Film Roar

Crap, I just finsihed this film and was hoping you could enlighten me. Oh well......

I searched online for an analysis of Donnie Darko and did not find any.. if you see one let me know.

Does this help?

DOMO DARKO
  Japanese animation cult vs. Donnie Darko

http://www.fnord.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/DomoDarko.ram

donnie darko is an extremely engaging and interesting film which does two things-
1. entertain
2. leaves the viewer asking more questions than it answers (thus making viewing a second time necessary)
the film's general aestetic is that donnie accidentily "escaped" death and the character of frank is used to show donnie how much damage the world would endure if he does not meet his death within 30 days. if you get the chance see the dvd with directors commentary because it explains far more than i can. cinematic genious!

I have just finished watching it and have no idea what it was about. Could someone please tell me the storyline so that i can sleep!

When you watch this movie, you have to think outside the box. You people might think that theres only one meaning to this movie. But you will never know. So think of all the meaning, think of all of the reasons why Donnie is this crazy messed up guy, doing crazy messed up things. Use ur head, dont fall asleep!

this is the best movie i have seen in ages. it leaves everyone guessing. you actually have to do a little research to understand it all. this is my favorite movie of all time. donnie plays the normal teen in need of help to get him through all of his life troubles. havent we all went through the teen years needing some kind of help, imaginary or not? if you want a good suspence/psycological thriller watch this one it is the best you will ever see. movie related: being john malkovitch

Sorry but in my opinion Donnie Darko is nothing specialat all, in fact its a decidedly average teen movie
with a rather pompous, overblown, over complicated
plot. There's a thin line between genius and average
and i'm afraid to say Donnie Darko is the latter. I
should not have to understand the laws of physics
to enjoy the end of a movie. In fact the ending still
fails to make sense even then. Its kind of like one of those really poor kids stories "i woke up and it was
all a dream"! Mulholland Drive makes far more sense
and is far superior in every respect. Mulholland Drive
is genuinely moving and intense and deals with mental
illness in a far more realistic manner. Another problemthat Donnie Darko suffers from is its willingness to
make such important matters redundant by not having
a shred of actual fact used in their portrayal. O.K so
it might not have been bad but its certainly not as
good as people are claiming it to be. Go watch
Mulholland Drive a film that deserves the praise!

I watched this film with my mate...What is going on!? I loved the FX, the way donnie may 'see' these things via ESP etc is very clever. Playing on peoples minds in this way is a key point in how an illness like the one Donnie has, works. I'm gonna have to watch a few more times, has anyone found an analysis sheet, cause this film...3 weeks on, is still doing my head right in!!! It's the wickedness

Jonny, I have to disagree strongly with your assertions.

Mulholland Drive, a terrific film to be sure, is a completely different beast than this. David Lynch has long been experimenting with internal narratives and abstracted story telling: he tells you a story that you simply couldn't have heard anywhere else, because they're stories that have only existed in exceedingly diseased minds.

Donnie Darko is not an internal narrative. It's a very complex, constructed reality with a story attached as an example. On top of that are a ton of metaphysical questions that aren't necessarily meant to be answered. Consider it one big long deep conversation at 3am in Dennies when you're still too drunk to quite keep up. What's so clever about it is the overall presentation as a truly compelling story that sporadically transcends the reality that we experience, and leads us to question the aspects of Donnie's universe, and by proxy to consider ours as well. The intent is to be intellectually provoking and bring up questions about god, predestination, time travel, etc.

Mulholland Drive is the introspective narration of someone who has their lover killed out of jealousy and depravity. It's horrific and confusing because most of us can't concieve of that reality.

They're both excellent films, but they can't really be directly compared.

I have indeed found a website with an in-depth analysis of Donnie Darko. In my opinion it answers the few loose ends you may have still floating about in your head...

Website URL: http://www.metaphilm.com/philms/donniedarko.html

This is an outstanding film, the best i've seen for a long time. It addressed many things which i am interested in, destiny, love, death and fear of being alone. Never has a film left me feeling with an overwhelming sense of sadness, but in the same sense it brought comfort and a smile to my face. It will plague my thoughts for time to come and often on those sleepness nights, and i will happliy let it, for i feel better for it.

Thank you for the link Susan, that helps :-)

You're welcome.

To Jonny.

You are not required to understand physics in order to understand the ending. How Donnie was physicall transported back in time is left up to you to decide, but why he CHOSE to go back and why he was laughing are the two major points at hand that send the message of the movie.

Before commenting on a movie's worth, perhaps you should gain an understanding of what the movie is saying, especially the ending.

why is everyone comparing this film to mullholand drive?! the only similarity the two films share is that they werent made for ur average pop-culture movie watching retard that needs everything explaining. donnie darko is not mullholand drive!

I only recently watched Donnie Darko and to tell you the truth it scared the crap out of me! Alot of people seem to be struggling with understanding the ending. You dont need to know a great deal about physichs and time travell to understand it. The film is about how Donnie escapes death by being called out of bed by Frank. Most of the film is just showing you what life would be like for others if Donnie didn't meet his end. It is basicaly about Donnie having to make the choice between him living and lots of people's lives being destroyed, and him dieing and everything being ok for others. And as for Frank, he is basicaly Donnies guide through life, like the ghosts in "A Christmas Carrol". Hope this helps and this is only my oppinion on the film. If you have any other ideas, please email me at david@caldwell13.freeserve.co.uk, as I would love to see your oppinions.

You should all really go check out the Donnie Darko homepage, it explains a helluva lot... I assume you've all seen the film, so u won't mind me giving away a few things...

The Philosophy of Time book explains that water is used as a barrier element for construction of time portals, and metal is the transitional element used for construction of artifact vessels. These artifact vessels (usually metal) appear in the Primary Universe as a warning of a Tangent Universe to come. This Tangent Universe will create a vortex that will eventually destroy the world. There is a being who receives the artifact, called a Living Receiver. He is used as a kind of cosmic puppet to set thing straight, to ensure that the Tangent Uuniverse and the vortex don't come about. He is often endowed with great gifts, like superhuman strength, telekenisis, and the ability to make use of the 4th dimensional construct; to travel in time. He also suffers from painful visions and somnambulism. So the arrival of the aeroplane engine in Donnie's room signifies the creation of a tangent universe, and the understanding that Donnie is the Living Receiver. The Manipulated Living are also part of the greater scheme of things, and they uncontrollably lead the Living Receiver in the right direction. These are Donnie's family, friends, teachers... basically, everyone. Then there are the Manipulated Dead, who die in the tangent universe. They are able to use the 4th dinmensional construct to travel back in time to contact the Living Receiver. They appear only to the Living Receiver, and help guide him to ensure that the tangent universe doesn't come about. So when Frank dies in the tangent universe, he comes back in time to set things straight.
So to sum up, Donnie sets about a chain of events that lead to frank and gretchen's deaths, and the aeroplane flying over the vortex at the exact time and point it was created. He then uses the 4th dimensional construct (those water-like things coming out his body) to travel back in time, with the Artifact (the jet engine), killing himself but stopping the Tangent Universe from coming into being, and thus saving the world. When the Manipulated Living awaken from their journey into the tangent universe, they are haunted by the experience in their dreams. While most don't even remember the other universe, the ones who do aer overcome with remorse for their regretful actions in the Tangent Universe. Hence, the sorrowful looks on the faces of Frank and the Darko's as the wake up.

Sound weird? I think so too. But still a brilliant film.

Wow... that is great insight. Thank you Ian. :-)

what i dont understand is that if the world is coming to end, then why does it stop coming to an end when donnie kills himself?

Firstly, i wanna thank Ian for the most mindblowing but at the same time, logical explanation i have come across so far.
My interpretation was silmilar but not as detailed as Ian's in the sense that i thought Donnie travelled back in time and knew he was gonna die but accepted it cuz he knew his sacrifice would save the world.
I think most people don't realise the significance of one paticular exchange between Donnie and Gretchen during their first meeting,
Gretchen says "Donnie Darko, what kind of name is that, sounds like some sort of superhero" and Donnie replys "What makes u think i'm not?"

I dont think that donnie scraficed himself, he was always destined to die ( his mum and dads conversation in the hotel room when they talk about the similarity between donnie and a kid who died on the way to their prom, both of them were doomed ) but, if he wasnt saved by frank then there would have been nobody to correct the parodox and the world would have ended, so any way you look at it donnie has to die ( if he hadent gone back in time to his room and been crushed then he would have died when the niverse ended! )
The most breathe taking aspect of the film in my oppinion is how it all links together, after i had been to the website and read people explanations i watched it again. This time i understood frank and gretchens masterplan, every thing they did was completely neccessary to put donnie in the position that he had no choice but to realise and fix the paradox. Frank tells him to flood the school, schools cancelled he walks home and meets gretchen, she is responsible for giving donnie the happiness and thus confidence he needs (in my oppinion) to go back in time. Frank tells him to burn down jim cunninghams house, therefore kittie cant go with the dance group, which means they can through the party cause they have an empty house which means frank can be there to go and get beer and thus be in a position to run over gretchen and thus make donnie kill frank giving them both the powers of the manipulaed dead and allowing them to set up this whole chain of events in the first place. phew... breathe.
Its been three days and i still cant stop thinking about this film my friends are worried about me but its so good to find a film that doesnt patronise its audience. It works like a huge puzzle and i defy anybody to understand it all based on just the film its self. it sticks in ur mind and has to be solved so you go away reseaech it and when it finally all clicks its tremendously satisfying, simply one of the best film i ve ever seen

Dario: Of all the explanations I have seen for Donnie Darko, I think I like yours the best. Now I want to go back and re-watch it with this frame of reference in mind.

I loved this film! It means so much all at he same time. If you tried to explain this film to someone who had not watched it, their immediate reaction would be: "a six foot bunny rabbit and time travel eh? Sounds rubbish!". But if you showed that same person the film they would understand immediately. Conclusion: don't base your opinion reviews - watch the film. NOW! (if at this point you have not run off to the video store then obviously are either dead or are missing the point). Trust me this is a great film as it challenges the mind and makes you want to find out more which you can do by browsing the internet. Cellar Door

I have now read Dario's review (above) and agree entirely with what he said. It does offer another insight into the film but i suggest that you read it only after watchng it as it will spoil this amazing film. Ever since i watched it i have become obsessed with it and feel that far more people should know about it. I had never heard of it before i came upon it by chance. There is simply not enough publicity of this amazing film.

I have now just seen Johnny's comments and, frankly (no pun intended) you are an ignorant prat.

OK guys, the discussion is good but don't use this site to call other people names. Last time one of my posts turned into a string of insults I deleted the post and all the comments. Please play nice.

I think every opinion of the movie has a part of it nailed down but there still seems to be more. Is Donnie a Christ-like character? He ends his own life to save the world (much like Jesus). Anyone else see this connection?

The Jesus connection had also occurred to me. When I stopped and thought about it I dismissed it though. Donnie does sacrifice himself in order to save the world, but he is really not much of a martyr. It is more like he comes to term with his own mortality and his eminent (or is it?) death.

Sorry i was merely tring to show my appreciation for this film as any critic of it cannot really know what he is talking about

hey,

I've just seen this film and it inspired me to do two hours of research to try and find out what was going on. I think a lot of the comments on this page have been really interesting in therms of working out the time travel of the film. THere are some questiosn that haven't been mentioned and I eanted to write them out to see what other people think.

At the end of the posts people go to talking about Donnie as a christ figure. I think Christianity is an extremely important theme in the film but I can't work out what the film is trying to say about god. remember that the teacher stops himself from voicing his opinions on god and time travel for fear of being fired.

and my second big questions is, what is the whole fear/ love theme? Why do Donnie get so upset both with the Gym teacher and that wierd writer guy when they talk about the love/ fear theory?

alright - look forward to seeing what people have to say about that, if anything.

- ben

fear love thing?.....refer to donnie's accusations of swayze's character being the antichrist...maybe hes bringing attention away from god with is love fear bullshit....maybe??

I personally believe that the fear/love theme that Donnie was so afraid of was because of the fact that (as the writer guy pointed out) Donnie's life is so full of fear. His greatest fear was of dying alone (which is why he is happy to sacrifice himself after meeting Gretchen - one of the manipulated dead trying to send Donnie towards his goal). I think that this is why Donnie shouted out against the writer guy - because he is afraid of the way that he is trying to tell them that their lives are governed by fear.

Hope this helps a little Ben but as for the God thing - im not sure that plays such a central role in the film as you make out although it can be seen as an underlying aspect.

loved the film, have researched the sh*t out of it, and have come to the conclusion that you need to be contempt with not knowing all about the film, we are so saturated with films now-a-days giving us the plot like we are three year olds, this is one that makes you watch it 7 times befre you realised the significance of gretchen, maybe the director just wanted you to by the dvd, i think he is alot smarter than we all think.

This is in response to the question about why Donnie gets so upset over the whole fear/love theory. I think he explains his anger pretty clearly to his teacher when he tells her that it just isn't that simple, and you can't lump all of the emotions into two different categories because there is a whole spectrum of human emotion that then gets ignored. I don't think he gets mad simply because there is a lot of fear in his life, I think he gets mad because along with all the fear there are a lot of other emotions that no one can give him explainations of or answers to and while he is out looking for the answers and explainations of what he is feeling the people promoting the fear/love theory are reducing the complexity of humanity into one of two words when, like this movie, things just can't be cut and dry like that. I think it's logical that anyone would get mad over the idiocy of the theory and since Donnie is given to have some kind of behavioral disorder along with everything else going on in his life, acting out in the manner that he did seems to align perfectly with his character.

I have a question though...if Donnie never burns down Jim Cunningham's house, do his "kiddie porn dungen" and the alleged underground kiddie porn ring just continue to prosper?

Yer good point Abbie. I reckon that you hav to ask ureself the question- did the death of Donnie benefit the world or not. The fact that he sacrificed himself to allow the world to continue is one way of lookin at it but i think that the film is hittin at somefin more profound with Cunningham. He represents the huge proportion of the world that are "bad" and perhaps the film is about how God tries to rid the world of these ppl but in the end evil triumphs? dunno if that really makes sense. I would love to hear other ppl's comments on this issue

I think one thing to remember about the Cunningham pedophilia subplot is how his guru-like sway over Kitty makes the girls of Sparkle Motion extremely vulnerable, especially their youngest member, Donnie's sister Samantha. With the final realization that he is 'the fucking Antichrist' (now a permanent addition to the subconscious of all the people in the Tangent Universe) we can hope that Donnie has saved her and the other girls from this fate with his death.

Finally got around to watching Donnie Darko and was intrigued enough to want to see how others saw the film. It's been fun reading all the comments, and while I'm going to think about them as I watch it again, I'd like to throw out a grab bag of thoughts I didn't see covered in the previously.

- Anyone think Frank's demonic rabbit costume an allusion to the white rabbit in "Alice in Wonderland"? Both stories address inner turmoil as the main character sits on the edge of adulthood?.

- The double feature Donnie and Gretchen see, "The Evil Dead" and "The Last Temptation of Christ". The movie's only "active" dead character is Frank - so is he evil?. And TLToC is about a man Christ)who is destined to suffer and die, being tempted to give up that God appointed destiny by the possibility of simply living life as a ordinary man, - is that Donnie's temptation also?

- While watching Sparkle Motion, I was reminded of those old Robert Palmer videos (Addicted to Love) and tapes shown on TV of Joan Benet Ramsey dancing in a talent contest, in a way much more sexually provocative than her age warrants. Funny how the movie's chief moralizer (Kitty) is the one most emotionally invested in the group.

- Finally, I went to DD web site after reading Ian's earlier comments regards Primary/Tangent universes, Living Receiver, Manipulated Living/Dead etc. I find that kind of thing annoying because it suggests understanding the film requires a lot of information that only exists outside the film and only for the sake of the film. It's not the same as a movie based on a pre-existing classic like Lord of the Rings, nor is it the same as including cultural references such as Christ imagery. A good movie can stand alone because it provides enough detail (either directly or suggested visually thru the acting, shot selection, etc)to appreciate the story and its possible meanings. The ending of Mulholland Drive forces you to re-examine the reality of details provided earlier in the movie, and that's fair. It's fair to do that after watching DD too. But to imply you have to go completely outside the movie for info that applies only to the movie is BS and greatly detracts from any artistic accomplishment (unless you're trying to build a franchise but I don't think DD qualifies) Personally I think DD can stand alone and is worth multiple viewings.

The way i saw it,
Donnie is awakened by Frank.
This creates the paralell universe in which Donnie can continue to exist, but Frank... I don't think that he is dead.
It seems to me as if he is a product of the future. The boy crying in his room drawing pictures is the by product of the future Frank.
When that boy travels into the future e obtains vision. that which saves Donnie dooms him.
When Donnie kills the future Frank, the frank ceases to exist in the time that Donnie was killed, thus returning to his body.
(scene shown as him crying) and the donny of the future reaches the past, presumably in the same situation as the Future frank reached the past before donnie was killed. thus his knowledge and thus Donnie's knowledge as he went to bed.
Thus the vortex was simply the reoccurance of the plane instead of the original crash, signalling the end of the paralell universe in which both Donnie and Frank could exist. for one could not be alive and have that knowledge at the same time as the other..... if that makes sense.

P. S on the site it goes no where after that four window scene where he sees sparrow, any one know what to do?

I just read through all the comments, and wanted to throw in an idea of my own. One could go on and on about tangent universes and temporal paradoxes, but leaving all that out, and assuming Donnie can time travel, consider this. Either Donnie really experienced everything that happened between the two times we saw the jet engine fall, or he had some special knowledge of the future, and everything that happened after he first heard Frank's voice all happened in his head. Regardless of which theory you want to go with, Donnie was given a choice whether or not to remain in his bed, knowing the jet engine was on its way down. All the other posts contend that Donnie chose to die to undo all the destruction he caused, or as a self-sacrifice to keep the world from ending, etc... What I think isn't being considered is just how disturbed Donnie is, probably a lot more than most people will ever be able to identify with. He can put on a good face most of the time, but he has always suffered, and Frank was not the first of his imaginary friends. I think Donnie hated himself so much that he saw death under the jet engine as an opportunity, not as a selfless act. All the bad stuff that happened, Gretchen's death, Frank's murder, that was all icing on the cake.

Another explanation, and kind of an easy way out of explaining a lot of details, maybe everything after he first heard Frank's voice was just a dream. Recall the line from his letter to Roberta Sparrow, something like "I can only hope the answers come to me in my dreams."

God this film is so layered, I'll try to give my interpretation as best as I can. Donnie is a guy who is tortured by his genius, his fear of death, and struggles with his own isolation brought on by feelings of being rejected for thinking outside the box. Everybody in Donnie's social circle are blind to his reality, which is why he ends up taking the medication, because his family and the shrink want to make him normal. Donnie is a thinker so he wants to understand everything in the universe, which stems from his fear of being alone and dying alone. The old lady death is probably the only person in the film who would understand him but she too is an tortured genius isolated from the world by others who think she's crazy. But yet she's the author of a book about time travel(Call it metaphorical). The film is about how we perceive insanity and genius and how there is a thin line between the two opposites. Now next layer/// The medication he takes becomes the gateway through the portal to eternity, or god, the master system, whatever you call it. The pills become the means for Donnie to find the answers he craves to understand death and his painfiul loneliness. How? They open his mind to reality beyond what he normally comprehends ( Think of an LSD trip, or see the movie fear and loathing in las vegas). Early in the film we see him lying in bed, the next moment he is being led by a Bunny (Frank), out of the house to the front yard where he is told that he has 28 days and however many hours before the world, ( his world ends). At this point what in my opinion has happened is that Donnie through his genius combined with the chemical reaction from the pills has found death, saw his destiny, was scared of dying alone so cheated his fate and created Frank to bail him out. Having a second chance at life went around acting as saviour by helping people make sense of their world and assuring them that everything is going to be ok, destroying the institutions that threaten people's true hapiness and there ablity to see reality as he now knows it( that's why he torched the anti christs' house and flooded the school) . Think of it, if you found something beyond your comprehension that no one else knew or understood, part of you would feel invincible, the other part would be scared as hell. This is his dual personality / Love and Fear, remember the classroom. He loves people and wants to help them i.e gretchen ross his girlfriend, the large asian girl, his idiot friends, the bullies etc. But he fears what all of this means in the grand scheme of things, which is why he goes on this jouney with the bunny, to find out his true fate, not the one he cheated. When he realizes his choice to live brought more pain death and doom than if he died, he saves all of their lives, gretchens, franks (the guy he shoots), his mother and sister in the plane, and he does this by accepting his fate(death) which was inevitable regardless, he just needed to understand so he could be at peace which is why he's smiling at the end of the film, because his genius is no longer a curse, he understands his place. He's not Christ the saviour, he's Donnie the boy. think of the reference to good and evil at the theatre the two films that are playing are evil dead, and the last temptation of christ. His good and evil are conflicting. If you think of him lying in bed at the beginning of the film and him being there in bed for the entire journey. The whole thing he experienced was on a different time plane brought on from the medication that simply hepled him to find serenity. It was essentially all in his mind and went beyond the boudaries of the physical world. And in that non physical environment he found nothingness, death, timelessness, and in a glimpse of time decided he wanted his life back, out of fear, and that's how he ends up in the future, and meets the girl he would have fallen in love with etc....and escapes death initially. But of course we learn that's not mean't to be. He dies in his bed, crushed by the very plane engine from the same plane that would have killed his mom and sister. Two scenarios, two different time planes. If he lives, the plane really goes down with his mom and sister on it. If he dies it still goes down just not with his mom and sister. The people who's lives were doomed had to mean something to him otherwise he wouldn't have sacrificed himself. Regardless if you look at it his fate was a life of doom any way you look at it, because the cops are coming to arrest him at the end of the film, and the shrink is blowing the whistle on him about flooding the school and burning down jim cunningham "the anti christs'" house, so it was either death or a psychiatric ward. His doom and death are inevitable, Just like all the Franks that are doomed from bloodline, watch the scene in the theatre if you forget what I'm talking about, and when Mr. Darko is talking to his wife in the hotel, I think i said enough i'm going to have dinner....

Having viwed the movie initially on VHS, I watched the DVD and went thru all the extras, deleted scenes, commentary etc. It was a let down because of the large number of specifics and story details which the director had in his head, intended for the movie, but didn't include for whatever reasons. What emerges is something quite different and more nailed down than what you can know only from watching the movie.

For Example
- In the deleted scenes, Donnie's shrink tells him his medication is a placebo (why then did she recommend increasing the dose in the move). This info significantly changes how you can interpret the film.
- In the deleted scenes Donnie and Gretchen have several fights not scene (pun) in the movie

Now these could be considered rewrites, yet the director in his ongoing commentary during the film refernces these details - in other words the scenes were deleted for reasons of time and not for story.

The DVD/commentary etc also details all the yada-yada about tangent universes, manipulated dead, living receiver and all that crap that wasn't spelled out in the movie. Though a bit complicated, if reviewed and believed it pretty well spells out the whole movie and spoils it because you realize if you follow all of it, Donnie didn't have any choice but to act as he did.

The Donnie Darko movie, taken as presented, without all the external, not included, made up for the movie details was facinating, and fun because you could look at it and interpret what you saw in all kinds of ways. It was enjoyable to see how others picked up on different details and wondered what they meant. It made each rewatch of the movie rewarding. The DVD nails the "real" story down too much. It makes me feel like instead of having watched a well crafted, challenging film, I watched a more ordinary movie telling a less involving story, that didn't include all the details the director wanted because of time constraints.

I think if the movie presented, had included all the details left out, it would still have been an good movie, but not a potentially great one by a first time director.

I watched the movie and then i read this board. I definatly agreed with alot of you, i just still have one question about your theorys. If the bunny was trying to keep him from accepting the tangent universe and trying to get him to go back in time to die, than why did he wake him up out of bed in the first place? if somone could help me out that would be great.

*one other thing, what was the meaning behind the fat chinese girl?

I have a question though...if Donnie never burns down Jim Cunningham's house, do his "kiddie porn dungen" and the alleged underground kiddie porn ring just continue to prosper?

Posted by: Abbie on May 29, 2003 03:44 PM

in reply abbie, it is reported on the website, and maybe the dvd, (i havn't seen all the extras) that the inhabitants of the tangent universe, (basically everyone) may seem to have deja vu's on the tangent universe, the only way this is explained is that it states that cunningham commits suicide shortly after the film ends, still during the 28 days that we have already viewed, and possibly through guilt.

so no he does not continue to prosper, which is sweet.

Ok first ill give my opionion in responce to Garys comment on june 17th...then ill ask some questions of my own!

I beleive the reason frank woke donnie instead of just leaving him there is so that he would find the truth about gods existance and find Gretchens love therefor curing him of his fears. Jim Cunningham mentions in his speech the story of a young boy whos life was completely destroyed by fear, who was searching for love in the all the wrong places. His name was Frank. I beleive that Frank was guiding Donnie so that he may learn from the mistakes that had ruined his life. Also by making sure that donnie went back in time to die he is insuring that the primary Frank lives out a full life and also overcomes his own fears

Ok, my question
(sorry if this is on the dvd i havent seen it)
At the start of the movie donnie wakes up in the middle of the road with his bike at the place where he travels in time from. why is this? it is sort of hinted at that donnie goes places in his sleep before he even met frank

This isnt really a question but did anyone else realise when they watched the movie again that when Donnie is riding home at the start of the movie he rides past straight past Franks car (red pontiac) which is going in the opposite direction! Just one of the things that makes this movie even cooler.

One thing I noticed while re-watching the movie is that after Donnie shoots Frank, when he talks to the otehr guy he slurs his speech like he does when he's under hypnosis, kind of like a child. Can anyone help explain this. I wonder if it has any significance.

well the movie is meant to be interpreted so anything you think is right you cannot be wrong rent the dvd see the dvd extras with commentary to understand it

This excerp from the page to which susan posted a link earlier helps to clarify where I think the movie was heading with the "God" part. It seems to me that God was used as a facilitator of the time travel in the film rather than a does he/does he not exist discussion:

"If God exists, he must by extension have a plan for the universe, a path for everyone to follow. If we are following a path that God knows from start to finish, then we should be able to jump to any point on that path because it already and always exists. Donnie is able to see these paths as Abyss-like arrows emanating from people's chests. He tries to ask his science teacher what it all means, but his teacher can't answer-he'll lose his job. He can't tell Donnie how to travel in time because it means telling Donnie that there is a sovereign God who created time and who oversees its unfolding."

This is at the bottom, and way too late..noone may read this and I might cover old ground. Here are some things about DD which strike me.

The god thing is Donnie trying to understand time travel and what he is experiencing when he learns about it from old lady's book, when he's talkign with his teacher the teacher refuses to continue the conversation..why? Because Donnie is at a religious private school and a teacher DENYING THE EXISTANCE OF GOD would be fired, ie. the teacher wanted to explain to donnie it had nothing to do with god.

I believe donnie is a 'learner' finding out about his role in the tangent universe, guided by Frank, a manipulated dead with more power (by book details) and hence more knowledge. When Frank shows Donnie the portal in the movie theatre he is SHOWING donnie how to make one! He also reveals himself as a Frank to Donnie, which means from that point on Donnie should know exactly who Frank is.

Here is one thing which I think is a biggy. The reason why Donnie appears to 'decide' to kill himself..is non existant, because he did not necessarily decide TO kill himself. When Donnie decided to return the artifact with his 'powers' at the eve of universe end he succeeds, and hence the NORMAL universe is reformed at the time and point of TANGENT universe creation. The artifact (plane engine) does not CAUSE the Tangent universe, it is a result of the occurance (which is random). When Donnie reinitiates the NORMAL universe the artifact remains as it must ALWAYS remain, it ACTUALLY happened, it DID travel through time, and still must in the NORMAL universe. SO....the scene showing donnie laughing to bed is the NORMAL universe (because the Tangent universe occurred BEFORE donnie went to bed, so NORMAL universe continues also before he went to bed.) This Donnie has no knowledge of anything special of what his TANGENT self has done, so is not aware of the engine and so dies.

All the scenes showing I believe are just character portrayals, revealing sides to the people we only saw from the Tangent Donnies viewpoint before. Dont forget, these people are also living manipulated and manipulated, therefore their actions, personalities and roles in the tangent universe doesnt necessarily reflect on them EXACTLY.

Now, the final explanation which is VERY difficult to work out is how FRANK can act as a manipulated dead and wake donnie up to begin with if Donnie needs to kill him before he can become the manipulated dead.

I can't explain this, without making some BIG CREATIONS. (ie. bullshit my way through it). I think the crying of Frank in the last scenes and his pretty bloody scary bunny rabbit indicates frank is a bit screwy too. MAYBE he commits suicide in the tangent universe, being them empowered with tangent universe powers as a dead travels through time and carries out his new role. Of course he knows he must arrange his own death in order to not rob himself of his own powers (two franks exist at a time, living frank and dead frank, neither is aware of the other, though dead frank has every bit of power over living frank as living frank would be a manipulated living.) so he does arrange his own death. i.e. the only way i can explain frank is by having frank ACTUALLY die twice, the 1st through his own actions where tangent universe continues with Donnie dead (cause hes not woken up) by suicide or something the second arranged by himself. His revealing of his face to donnie of his eye could actually be a frank trick. Because think about it, Donnie KNEW when he saw frank get out of the car, when he saw that gretchen had been run over, that he was the one to shoot frank, and that he would hit him in the eye (but only because frank showed him). Also frank led donnie to the gun using the time bubbles.

so there is my two cents, i think most of what i said is worthwhile except maybe the whole frank explanation, which i am still unsatisfied with.

I have another idea for frank and that is that the entire Tangent universe is completely predestined, and seeing as it occurs in an exact instant of the normal universe it exists ALL at once, thus allowing basically everything to be sort of 'pre thought through' by someone and setting donnie frank and everyone up perfectly so that normal universe can continue..this is where I think the movie allows for god to shape this, where the 'rules' of time travel by sparrow are adhered to still.

uh....i dunno...im trying. i'd love feedback to discuss with someone this movie and would love to hear alternatives or criticism where ive thought something through wrong...email: rem_aspira@hotmail.com I use msn messenger.

Sorry if anyone has said this already, but I was struck by the conversation between donnie and his physics teacher (the one that is stopped because it becomes too religious). Donnie says that if time is controlled by God, then it is already determined, so being able to see your future is the same thing as travelling through time. Then the teacher says that he's "contradicted himself" since being able to see your future lets you change it (the classic time travel paradox). So, is this tangent universe merely the previous plan of God which Donnie decides to reject? It doesn't really matter if her actually time travels, since, as Donnie says, seeing your future is the same as actually living it. This ignores the whole "living receiver" idea, but I don't really like having to invent a whole new ideology to explain a movie.

Another comment on the Jesus connection. As Donnie leaves the movie theatre to commit arson, the camera pans upwards to the marquee which reads "The Last Temptation of Christ".

Thanks Ian for your email on April 30th. It really cleared up the ending and movie for me. I actually understand it now.

Jon, I believe what occurrs to Donnie is that he comes to understand that he must die so that others may live. It is really about suicide. However, his suicide is with knowledge the world will be better off and particularly his love will be better off. She will live.

I haven't watched the dvd or seen their websit so if this is all wrong, just let me know (gently of course ;))

I think what it comes down to is he doesn't have a choice. The whole thing is a bit of facinating when you lay it out. The teacher says that he contradicts himself because if he knows the future then he can change it making God's destiny bullshit. BUUUUUUTTT, as you see if he changes his destiny then he dooms everyone else as is hinted in the movie. Does time travel exists? Can he control time travel? I doubt it. I think if we take that God controls destiny we create a loop. A pattern that will repeat until corrected. The plane's engine will go through the worm hole and reappear in Donny's bedroom and the world will end in the alternate world and begin again back in the beginning of the movies world. This will continue unless Donny accepts his fate and lays in bed.
God's plan continues and we answer the question the movie hints to. Are our fates predestined or do we have some control?
As to the question of Frank, I'm not sure anyone has hit on Frank in a way that feeds my curiosity. I'll take a guess but it don't think it really works.

Frank wakes Donny because possibly the event has happened before. Donny has lived this through once before and killed Frank and the universe did end later. But because the universe ended the way it did, Frank did not move on to the afterlife or whatever. He returned with Donny to wake him. I kind of think possible he gave Donny a second chance to be normal. His methods, extreme at the least, gave Donny a girlfriend he would probably not otherwise have, throw a part (which seems out of character for him) and extract revenge to someone who crossed him (not sure but do you think the Fear/Love guy could of messed up Frank??? just an idea). Frank possibly could have been trying to live his shortened life through Donny.

The more I read what I just typed the more absurd it looks....someone help me heheh ;)

Wow, I just read this page top to bottom. Anyway, the first paragraph of the posting above mine was nice, I agree with that one. The Frank aspect of the movie still bothers me, though. It appeared to me that it wasn't Donnie's choice to wake up that first night, but rather, that Frank woke him up. I thought that Frank was the one with the time traveling power alone, not Donnie. So what happened with Donnie on the cliff at the end of the movie? Why was he smiling if he had no control over what would happen next, or if the normal universe would come back into play? The big question is, why did Frank awaken Donnie the night the plane propeller came through the portal? I think it might've just been one of many awakenings, to give a set of local people feelings of deja vu that they deserve- good feelings to the good, bad feelings to the evil. Sorta would give moral standards to the viewers, wouldn't it? But then again, how would Frank have come back to wake Donny up if Donny didn't wake up in the first place? The dead form of Frank with a bullet in his eye (from the future tangent universe) came to wake Donnie up, creating the tangent universe. Enough random thoughts, but anyway that's the only part of the movie that seems flawed to me. If anyone can clear the storyline up from the maze the movie shows you, please clear it up for me, because I love the movie!

I believe its possible that this whole film is conspired in such a way to promote thinking.

With so many possibles and misgivings, and a time travel premise i think its safe to say how the movie was intended. But at the same time you could offer the explanation of a utopian dreamlike influence from the common teenage mind. Is it possible that this was all dreampt up, and congruently works as a pun? I thinkso.

The plagued questions which still haunt most of us today from our 'earlier' years, as to what, whatifs, and hows..It was a hard time and its molded me and continues to do so.

We are all subjects of this movie and its theories. I implore and congradulate the direction of this movie for its imagary most of all as I find they are key to connections that inspire questions and likewise arouse suspicion.

I truely love this film. I'm glad I'm around to be able to think about things like this and partcipate in small forums such as this which in some manner continue to make our own creative genius flow. Talking and typing are wonderful things.

After all its all stemmed from an inital thought?
And _ultimately_, who knows.

I'm not sure if I can conspire to accept divine or fatalistic themes in life. Because I tend to fall back into freewill and disagree with some persons arbitrary 'manipulated living' theory. I'm sorry but I tend to think the world rests its laurels on what it is, not what something is conspired to be. And I just love when someone tries to give me an example of both.. its really wild. Thanks Donnie. I'm still wondering. I hope my conclusive outcome deems me without faith but yet dying alone and without a state of mind.

Its time to live. again.

According to todays Dark Horizons
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news-n.htm
The director of Donnie Darko is working on a 'Directors Cut', one assumes for a special DVD release.

This film made most sense to me as a first person narrative of an individuals sinking into a severe psychotic(?) episode - i.e. the plane crash. The time travel aspect is in a sense a red herring - we are not to try and understand whether Donnie really has found out something big about time travel. To put it simply he is going mad - he has an inkling that he is coming to the edge, and in this madness the normal temporal sequence of events does not need to apply. Rather, in order to make sense of his catastrophic fall, even physical laws can be broken.

"Donnie Darko" is one of the most intriging movies that I've seen in a really long. After I saw it for the first time I honestly didn't know what to think or even feel. No movie has ever made me feel the way that "Donnie Darko" made me feel. I couldn't even put my emotions in words. "Donnie Darko' is an exciting mix of comedy, drama, and ever other genre in the movie industry. It was really more creepy than anything else. Frank, the soundtrack, and the performances from the cast. For as long as I live I WILL NEVER FORGET ANYTHING ABOUT "DONNIE DARKO."

Just a smattering of thoughts not yet mentioned:

The theme of darkness -
The IMG invention by Donnie and Gretchen provides happy light images to children as they sleep. D and G's reasoning is that, as nobody can recall what it is like to be a baby, these calm images can only have a positive impact.
The science teacher asks them if they had considered the possibility that darkness is necessary.
They reply that they hadn't.

Sleep and dreaming are crucial for maintaining mental health. Deprivation of REM (dreaming) sleep will make us psychotic by day. Sleep is an opportunity to create and process our thoughts. Even nightmares are a healthy processing. A feature of schizophrenia and psychosis is insomnia (and somnambulance). If Donnie is waking through the night perhaps that is contributing to his psychosis? Perhaps his IMG invention was a way to deal with the dark images produced in his own mind by imposing external light images.

Perhaps we need the darkness of sleep, uninterrupted by light images - however positive they may be - to make sense of the world around us. We need the darkness as well as the light. Western society tends to polarise our life into black and white thinking; good v bad, positive v. negative, fear v.love.

Jung's model for mental health was the acceptance of all aspects of our self - including the shadow self. We rewuire all to make us whole. A photo would not contain an image without the darkness. The dark parts of our psyche are neither good nor bad. It is too simplistic to lay them out along a line of fear at one end and love at the other. Donnie strongly objects to this linear scale when presented by Kitty. He knows humans are more complex and multi-dimensional. He his brave enough to travel through his fear - to embrace it, and suggests the children at the Patric Swayze seminar do the same. To the overweight girl he says; "exercise and eat less", to the boy who gets picked on "do some weights and learn karate".

The anti-christ is offering nothing but a perpetuation of their current pain. Donnie is not afraid to speak out - though the Swayze character says he acting out of fear.
Donnie is afraid but it is a fear about being uncertain as to what is the best move for the higher good of all. What kind of superhero might Donnie Darko be? One who travels through the darkside - through Fear.

Donnie contends with inner realities: parallel future, time travel, psychotic visions whilst attempting to live in the outer shared reality of his family and society. Dreams and the hypnotherapy used by his therapist are seen as the 'good' forms of this - in that they are shared by society. But Donnie's other awake 'dreams' - seeing visions and timetravel etc is the darkness through which he journeys. "Wake up..." urges Frank. It is through waking to these visions and knowledge that his journey is set in motion. Donnie hopes, in his letter to Roberta Sparrow, that the answers to time travel come to him in his dreams - we don't know if he means those dreams of night or his awakening dreams.

One interpretation of the film - that Donnie is actually in his bed the whole time - suggests that the events that take place are a sort of dream. He travels through time in his mind, with Franks help. The events in external reality unfold as they would do if he were to carry out the actions demanded by Frank. The whole sequence of events takes place culminating in the death of his loved ones and the end of the world.

Donnie, having travelled forward in time led by Frank, dies peacefully resolved that it is the best course for him; God's course. (Understood through his conversation with the science teacher)

Somehow - and not much is explained on this in the film - Frank has discovered time travel. Maybe he knows it from beyond the grave and wants to intervene as an attempt to live. Or perhaps he is still alive and fore saw his own death through time travel. Anyway, in order to avoid his death he needed to ensure that Donnie did not sleep walk so he would meet his death from the falling engine. Would he have done so without Franks intervention? Wouldn't he have stayed in bed and been killed anyway? Perhaps Franks wanted to give him the opportunity to die with that smile of resolve...

I'm unclear on this part but will watch the film a second time. Thank you for all your thoughts - it's been interesting reading and I certainly have made a lot more sense of the film having read your contributions.

Oh, and I think Jake G. gave an astounding performance of an extremely complex character. In fact the acting across the board was superb.

Donnie Darko is a indeed a superhero and has led his audience safely through all sorts of darkness. It is ultimately a life affirming film of the pain of an intelligent young man dealing with what may be madness or may be genius. The most poignant moment on the film for me was when he asks his mother what its like to have a crazy son.
"It is... wonderful" she tells him as she draws him in to a hug. It's truly bittersweet.

Well, that was more than a smattering of thoughts, it was a whole smorgasboard. Sorry to take so much space but hope to have added something...

Good to see all this Donnie Darko hype, cuz I really needed to talk about the film, having watched it.

A question for ppl who can give a reasonable answer :

If frank wakes donnie october 2, and the jet engine crashes this date, how does it crash again the 30 october?? I dont really get the tangent universe thing! If the jet engine crashes the 2 oct. WITHOUT his mother and sister on the plane, how does it crash later WITH them on??

points to remember as said here, the tangent universe was not caused by the jet engine, it just happened. the creation of the tangent universe leads to the creation of an artifact.
Donnie did not get out of bed and just laughed cus he either thought it was a dream or was enlightened.
The big question is that with his powers of telekenisis and his ability to tear the engine off the plane down the wormhole (only the artifact travelled not donnie) , why did his mum need to be on the plane?

His girlfriend dieig was part of the ensurance trap, she died anyway so donnie had lost her - no need for him to carry on and hence fulfil his destiny. But the plane would not/did not crash, mum on it or not

^^Reading above, it was pointed out that in the beginning of the movie, Donnie wakes up at the place in the road where he time travels from in the end. This makes me think: maybe the last scene from the movie (the one in which he dies) is still inside the tangent universe.. Like maybe it's a whole bunch of tangent universes set up as a set of concentric circles, and the only way for Donnie to unwind it all and save the Primary Universe is to work through each one, resetting the clock at 28 days, 6 hours, (Etc...) each time he time travels, but since he dies inside the inner circle (the one shown in the movie), that's the jump to the outside circle in itself..

I thought I understood it all until I started thinking about it again.. And I've watched the movie 4 times today (just bought it on DVD)

Now I'm off.. I have to be in school in 4.5 hours, and I've still gotten no sleep. (Thank you, Mr. Kelly)

~stephanie.

So, having just seen the film for the first time and read a few of the comments above, I question if this movie is 'It's a Wonderful Life' in reverse?

Well, I thought the rabbit was a bit scary......but maybe thats just me.

I just thought that I should add a little details. O.k first Grandma death or Roberta Sparrow. There are many things that she can represent. Sparrows represent God's Providence- and in the bible god said listen to the bird's for the answers. O.k and since Roberta wrote that book we can assume she had "visions" or w/e similiar to Donnie Darko's, and if so- why is she still alive? And why is she ALWAYS going to her mailbox? Did she know ahead of time Donnie was going to write her so she was waiting for the letter?

And then the asian, overweight girl. During the talent show she was dressed in white and did a dance called "On a manger". She also always pops up in unexpected places- shes everywhere. Could it be possible she represents some sort of christ, god, goodness figure? And if so what is the significance to her being made fun of by everyone?

Next, the fat dude in the red jogging suit. He also pops up in unexpected places. He first pops up when Donnie and Gretchen are about to kiss and then the second time on the day of the Halloween party (with a flashlight that creates that blue sphere-like light seen throughout the whole movie). He is in Red, does he represent a satin figure?

Also, I think Donnie rejects the idea of the fear and love being two polar opposites b/c I think part of the message of the movie is unifying the idea of goodness and evil, that maybe they are the same thing.

Also, Donnie-throughout the whole movie is talking about sex. Especially in lots of the deleted scenes. What role does sex play in this movie? So maybe the guy in the red stands for passion? Donnie talks about how he wants to just fu**, especially to his therapist.

Also throughout the movies there are many unicorns- a poster of one on Donnies ceiling, a story Samantha writes about one, and on the airplane Samantha has a unicorn stuffed animal. Since unicornes represent sacrifice I found that interesting.

At the end of the movie Frank touches his eye. From this can we assume he is aware of what his fate could have held for him?
And btw, everyone has great explanations of what they believe to be the meaning of this movie. I think the important thing to remember though is that there is not one definite meaning- it can only mean to you what you interpret it to mean, for each person it will mean something diffrent on how each individual relates it to his or her own life and own fears. I think it is more important to make your own meaning then search for others' meaning on line. The first time I saw it I cried and felt it was about (especially the ending) the universal fear of death and lonliness. But, after watching it the second time I strongly believe Donnie accepted his death and it was no longer a fear- he knew that at the end he has so much to look forward to...also destruction is a form of creation. Then during the song while showing other people, I got the idea that it was expressing how the search for God, for answers, and for coping w/ fears is universal. How we all have our own issues, as happy and secure a front we may put on (ex. Patrick Swazye)
And that is exactly why we all love this movie so much; it touches our deepest emotions, loves, joys, fears, hates, etc.
If any one can add on my questions above I would love to see peoples responses

One more comment about "right eye rubbing" - Donnie does it himself at the start of the movie as he is cycling home.

Why does Samantha say "Are you sure he's dead?" to the Chinese girl when she first meets her? This is just after Samantha says to one of her Sparkle Motion friends that she's "not allowed to talk about it."

And why does the Chinese girl respond "Shut Up!"?

Maybe we have all got it wrong and maybe, no surely, this implicates Samantha in Donnie's death. Maybe Samantha is the real superhero who knows that her older brother has to die to prevent herself from being on that plane, the engine of which kills him.

Also, did anyone else notice how dead Gretchen looks when she is in the cinema, supposedly asleep next to Donnie. And why doesn't she smell the petrol on him when he returns, after using that petrol to burn down Cunningham' house?

Can anyone here lip-read? Because I'm sure that Donnies lies about what Roberta Sparrow says to him? What did she really say?

hey, i absolutly LOVE this movie- no other way to say it.
it is really deep and confusing and whatever. but if you watch the whole thing with the directors commentary- you do learn alot about what he was trying to say. plus some of the comments are really funny.

ok - the thing that is confusing me is why oh why does cunningham cry at the end mad world sequence and why is the choreographer lady looking so shocked and stressed? this final sequence works but im not sure why!?!

Hey all,

I've just read through this entire page and it's all very interesting stuff...This movie has really impressed me and for the past two days I've been obsessed with it. I think I've watched the final sequence where Donnie sees the "time strand/tornado/vortex" whatever you want to call it about 50 times since then...The last few scenes that show many of the characters Donnie dealt with during the movie are very thought provoking in my view. We see all of them (except for Drew Barrymore), awake in the middle of the night, showing a variety of emotions. I found this very cool and I'm sure there can be many explanations/theories for these emotions. To answer the question on Cunningham, I think that he feels guilt over his obsession with kiddie porn and crys over it. Hey, I'm sure there are other possibilities too, but I think this is a good one since that might explain why he spends all his time trying to offer helpful advice to the masses throughout the movie (except when he's golfing of course ;-))

I also think the images in the scenes are worth taking a look at...for example the picture of the deer behind the gym teacher. Is the book on the Chinese girls nighttable the one they had to read in class? It doesn't come up clear on my screen.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts on a really good movie...definately one that I'll rememeber for quite awhile.

Oh yeah, the words of the "Mad World" song are also very interesting if you listen to them....

Possible plots I guess are

1. Ok this tangent universe thing happened and it was because of gods work. But it seems kind of foolish if god were to create something that could lead to the destruction of all creation?
So god controls the people around donnie + has an eye on him in class. I think the teacher (drew) could be of divine nature. Why? Its strange that she doesnt wake up in the middle of the night + in one deleted scene she states " as i am not YET queen of the universe". Damn right because at this point there is the tangent and the primary universe (actuallu 2 of them)

I dont get the sacrifice thing though... On the wesite I read that cunningham committed suicide. Doesnt this mean that donnies mother and sis wont be on the plane in the primary universe? Maybe he died in vain after all?

2. the beginning is the end of the film where donnie wakes up on the road. Ya it was all a dream but dont forget that he´s still mentally ill. When speaking with gretchen he does say that he burned down a house 2 years prior to the events (dream or whatever). Perhaps donnie is a very destructive person who thinks about bringing chaos (destroying the world) for his own satisfaction?
The fantasies also is a way for him to deny his mental illness and in the same way justifying his own actions? Clearly we know that he´s quite good with firearms so maybe it was donnie who killed cunningham after waking up?

Ahaaa I couldnt sleep and managed to come up with a third theory :D

3. Frank is Donnie.

In the end Donnie travels back in time (in the tangent universe) so that he can die in his bed (still in the tangent one=). The jet engine is sent back to the primary while Donnie himself becomes a manipulating dead. This way the universe wont collapse and donnie # 2 can travel back to the primary thanks to the help from his alter ego frank.

well some parts are missing but when everyone wakes up the universe is gone, donnie is safe on the road and is likely going to survive. Everything seems to be a bit out of synch between the primary and tangent universe. This could be an explanation to why the engine hasnt crashed into his room yet. I guess he will survive (dodge the bulled) since Roberta Sparrow must have done the same thing to be able to write that book right?

I like this ending a lot better :)

I was confused as to why the phsyciatrist wanted to contact donnie so desperately , when he was at the party in the room with gretchen and she had to leave a message on his answerphone, she said it was urgent. why?

my grade ten english class want to study this film in fourth term, so i'd like to thank everyone in advance for the incredibly in-depth analysis - you've made my job easier, although i still may well be up nights re-watching the film to find further interpretations.

for those interested, i've found a quite incredible (kinda kooky) website that discusses the temporal anomalies in the film, written by someone who obviously has a finer understanding of mathematics and temporal physics than myself. check it out at :

www.mjyoung.net/time/darko.html

enjoy!

I just watched this film two days ago. I am impressed at the cult like following, I have only really heard of the film since Jonathan Ross mentioned it a few months back.
My head is so crowded having just spent an hour reading this page. I think I pretty well 'got' dd but i can't put it into writing. I think any film offering time travel or alternate/parrallel sequences are difficult to grasp. Take the matrix (although god forbid i should actually liken the two), it took me a while to get a hold on their parrallel existences (albeit this was before the sequels came out). Then there is Mullholland drive, which i am sorry to say i cannot understand at all. But i didn't find dd so out and out taxing. sure it makes you think but the director hasn't made the mistake of being so complex as to exclude any person without a huge IQ. Mullholland drive was good, but it had too many issues for me to cope with. I think it good that you were made to think, but it was too tough for me.
I'm not saying DD was in any way a lesser film, in fact i would say it is infinetely better. it's not that the plot is necessarily simpler, but that it is better laid out. I think some people were getting misled by sub plots - the asian girl, the sister etc. what is largely important here is donny and frank (and the girl i guess) whlye and barrymore are instrumental in helping donnie see his way into time travel and therefore his place, but beyond that i don't think they had any particular significance.
His little sister represented all girls of that age- superficial and bouncy. His elder sister i was sorry not to see more of, i liked her and donnies insulting banter, but again she was largely insignificant.
Frank is this guy who is shot by donnie but only because he comes back to make donnie do so. I think the film pinnacles on franks death, not donnies. We see frank when he is alive crying, or possibly it is the world afterwards where frank doesnt die. Either way, frank has donnie killing him which possibly is the whole reason for this film: frank wants to die and somehow sees how this can come about, donnie is merely a pawn.
god i have really confused my self. i like the idea of it all being a dream with donnie laughing at the dream just before he dies completely clueless. unfortunatley i think this is too simple. Good luck on everyone else's quest for knowledge!

Awesome movie, really makes you think about it, and Donnie is super fine!

A new version of Donnie Darko will be shown at this year's Seattle Film Festival. Details are at: Film Roar: Donnie Darko Gets Director's Cut re-release

For those that are pondering the allusion of Frank the Rabbit: it is a reference to a '50s movie called "Harvey." Gotta love a movie that references the classics.

The best movie I`ve ever seen. Thanks

Remember when Donnie's parents talk in the
motel room about a guy called Frankie being
killed? Maybe I'm just reading too much into it,
but I think it might be Frank's father.

interesting comments you all have. i havent had the time to read them all so i dont know if someone already mentioned this but i think that donnie darko represents god while frank represents the devil. when u see donnie darko walking out of the theatre, the movie on the board is The Last Temptation of Christ. Throughout the movie frank makes donnie do destructive things.
O and donnie darko is one of the best movies ive ever seen!!! (along with american beauty, fight club, pulp fiction, kill bill, and lotr)

actually frank would be god and donnie christ. sorry bout my mix of thoughts

The question that remains is this: If Donnie was chosen to be the Living Receiver, to save the world by stopping the tangent universe to collide with the normal universe...well, all he does is follow all the steps that just lead everything to happen the same way it happened before, ultimately ending with the artifact falling through his roof, thus killing him. but if he wouldn't have gotten out of bed the first time, wouldn't it have had the exact same outcome? Why the additional 28 days?

-in response to freddi
the whole movie is about the 28 days that end up not happening. Donnie asks questions through the whole movie about time and destiny being predecided. He sees what his path is suppose to be, but then gets the opportunity to change his future. The chance to change the world. Of course there are many layers to this movie but ultimately you see that donnie decides which path he wants to take. To die. Whether it be his love for gretchen, or maybe wanting to make things better in the world for the people he loves we never know. Yes, donnie didnt have to wake up and and escape death, but he does. And that was his chance to see what the world could be like if he tried to change things. make things happen. And because of this journey hes able to make his decision what exactly is the right thing to do.He touched so many people without them even knowing it. Thats the beautiful thing about this movie.

this movie is actually much more simple than i think a lot of people make it out to be. the entire concept on the movie is based on the idea that sometimes good people die for no reason. of course, this theme draws many of references from christ and christianity in general, ie the common statement "why did god take him away from us?"

in short, it offers a brief glimpse into "gods plan," a plan that donnie is allowed to see yet remains mysterious to everyone else. for everyone but donnie, the movie never happens. a jet engine falls through donnies bedroom and he dies. the end. however, donnie is shown the alternative to his death when frank(who god uses as a messenger) leads him out of his bedroom and onto the golf course. this event is the beginning of donnies alternate reality. donnie then lives his additional 28 days in order to understand that his death must occur for gretchen, his one true love, to live. after he witnesses the terrible events that occur at the films conclusion, he ultimately chooses to die. he travels back in time to his bedroom and waits for death, laughing because he finally understands what god's plan is. while his death appears pointless and random to everyone else in the film, it makes perfect sense to donnie. hence, the film says that although our loved ones may sometimes lose their lives pointlessly, god took them for a reason.

i haven't read anything from the website and i haven't watched the directors commentary, so this all comes from the movie itself. i read a little about the living reciever and all that bullshit in the posts, but that all seems to still fit in.

Jesse - I just saw the movie and I think you are right on. I think he does die the first time around. There is plenty of evidence for this if you listen to the dialog really really closely. Especially the events immediately after the engine goes through the roof the first time. (Here's one hint "They could have said the same thing about Donnie.")

However, I think it is even simpler than your interpretation. I don't think there is really an alternate reality where he gets to choose whether or not to die. I think at the beginning of the movie he dies - period - the end. The rest of the movie is then just conjecture on what happens after you die.

I agree that Frank is supposed to represent God or some higher being. But I think this higher being is just trying to ease Donnie into the afterlife. That's what this whole portal thing looks like after all - the famous "tunnel of light." If you look at the things in Donnie's world after he's dead, they are all potentially things from his actual former life. For example, he is probably reading the Graham Greene story just before he dies. He also probably knows his sister's boyfriend, Frank, to some extent before he dies. You can make similar connections for almost everything that happens after he is dead.

In any case, I think it just doesn't hold up to look at the latter events in the movie as an alternate reality that was avoided. It is some crazy stuff. His physics teacher carries around a book called "The Philosophy of Time Travel"?! His psychologist spouts some gibberish about the sky opening up? It seems to me more like the thoughts of someone facing their fear of dying alone.

I don't think this interpretation takes away from the movie at all though. In fact, I think it is better because it does not need to withstand the scrutiny of physicists regarding time travel. Anyway, if you want to see another movie where time travel isn't all it appears - try Twelve Monkeys.

hey,
ive read loads about the film, done the whole website thing, and only two things seem unanswerable to me...

i) why does donnie say the whole thing about wehn the world ends, the will be so much to look forward too?

ii) why did the engine come from the future to the past in the first place?

thanks to anyone who can help...sorry if its obvious.

Phew! That was quite a long read. I watched the film this past Thursday and i loved it. I have some theories of my own explaining Frank.
When Donnie asks Frank where he comes from he tells him he is from the future. Since Frank was killed in the tangent universe, he was able to time travel back to the beginning of it to warn Donnie. Remember that he warned Donnie prior to the jet engine, meaning the tangent universe started before the artifact fell to earth. It is possible that Donnie was sleepwalking originally, since he was taking medications before the tangent universe, and that he would have avoided the engine without Frank's intervention. Since Frank was helping him, he knew that Frank was killed. Technically he was given the choice to kill Frank after being showed how, but he chose to (otherwise Frank wouldn't have appeared in the past). I don't know whether or not Frank could have intervened if he was killed later in the tangent universe, since he would not have been killed if he hadn't intervened. For the same reason Donnie used hte gun on Frank, i think Donnie was fated to survive the engine anyways. As for the others killed in the tangent universe, I guess Gretchen didn't appear to Donnie earlier because she wasn't needed to save the Universe.

Also, the philosophy of time travel ends with "We are told these things happen for a purpose." the psychiatrist explains that Donnie's delusions and behavior come from fear of forces beyond his control, originating before the tangent universe (when he burned the house, sleepwalking, medication). Perhaps the main purpose of the tangent universe was to calm this universal fear for Donnie.
One last thing. Is there a meaning to the picture in the psychiatrist's office? The camera showed it close to the end, either during mad world or right before it when Donnie caused the time rift. I'll have to see the movie again. It won't be difficult. O yeah, and the head by frank during mad world. Was that metal? If so, is that also an artifact involving frank as a living reciever, or is it just a sculpture out of (or hte cause of) his seeming obsession with the demonic rabbit head drawings?
But those are just my thoughts. Whatever, dd is an amazing, complex movie that astounds audiences on many levels

OK, I have read about half of the posts here and have yet to see one asking questions about the teachers, Mr. Monnitoff (Science) and Ms. Pomeroy (English).

Doesn't anybody else see their roles as significant. If it was just a coincidence that they were a part of Donnie's life, why did the science teacher just happen to have a copy of "Philosophy of Time Travel" in his bag. And why oh why did the English teacher write "Cellar Door".

When Frank first speaks to Donnie he says, "We've been watching you." and when he vandalizes the school, he says "they made me do it." Who are these other people, or more to the point, these other beings. I know that a lot of people see this movie as being primarily about destiny. But, think about this... Going toward the end of the movie before the English teacher is fired, she is kicking back in the lounge with the Science teacher. They are smiling at each other and mention Donnie, although we are not told why. It seems that they are reading a written letter of some sort. Is this the letter he has addressed to Roberta Sparrow?

I just think that the integral role that they play is more than destiny playing itself out. I think that they are set in his path.

Any thoughts...???

First of all, i'd like to say that it's pretty cool that this string of comments has been running for a year and a half!

As far as interpretation I don't have too much to add so I'll raise some things that nobody here mentioned:
1) Frank tells Donnie in the movie theater that his father was Frank, and his father before him and so on.
2)Any significance to the fact that the two teachers are actually a couple (we learn this at the end of the movie when we see them in bed together)?
3) I think the true climax of the movie is when Donnie is hypnotized and he and the psychiatrist helps him realize that if the world comes to an end, it's only him and Frank (perhaps God) that are left. Donnie then cries and hugs the psychiatrist.
4) The "world" coming to an end might just mean Donnie's "world" and not the whole world.
5) If Donnie actually traveled back in time, why did he have to die? Why couldn't he have walked out of the room and actively prevented his mother, sister, and Gretchen from dying, teacher from being fired, etc.?

Check out:
http://www.stainlesssteelrat.net/ddfaq.htm

Ok...i'm not even gonna try and read half of these..but from what i have read...everyones ideas are amazing, and really do make sense. In reference to a comment by trace talking about the vandelism and the 'they made me do it' written on the floor, i think the 'they' could be everybody in the tangent universe that had their lives changed for the worst as a result of donnys staying alive. If Donny hadn't lived, obviously things would've turned out a lot different. I could go on that topic for a while, but i'll leave it at that. I wanna brush up on the God part of the film though...i havent read all of this, but i think that the Christian religion is a big part of this film. In a sense, Donny Darko could be Jesus, and Frank his father. Frank tells him that hes basically going to die, just as Jesus is told he is going to die. And in the end, Donny sacrifices himself unselfishly for those he loves, just as Jesus sacrificied himself for those he loved. In a way, when Donny died, those that were affected from the tangent universe were overwhelmed with emotions, almost as if they knew what they had done in the other universe, and felt extreme guilt. In a way, the christian faith, its the same way, those that accept Christ are overwhelmed with their sins, but because Jesus died for them they have a second chance....just as those in the movie get a second chance because Donny died. This is just what i think though, and I dont know if any of it made sense because really, its hard to put to words what you think of this movie. It is a work of art though, and well..sorry if i repeated stuff that may have already been posted.

I have read almost the entire page and some people really raise some questions that are absolutely fascinating to think about. Anyway, i have seen this movie on a video shop for about a year now and from the front of it, never knew what to make of it. Then just a couple of hours ago i watched it.
This is a amazing movie, and like many people said, if you watch the movie by itself, your brain can wonder for hours, days, weeks, years. I went to the website and got a lotta info on events and other things not shown. Actually on chapter 3 after the plane report and telephone my screen wouldn't let me do anything else (i know there was more, but how?)
Anyways, from what i have read, the DVD offers great insight as to the directors plan for the movie.

It looks though , and i agree with others, that all main characters played an important role in the movie and obviously were conducting him. Even him says to his shrink that it all seems too much coincidence.
I don't know if anyone has answered this yet...but the engine that eventually kills Donnie is the same one from his mother's plane? In the end, with the vortex, we see an object flying through the vortex and then we see the plane shake and all...and the object in the vortex resembles the engine....which is teh artifact everyone talks about. Time wise it doesn't make sense, but within the movie and its context it kind of does(to me at least).

All in all i am just happy to have seen a movie that i enjoyed and that has caused so much controversy and has been the target of discussion for so long!!!It is one of those movies that makes you think. Just to say and maybe cause more controversy, there is this site where there is quite a good conection between the story of jesus and the movie (i prefer the more sci-fi, thriller, fucked up version)
www.johnhartery.com (just a suggestion in case anyone interests)

ok i've seen this movie at least 30 times and i have no idea what the fat man in the red suit is supposed to symbolize..we see him when donnie wants to kiss gretchen then again during the party..what is that all about?!

With the whole engine scenario, i thought that the plane engine dropped off the plane which was carrying donnie's mum and sister, and travelled backwards in time through the portal and into donnie's room? I deduced that that was why they didnt know where the engine had come from, because it actually hadn't happened yet...and when the engine killed donnie at the end(or back at the beginning!), it insured that his sister and mother weren't on the plane.

Honestly, I'd have to say that Donnie Darko is indeed one of my most preferred films of all time.
After watching it at least 5 times, one can see that the film is so complicated, so brillant. One could easily analize this film in order to relate it to simple things, such as: teen rebellion, unfairness of life, truth behind time travel, existance of a "god", ect. One could also watch the film thinking nothing, simply taking in as much as one's brain can handle.
When I watched Donnie Darko, I felt refreshed. I felt as though it answers realistic questions. Of course it brings up outlandish questions in one's head, but to stand back and see the overall of the film, one can only sit awe struck at the complex simplicity of it.

If you really want to know what Donnie Darko is trying to say here it is... All of that "god's plan" and "time travel" and anything else that is fictional in nature is bullshit as far as the movie goes. What I mean by this is that none of it is really happening, it's just what Donnie believes to be happening. You have to remember that he's a schizophrenic. These delusions are all in his head. He is just making ties to things that seem to be significant to him. These "significant" events however are really just very minor coincidences.

If you still don't understand what I mean, take the end of the movie for example, Donnie's death. Donnie does die, but he is not killed by the falling jet engine after he travels back in time. We don't see Donnie's actual death, (presumably shooting himself while waiting for the portal with Gretchen in the car) we just see an artistic extension of Donnie's delusional beliefs.

quote:
ok i've seen this movie at least 30 times and i have no idea what the fat man in the red suit is supposed to symbolize..we see him when donnie wants to kiss gretchen then again during the party..what is that all about?!

Posted by: Sarah on November 1, 2004 04:42 PM

i really dont get that either. it was one of the first things i noticed. if anybody would like to help that would be great. :)

Im amazed at how insightful most the messages on this site have been! wow. half these things never crossed my mind. i just bought the movie a few weeks ago (i knwo its bad cos it been out for ages). i watched it a few times and read the posts on here but there are still a few things i do not understand in the movie

-the dude in the red suit. unless this is some kind of red herring and irreleavnt? he's on the back cover of my dvd too with his torch. is the torch more relevant then him?

-when waitgn at the bus stop they all hear a plane go overhead. any significance?

-the shrink when she phones donnie and says its urgent. this is never followed up. i havnt seen the directors cut, so maybe it is answerd there? is she meant to be the other side to donnies consience (ie tryign to stop him sacrificng his life, but he ignores it)?

-i still dotn see the whole signifcnace of the chinese girl. a few ideas i have heard is that she is to show donie he isloved. i agree with this,but she features so heavily in the movie, she must play a more important part surlely?

-any signifacne to frank beign shot in the eye. mayeb the eyes are to signify two worlds/two visions, and donnie has to chose one?

-Grethcen woudl have surley been at the party anyway. i dont understand her mum goign missing and its relevance to the story

sorry if these are stupid questions, and the answers are really obvious its just the 3am ramblings. i know i have focused on samll issues to the story. I just want to understand the whole movie

im probabaly just over analsysing eveything. it just seems that everytign in theis move has significace. evey scence and word uttered!

tryign to stop my head from whizzign about.
if i fail my degree i blame donnie darko, cos i aitn gettign nowt done!
i cant even begin to imagagine how kellys's mind work to write somethign this fantatsic.

First of all I have to comment on what a great movie this was, my boyfriend insisted i watched it, and right after i searched up every possible analysis on the web. One thing i may have skipped over, or missed on this board is the perception of beauty in this movie. The term "beautiful" is often brought up. Do you think that perhaps the movie tries to express the power of inner beauty? For example the large girl is an angel dancing on stage while the parents and others are laughing, and snickering, as well as someone yells out a rude comment to her. On the outside she may not be very cute but on the inside (relating back to the religious context of the movie) she is angelic and represents good. As well as the outer "beauty" of Cunningham, when he turns out to be a dirtbag in reality.
Gretchen wants to kiss Donnie at a time that is "beautiful" and although at the moment she runs out of school because someone made the comment about her mother being stabbed, she sees it as beautiful and kisses Donnie. This makes sense if you see her as a Manipulated being, that moment is beautiful for her, and her goals of putting Donnie on the path he is supposed to follow because the comment the teacher makes about darkness being important to growth indirectly sparks the thought in Donnie that maybe his "dark" fear of dying alone and his questions about life itself are normal for growth of the human mind. This also sets him towards the idea that it's ok to fear dying alone which he then does for the sake of others. Also they make love (which can also be considered a beautiful act) right before Donnie shoots Frank and Gretchen gets run over. Following the path that is set out for him.
Making love ultimately creates life. Which Donnie, indirectly does for others, by saving their lives. Or re-doing time and re-creating their lives.

Hey guys, I'm thoroughly enjoying all of these great interpretations of the film. I must say, the first time I saw the film I thought it was an interpretation of Lockean substratum. If understood properly, their explanations of 'essence' and time can almost completely explain the movie, and so I initially assumed that it was a modern interpretation of preliminary philosophy. I certainly didn't think anything was wrong with Donnie, and if you watch the film with audio commentary and some of the deleted scenes, it's literally explained and pretty evident that there's nothing wrong with him. Neither his behavior nor treatment indicate any type of schizophrenia, but I did enjoy reading all of your opinions and explanations of the movie. Possibly the best thing about the film is its ability to be interpreted in entirely different ways and still make sense and convey an almost identical feeling or idea. In the case that anyone is interested in seeing the similarity to theory, check out Locke, particularly his 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', and maybe even some Kant.

I have to get back to read all this later too. Its a goldmine of ideas.

Something I also noticed are all the movie references of 80's movies...

Superman (hero going back in time to save his love and others from death)

Last Temptation of Christ (listed as other movie playing in the theater as Donnie and Gretchen watch the Evil Dead...theme of avoiding one's calling or path and the alternative world that is formed)

The Wall (the outdoor area Donnie and friends hang out looks a lot like where Pink hallucinates in his chair with the dead tree....echoing madness)

E.T. (Donnie wearing the skeleton shirt with hood on Halloween like the little boy in the movie...and Drew Barrymores presence in the movie.....theme offhand is harder to define..maybe saving his "friend" from another world )

Back to the Future --of course...(references directly made in the movie...time travel)
Since the plot of that movie is about someone going back to another era of time to save his family, could it be also pointing us in two other 80's movies and giving us a hint on a possible alter ego identity of Roberta Sparrow? (Which would also refer back to superman again...dang! This movie is has so many layers to it-like an onion.)
--The two movies:
Somewhere in Time...an very old woman whispers in the ear of a young Christopher Reeve "come back to me" setting off a journey for Reeve's character to go back in time and eventually romance the very woman who contacted him.

The Shining....the final scene of Jack Nicholson in a photograph set in the 1920's...echoing the statement made from one of the ghosts that "he was always the groundskeeper", even though the movie was set in 1980. What is the significance of the photo of Roberta Sparrow as a young woman? It is somewhat blurry, yet familiar. Is it his sister? Had she found a copy of the book and took a larger journey herself?

You can see a copy of her photo in the official website.

Very in depth commentary from a lot of you. I was just wondering.. is there any specific scene that depicts the central meaning of the film? I have to write a paper for speech and have no earthly clue what ONE scene finally unravels whats going on or a central meaning.. I've seen the movie several times and havent been able to figure out what this central meaning is.. I know whats going on and what happens, just not a deeper significant meaning. Any help or insight would be GREATLY appreciated.

Very in depth commentary from a lot of you. I was just wondering.. is there any specific scene that depicts the central meaning of the film? I have to write a paper for speech and have no earthly clue what ONE scene finally unravels whats going on or a central meaning.. I've seen the movie several times and havent been able to figure out what this central meaning is.. I know whats going on and what happens, just not a deeper significant meaning. Any help or insight would be GREATLY appreciated.

I was thinking alice and wonderland as well. Especially when he is in the bathroom knifing at the liquid wall that separtates him and Frank. Looking glass anyone?
Also, could it be that the world is not actually ending? Could it just be that Donnie's world, his life as he knows it, is about to end? I think this is more plausible than the world ending entirely because how exactly was is it supposed to end? Either I missed something or I'm on to something...

wow guys, a lot of info there... like 4 years worth. I pretty much understand the film now however one question stil plauges my mind... what the hell is the significance of the Asian girl?

yes i'd like 2 know that 2 please^^^^

I have had this movie since it came out and I can hoestly say that it is very weird, but every time you watch it you catch something that you didn't notice before. Like, the first time I saw it I didn't understand the endng at all, but by the 2nd or 3rd time I realized that he went back in time to save all of that he killed. Just think about it if he died his mom, sister, girlfriend, frank, and sister's dancing team would've lived. Because the interworkings of this movie is to establish that fate is real and by changing his fate he caused alternate fates in which the "world ends" meaning his world. So, he takes the lesser of the bad fates and goes back to die. But, in reality he din't go back in time because he discored a tanagent universe that would repeat until he died.

These are all pretty decent insights, and some of it is downright fucking amazing, but has anyone stopped to think that perhaps the guy who wrote the concept and story never really wanted people to understand the whole thing, he just wanted to stir the pot and make people use their minds ( a rare occurance nowadays) akin to some of tools work.

maybe we will never discover the true meaning of the movie, the point it was trying to convey, or perhaps that was the point of the movie
viewers analysing and contemplating the movie in parts and as a whole, hoping to incover some deeper insight.

I dont really care what anyone else has to say, the movie appealed to me and just made me think, for that I commend everyone involed, it was fucking brilliant and worth watching.

hey i have just been given an assignment on daoonie darko and have to look into the love aspects in which donnie darko showed, can someone help

hey i have just been given an assignment on daoonie darko and have to look into the love aspects in which donnie darko showed, can someone help

Hey, an idea that no one ever agrees with, is that instead of time travel, it was all a dream. this was my initial thought because of the sone that plays just after he dies... "I find it kind of funny, and i find it kind of sad that the dreams in which i;m dying are the best i've ever had." If anyone has any opinions or disagreements with this feel free to post them.
Thanks,
Kyle

Okay i know like pretty much everything about this movie... if there was something you didnt understand then you can just email me because i used to not understand it at all but then like most of it clicked and then my friend helped me out with the whole jet engine - artifact - end of the world dealio. oh an by the way at the end of the movie when the sister came inside she was coming back form a date with frank and frank was honking to wake up donnie because he had the choice to live or not after saving the world. he could have easily left the room or something but he chose to die. thats why he was laughing so hard

O and kyle its kinda hard to agree with your theory... its a good one but it would make no sense. it would screw up everything in the movie, because at the end when they are singing that song.. and it shows everyone in bed.. its because the past 28 days to them is like a dream. those are the only people who even vaguely remember it.. thats why frank touches his eye because he dreamt about getting shot by donnie.

Wait, I understand what everyone is saying. I used this site to make sense of the movie. Thank you for all of your comments.

What I'm hearing is that Donnie's death via the jet engine keeps everyone else from dying in the tangent universe.

Then why does Frank have Donnie leave the house in the first place? Why not just let him die from the beginning? Why go through the bells and whistles of the tangent universe? It doesn't make sense.

The only answer I have is that the Tangent Universe is part of some divine plan for Donnie and Donnie alone.

Any thoughts?