# Just watched Donnie Darko. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431 "2004-10-10T02:36:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/1 "2004-10-10T02:36:16Z")
Here are my initial reactions, and thoughts… [spoiler][RIGHT][sub].[/sub] [/RIGHT][/spoiler] Not many films can make me feel that way. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/2 "2004-10-10T02:59:42Z")
That’s kind of how I felt the first couple of times I saw it. I’m not sure I have much more to say about it even now, although I do love the version of “Mad World” that’s played at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/3 "2004-10-10T03:21:54Z")
A couple of times I had to pause it, to give my brain a chance to catch up and take it all in. The brain’s still catching up. P.S. How old is it? I was thinking before I watched it that it must be mid-eighties, but clearly it’s more recent than that, with the sfx and age of well known actors in it. It seems more like 2000. Off to IMDB I go. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/4 "2004-10-10T03:23:52Z")
I won’t go too much into it, but I saw it once, and I loved it all the way until the very end, at which point I felt very let down by the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/5 "2004-10-10T03:23:52Z")
[2001](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246578/). Not far off. ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/6 "2004-10-10T03:30:36Z")
Why isn’t the spoiler box working right?! WHY?! … Oh. [Insert smacky here.] ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/7 "2004-10-10T03:42:58Z")
It creeped me out all the way through, and then the ending made me go “WTF…?” so I gave it an even lower mark than I normally would’ve. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/8 "2004-10-10T03:53:42Z")
I hated the movie the first time I saw it but, then again, I wasn’t interested in seeing it then… I was just there for the booze and to hang out with friends it had been on for fifteen minutes by the time I walked in anyway. The second time around, two years later, I really enjoyed it although, to be honest, I still think it’s overrated and not as deep as people try to make it out to be. I still love it though. ---
**Author:** ![mike1dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mike1dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike1dog)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/9 "2004-10-10T04:36:40Z")
I really don’t understand why some people are so in love with that movie. I’ve watched it twice, and felt incredibly stupid for watching it all the way through both times. It tries to be deep and all that, but succeeds in being nothing but incredibly boring. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/10 "2004-10-10T09:24:37Z")
I completely forgot until now, I watched the Director’s cut. Maybe we are talking about slightly different films here. what _is_ the difference, by the way. I was too a little disappointed by the way it ended, but I didn’t feel cheated as such, I just felt a bit sad that all those interesting things didn’t happen… Or did they? (how did he get the book?). Plus I found his facial expression to be quite entertaining, especially his evil stares. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/11 "2004-10-10T12:21:19Z")
The difference is that the one you watched is the way the director wanted to cut the film. Also, people like Roger Ebert have re-reviewed with much higher praises than the studio version. I have a personal email from Ebert about it! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/12 "2004-10-10T13:09:27Z")
My problem with it is that there are too many events in teh film that were independent of Donnie, so will still happen despite his death (which was meant to prevent many of the things from happening). My main gripe being his mother and sister are still going to go on the plane and still be killed. Unless there’s something I missed that would prevent that? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/13 "2004-10-10T13:13:16Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Unless there’s something I missed that would prevent that? The fact that his mother and Sis are not in the plane when it gets destroyed. They are in the house. Unless there are two planes, and both have engines fall on donnie’s bedroom. It is confusing. Like how did donnie get the book. [spoiler] in the story that didn’t happen, he got the book from the teacher. where did he get the book from in the bit that did happen (him reading the book before the bedroom destruction, which in turn is well before he _got_ the book}[/brain] ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/14 "2004-10-10T13:16:03Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > [/brain] Proof that trying to work it out broke my brain. :smack: (I had ‘brain’ on the brain so I put it instead of ‘spoiler’. I guess now there’s a spoiler in my head instead of a brain) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/15 "2004-10-10T13:48:38Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > My problem with it is that there are too many events in teh film that were independent of Donnie, so will still happen despite his death (which was meant to prevent many of the things from happening). My main gripe being > > his mother and sister are still going to go on the plane and still be killed. > > Unless there’s something I missed that would prevent that? [spoiler]In the timeline in which Donnie dies when the engine falls on the house, he’ll never burn down the Patrick Swayze character’s house so his kiddie porn dungeon will never be found so the other teacher won’t have to step down as Sparkle Magic chaperone. . .so Mrs. Darko will have no reason to be on the plane. The sister is a bit more problematic, but perhaps she drops out due to her brother’s sudden death. Of course, this may not matter either way, as the plane engine must come from the timeline where Donnie lives instead of the one where he dies. So it’s not really the same plane his sister would be on in the timeline where Donnie dies.[/spoiler] However, I do agree with your basic point. I was especially troubled by the question of Gretchen’s fate. If she never meets Donnie, it seems like she won’t have any “safe place” to go to when her mother disappears. I couldn’t help but feel that she was just going to be murdered by her father that same night instead of being hit by a car. But my real problem with this movie goes back to the plane engine at the beginning/end. The movie opens with a big mystery – where did the engine come from? What on earth could have happened? By the end we learn that Donnie made it crash on his house himself. Okay, I can accept that. Mystery solved! But wait. . .how could the engine crash on the house both in the timeline where Donnie is there to be killed and the timeline where he wandered outside and lived? How can it be in two places at once? There doesn’t seem to be a satisfying explanation for this. I think that’s where the movie really fell down, by opening with a mystery and closing with a half-baked explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/16 "2004-10-10T14:21:52Z")
The first time I watched it, I loved _watching_ it, but I didn’t get it. At all. Luckily I was watching the DVD, which, along with the director’s cut, had all this suplimental material which made things make a little more sense. On an aside, I find that relatively genius – a movie which requires additional material to fully “get”. Anyhoo … As for the engine and the two time-lines. (I’ve never done a spoiler box, I hope this works) The engine that fell into his room in the “real world” – in which he was not initially killed, was the “artifact” which came from the tangent universe. Donnie’s task, as the Living Reciever, isn’t to save anyone in particular, but to set the universe right again. In this task, which is set in motion _in_ the tangent universe, he works with all the stuff set forth in The Philosophy of Time Travel … the Manipulated Living (essentially people the Living Reciever knows in both universes), the Manipulated Dead (those who die in the tangent universe to make the real universe right again), water and metal (as conduits between the two universes), etc. What he’s doing is making sure that all the circumstances that happen to make that engine fall into his bedroom, actually do happen, so that the tangent universe’s circuit, if you will, is closed. It’s a moebius strip – that’s how someone explained it to me. Anyway, I know that doesn’t really make a whole shit load of sense, but this movie has really grown on me since I saw it the first time. Here’s a decent website on the philosophy of time travel … [Tony’s Spoilers - Philosophy of Time Travel](http://www.tonystuff.co.uk/darko-spoilers.htm) ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/17 "2004-10-10T14:23:41Z")
[Salon.com](http://Salon.com) did a pretty good Cliffs Notes on the movie. [http://archive.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2004/07/23/darko/](http://archive.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2004/07/23/darko/) I couldn’t get that version of “Mad World” out of my head for days after seeing the movie. The story about that song, how it made it into the movie, and what it has done for Gary Jules career are also a good read–not on [Salon.com](http://Salon.com), coupla other sites I found after doing a search on his name and the song. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/18 "2004-10-10T16:10:38Z")
> [@Jack Batty](#): > > The first time I watched it, I loved _watching_ it, but I didn’t get it. At all. I felt much the same. > [@](#): > > _Luckily I was watching the DVD, which, along with the director’s cut, had all this suplimental material which made things make a little more sense._ And here’s where our experiences differ. I found the supplemental information, and the writer/director’s explanations in the commentary, to be poorly conceived and both less reasonable and less interesting than what I was able to come up with on my own after the first viewing. I think he should have quit while he was ahead. > [@](#): > > - > > As for the engine and the two time-lines. > > (I’ve never done a spoiler box, I hope this works) > > The engine that fell into his room in the “real world” – in which he was not initially killed, was the “artifact” which came from the tangent universe. Donnie’s task, as the Living Reciever, isn’t to save anyone in particular, but to set the universe right again. In this task, which is set in motion _in_ the tangent universe, he works with all the stuff set forth in The Philosophy of Time Travel … the Manipulated Living (essentially people the Living Reciever knows in both universes), the Manipulated Dead (those who die in the tangent universe to make the real universe right again), water and metal (as conduits between the two universes), etc. > > What he’s doing is making sure that all the circumstances that happen to make that engine fall into his bedroom, actually do happen, so that the tangent universe’s circuit, if you will, is closed. > > It’s a moebius strip – that’s how someone explained it to me. Yeah, I know all that, although I think you’ve switched around which world is the “real” one. The real one is the one we see at the end, not the beginning. But it still doesn’t explain why the engine hit the house in the “real world” _and_ the house in the “tangent universe”. In one world the engine hits the house while Donnie is outside and in the other it hits the house and kills him. Within the context of the film I have no problem with the engine moving from one world to the other, but I do have a problem with it moving from one world to the other while still being in its original world! ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/19 "2004-10-10T16:18:53Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Yeah, I know all that, although I think you’ve switched around which world is the “real” one. The real one is the one we see at the end, not the beginning. But it still doesn’t explain why > > the engine hit the house in the “real world” _and_ the house in the “tangent universe”. In one world the engine hits the house while Donnie is outside and in the other it hits the house and kills him. Within the context of the film I have no problem with the engine moving from one world to the other, but I do have a problem with it moving from one world to the other while still being in its original world! I’m not sure if I can explain it the way I understand without a visual, but I’ll give it a shot: The engine hits the house in both universes because that engine is the artifact – the catalyst that both causes and is the “cure” for the tangent universe. (here’s where the visual would come in handy) — Picture time as a straight line. At the point that the engine hits the house, time takes off on a tangent, looping up and over and back around – during this loop is where all the action of the tangent universe takes place – until the loop comes back and takes back over where it initially went off (the point that the engine hit the house) and then continues as normal (straight) in the “real” universe. Dig? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-donnie-darko/268431/20 "2004-10-10T16:25:39Z")
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