhat of a chivalrous action, it was also committed as an act of selfishness. The entire movie is anti-institution... Donnie is the underdog we all associate with, defying the established institutions that are supposed to mold society into a nice mindless blob of conformity. Drew Barrymore's (spelling?) character fights against the educational system with her unconventional choice of short stories, and unfortunately loses. It is my belief that the premise of the film revolves around the concept that 'in the end every living creature dies alone'. Not a very comforting thought...but it was Donnie's compelling force –once he realized he was in a Tangent Universe. So you die alone? Each of our paths in life are alone, but we leave a ripple affect on those who we come in contact with...In the Tangent Universe, Donnie was able to comfort Gretchen (something he couldn't do in the Universe of Actual Reality-him being dead and all), he also manages to have Cunningham arrested...however Gretchen dies, so does his Mom and sister. The ripple affect applies equally the same in the Universe of Actual Reality... Donnie's dead-he can't help Gretchen, but the again she isn't dead (but who's to say her step father won't hurt her?), Donnie's family is alive, but they grieve his loss, Jim Cunningham isn't caught for child pornography, but we find out on the website he commits suicide, Sparrow dies...Donnie's physics teacher dies... I suppose what we truly need to contemplate is : even if we can go back in time and take back all those hours of hurt and pain ...will the world we create be any better? Donnie took the chance...his time was up.