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Post by ProvidencePortal on Oct 26, 2007 8:00:53 GMT -5
We've talked about it under another heading, so I'm starting this thread, giving it a catchy name and writing more to raise interest. Here's the idea: each year we agree to watch Donnie Darko again on 10/28, then come back here the next day to talk about it.
Who's in? So far we have: - Twitch - Pretender - Twinkle (maybe?) - Omni (I'm just signing you up, brother) - Yours truly
So far we are going to watch whatever version we wish -- theatrical or director's cut. But maybe we could all agree on watching one or the other, so we'd all be talking about the same flick.
One more thing: Twitch suggested the one way to watch would be to time the start of your viewing so the movie ended at midnight. I think that'd be cool for those of you able to be up that late (read: those without babies at home). The runtimes according to IMDB are: 113 min (theatrical) / 133 min (director's). So, here would be the end-at-midnight start times:
Theatrical -- 10:07pm Director's -- 9:47pm
What do you think?
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Post by Omnipotent on Oct 26, 2007 15:08:42 GMT -5
I haven't watched Darko in eons, I am in.
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Post by ProvidencePortal on Oct 26, 2007 18:53:04 GMT -5
I love it. "The giant skull-faced bunny's shadow fell over Gretchen's bedroom window. 'Yes, at last. I knew you'd come, Donnie,' she whispered eagerly. As the bunny materialized out of the darkness, she drew a hitched gasp. 'You're n-n-n-not ... Donnie! You're ... you're ... ... you're hot!" Want more? Watch "Return to the Tangent," written by Jason, directed by Jack. You'll never be the same.
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Post by thepretender on Oct 26, 2007 23:51:23 GMT -5
Omni!! Where did you ever find that!! Too darn funny!
Okay... now for the poopy news...I am not sure I will be able to watch...I will be on the road more than likely. It makes me mad cuz I keep thinking I want a lap top... that way I could really keep in touch...
(I really do feel so bad about this because I really do appreciate every stinking one of you!) But....I really am planning on watching it soon...I will do my best to keep up with the new stuff that you all have thought up about it. I won't be by a computer on Sunday night...only Tuesday is what I am thinking... Iwill try to watch it tomorrow night and then think think think...
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Post by Twitchmonkey on Oct 27, 2007 3:53:12 GMT -5
I'm more interested in the randy Donnie Darko fan fiction myself....
Pretender: Just do it when you can. What matters is that we keep the dream alive.
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Post by twinkle on Oct 27, 2007 21:48:32 GMT -5
yes, i'll be there, somewhere, sometime... (the daughter is playing in the band at a football game that night so not sure when to fit the film in, before or after?) it'll be interesting to have mixed opinions: theatrical v. dc. it will be my first look at the former so i'm definitely ready for a "fresh" view.
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Post by greedy on Oct 29, 2007 0:14:26 GMT -5
i am in but i have duty today and won't be able to watch and post till tomarrow
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Post by Twitchmonkey on Oct 29, 2007 5:36:10 GMT -5
I had the DVD and the DVD player out, but just as I was getting ready to put the movie in, this guy that I really needed to talk to contacted me, so I wasn't able to make it. I will see it soon though.
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Post by twinkle on Oct 29, 2007 9:21:54 GMT -5
this time around i was able to see it more for the work that it is: a fine, very good film, excellent in many ways. this was the first i've seen the "theatrical" release and find that i prefer it, though i wonder my opinion sans prior knowledge via dc (not sure how much of the story i'd "get" otherwise). this is a more concise version and i feel the dc, w/all the added scenes and explication actually complicates and slows down the story rather than clarifies it (of course to Richard Kelly he was clarifying [or purifying?] his vision). he is a highly-gifted writer/director. i admire his attention to detail, intelligence, sense of humor. i noticed more "built-in" jokes, self-referential winks and nudges, that immediately lend themselves to repetition by fans. i didn't miss much from the dc; maybe the father-son chat and the farewell scene between Donnie and Mom. the dc definitely draws you in to a more encapsulated, unique world, but this world is separate from the "real" world in which the original, 2001 version takes place. perhaps it's the more thorough presentation of the Tangent and Primary Universes and details from POTT that makes the dc world so special. for me, as fun as this can be, it does tend toward isolating the film/story itself, almost hermetically.
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Post by Twitchmonkey on Oct 29, 2007 20:46:21 GMT -5
The DC is just for fans hat want more I think. The theatrical release is what drew us in and it's going to continue to be what draws us back. The DC was just something to entertain the people that had already seen and loved the original.
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robbie
New Member
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Post by robbie on Oct 29, 2007 22:50:54 GMT -5
The bonus scenes are definitely a nice little addition, but nothing beats the original imo. Like twinkle said, I think the extra scenes only slow the movie's progress.
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Post by ProvidencePortal on Oct 30, 2007 13:29:08 GMT -5
I rewatched the DC. Some impressions:
Acting -- Wow. I don't know if I was so engrossed in the story all these times that I failed to appreciate the acting, or if I'd forgotten ... but most of the cast were strong, strong, strong. I don't know if he was already made as a burgeoning young lead, but Jake makes it clear the he fills the frame. Of course, none of this goes for Barrymore, who was as atrocious as I remembered.
Going all PowerPoint -- I found the layering-on of the PoTT pages far more distracting this time than I did in my previous viewing. Each time one came up, I felt like I spent the next five minutes examining the action to find the connection the the title. They also come up out of order (or so it seemed ... maybe I miscounted), which wouldn't be bad at all except that they're numbered by chapter. Also, in at least one instance, a page of the PoTT was shown too quickly for me to read what was on it. I'm trying to imagine how maddening that would have been in a theater.
One bit that was curious: the title slide for "Manipulated Dead" comes up and is immediately followed by ... Donnie and Gretchen on a blanket in a field. In-movie confirmation that Gretch is MD? Dunno ...
Mensies Donnie -- Donnie has a couple outbursts in the movie that never struck me as exceptional before this viewing. This time, they seemed downright ... unstable. I'm thinking of his Lifeline exercise meltdown and at least one more I can't recall; both were characterized by him taking an aggressive posture, raising his voice and becoming agitated for seemingly little reason. It was a much more antagonistic Donnie than I remembered, and it changed how I viewed him. Rather than seeing him as the hapless hero who shakes his head but bravely plows into the unknown, he seemed more like a victim who was spending more time in the "negative energy spectrum" of fear than in the "positive energy spectrum" of love.
And speaking of ...
Love that Lifeline -- Maybe it's me -- you'll have to tell me if you've had this feeling too -- but it seems like it's just been a forgone conclusion that the Lifeline exercise is there to be ridiculed by those of us cheering Donnie. I've had the sense here on the board that most of us who post had dismissed it as a simplistic and vacuous tool of Jim and the gym teacher/disciple. But now I'm not sure of that. Not sure at all, in fact. Yes, the people on the side of promoting the Lifeline idea range from silly to obsessed to truly rotten. And, yes, our hero rails against it and positions it as a symbol of how shallow people's understanding of the world is.
... But.
But isn't it actually a perfect depiction of Donnie's journey? Doesn't he move from a fear of dying alone to a state of love so divine that he'll risk the unknown (and we know, ultimately die) to follow God's path and know His plan?
And, given some time to reflect, would any of us argue against the truth that the fundamental, deep-seated neuron firing in our lizard brains is fear ... and that all of the bad, shortsighted and selfish in us comes from that place?
I won't project on you, but I will admit that I actually think the fear/love dichotomy isn't simplistic and shallow. I think it's actually just a reduction to an essential truth. No matter what the myriad complexities in a given situation, it comes down to this: will you make a fearful decision, or a loving decision? A selfish or an unselfish one? A decision for right now or a decision for tomorrow?
So the question now is, does Richard Kelly think that too?
One Phrase Shifts It -- It's amazing, but with the deletion of one phrase, Frank's "I'm so sorry" in the movie theater scene, my experience with both him and Donnie changed. Frank moved from a deep empathy that suggests omniscience (the kind of mysterious but loving presence I imagine an angel would have) to something more like simple manipulation. And Donnie went farther along the change I described earlier: from tragic and loveable to sullen and lost.
Don't get me wrong. I didn't suddenly hate Donnie. But some of the warmth I felt for the character, which had come from this sense that he is a tragic savior doomed to pain on behalf of the good of others, chilled.
Love to hear thoughts ...
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Post by twinkle on Oct 30, 2007 18:57:43 GMT -5
in the original film Donnie seems much more of a troubled young man than a Special Agent charged w/Restoring Order to the Cosmos. he is struggling and grasping at finding a way forward. he is close to the edge and has gone over it in the past. his outbursts are in the context of reacting to authority figures overstepping their bounds: Kitty Farmer forcing the "Lifeline" philosophy on the kids; Jim Cunningham glossing over real problems w/his paean "just choose love, not fear". in the auditorium scene, Donnie urges action, not acquiescence coupled w/a mere change in attitude. is the kid who wants to learn to fight being bullied, picked on? how will simply leaving his fear reactions behind actually help him? shall he forgive his tormentors yet not correct them in some way? i was initially surprised by Donnie's reaction to the "Lifeline" lesson, as this fear/love formula is espoused in many religions; i'm not sure that it is much more complicated than that. but i empathize w/ the character's frustration: how do we on the outside judge another's emotional "prison" or feel justified in critiquing their decisions? is judgementalism not a reaction based in fear? sure, we all want to get to the "love" end of the spectrum but how: by wallpapering our fear thoughts/actions, or by recognizing and honoring our fear and understanding that it too serves a purpose? fear can be a real motivator, when not ignored, squelched or fed. as a poster in another thread pointed out: it is Donnie's fear that drives him to find an alternative to dying alone, to being constantly beset by his surging, volatile emotions. *we also see Donnie in moments of quiet realization and compassion: assuring Cherita that everything will be better; comforting Gretchen. for me, one of the hinges comes when Dr. Monitoff asks, "Did you think that maybe an infant needs darkness?". this connects w/Gretchen's statement about replacing memories of pain and darkness w/images of beauty (her story, offscreen, is even more tragic and horror-filled than Donnie's: her murderous stepfather is on the loose, her mother is missing, the only aid the police have offered is to tell her to go to a "safe place"; hers is truly the nightmare, lurking unseen and mortally dangerous). the pain, fear, and darkness may be necessary for Donnie (and us?) to advance to a state of acceptance and acknowledgment, that he is alone until he risks love and selfless action to benefit another. Donnie must go through his fear and pain, mentored by others and his experiences, to get to the love that transcends self. *giantbunnyrabbit makes some excellent points here darkomovie.proboards24.com/index.cgi?board=psych&action=display&thread=1185750817
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Post by thepretender on Oct 31, 2007 21:12:53 GMT -5
Wow! I am loving this conversation...I can't wait to see it again and I have to. :-( I can't imagine making my folks watch it, and they stay up later than I do! But...I am gonna wach it again and come in here and read all of these cool observations again cuz there is just so much thought that this movie inspires and it is so nice to be around folks who want to discuss it!
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Post by Twitchmonkey on Nov 1, 2007 4:19:19 GMT -5
I agree on many of those points. Donnie was indeed overly aggressive and I think he was truly afraid (he said he was afraid, very, afraid) and that is what caused him to lash out. Fear is the opposite of love, and you can't love when you're always afraid. I think that you really see Donnie develop into love as he rises from his fear. Personally, I don't think Richard Kelly intended Cunningham's views to be respected. They're there to be mocked, as the entire social and school system is, but the more I think about it the more validity there is to his teachings. Edit: Reading Twinkle's post, I again am drawn to the conclusion that Kelly did not want us to put any credence into what Cunningham said, I think that is made clear with the kids in the auditorium, and is driven home by his character being made into a villain after Donnie burned down the house. Kelly was making a character to be mocked and hated, but ended up making a character that can still be agreed with on many points.
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