Has anyone else seen either of these odd little films?
What did you think?
I’ve seen Donnie Darko, and thought it was excellent. The story actually holds up on second viewing.
Something I noticed, that nobody has mentioned: the song at the beginning is Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen, it is presented as if Donnie is hearing the song on the radio. Notice that Frank is a “bunny man” of sorts, who seems to exist as a sort of echo in the space-time continuum, that Frank gives a countdown of 28 days (ie a lunar cycle) until the end of the world.
I have Donnie Darko on DVD, and I enjoyed it a lot. It sort of rambles at times, but pulls itself together at the end; and I like the way it’s science-fiction without being sci-fi, in a Kurt Vonnegut-y sort of way. There are some deleted scenes on the DVD that would have changed the way a few of the things in the movie are interpreted. For example, in his last session at his psychiatrist’s office, she tells him that the pills he has been taking have been placebos all along.
There’s a really good commentary with the director on the DVD as well, which illuminates just how carefully many of the things in the movie are put together.
I was really blown away by Donnie Darko.
It put an interesting story through the genre-blender and came up with a dark, thoughtful, coming-of-age/sci-fi/horror/80s-satire film that works extremely well. Been meaning to watch it again since I first saw it in light of how the ending alters your perception of events that preceeded it.
Also, I’ve taken screenwriting classes at USC and have been a film buff all my life and it’s pretty rare that I can tell someone: “This is a movie that tells a story I’ve never seen before.” This is one of those movies.
Oh, and I love that haunted version of “Mad World…”
I really liked Donnie Darko. It was very unusual…heck the website of the movie disturbed me greatly, and the movie doubled that. I did enjoy it very much…how in the hell did someone come up with that idea? It reminded me of Memento in that you must see the whole movie at least twice to get it.
Attic Expeditions was…odd. I don’t know if it was good, but it was odd. It told a well-contained story yet didn’t explain it. And it had Jeffrey Combs in it, which raises my opinion of any movie right off the bat:D ( He really needs to get some kind of award for his good work.)
I saw Donnie Darko, and thought it was great…if a bit disturbing. It’s the first move that has made me think in a long time.
What do you do at the golfcourse in the web site?
Never mind, I got it. You had to click on one of the golfers.
Sam - that’s what I thought about Attic Expeditions (my roommate called it an “a bunch of guys get together and have fun making a movie” film. We rented it because she likes Coombs and I’m deeply in lust with Seth Green.
It just seemed to have several things in common with Donnie Darko - that sense that nothing’s right in the world and that it’s impossible to tell what’s true and what’s a lie and what lies on the middle ground.
I was also introduced to DD by the website and had to watch it to see what the story was with the bunny rabbit.
I was under whelmed.
I thought the director set a mood fantastically, but he didn’t know what to do with the story. And boy, did he ever put his psyche on display (unintentionally I think).
grendel72, I would say that the lyrics to “The Killing Moon” are probably the main reason for its inclusion in the film beyond it just fitting the mood musically. Originally the song used in that opening scene was “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS. A very wise decision to make the switch… the soundtrack is one of the best things about this film.
-fh
Everyone I know who’s seen it really likes Donnie Darko. It seems to be building up quite a cult, thanks to the excellent DVD release.
It’s a challenge to work out how all the pieces fit together, especially with the extra material on the DVD. After a couple of viewings, I thought I’d figured it out, then I watched it with the director’s commentary, and he seemed to have rather different ideas.
But even if you’re not that interested in the sci-fi angle, it really works well both as a mood piece and as the psychological study of the title character as a weird disturbed hero type, plus the 1980s atmosphere is spot-on without being cheesy or over-intrusive. It may be over-ambitious, but it achieves a hell of a lot.
One more sign of how good it is: what are the odds of a movie featuring Patrick Swayze and Drew Barrymore being in any way watchable?