Donnie Darko is one of those flick I take in and rewatched endlessly during college . The humble , but bold , tale of a tumultuous young military personnel saving his family and friend spoke to me in ways I do n’t quite recall 15 years later . I just sleep together I loved it . However , rewatching the film director ’s cut of the film ( released on videodisc in 2004 ) , I found that connection much less potent .
Donnie Darko is a 2001 cult picture show written and directed by Richard Kelly . It stars Jake Gyllenhaal has the rubric character , a brainsick suburban eminent school student who , one solar day , cryptically avoids a fatal accident of a jet engine falling through his elbow room . Donnie shortly set about to have imagination of a gargantuan bunny rabbit cony who tells him the world will terminate in about 26 days . So , in that meter , he tries to piece together his mental state , the state of his community of interests , his family line and more .
Watching Donnie Darko again , the first matter that jumped out were all the little roles played by now more far-famed people . Seth Rogen is in there , as one of the hooligan . Ashley Tisdale makes a pocket-sized appearance in a tantrum . Even Maggie Gyllenhaal has a character . That ’s how removed from my mind Donnie Darko had become . My computer memory of this movie predated Maggie Gyllenhaal ’s fame .
Then there were the lines of dialogue that brought back pings of nostalgia . ( The Smurfs treatment , Sparkle Motion , “ Chut up ” ) . Kelly ’s musical choices ( Tears for Fearsin particular , but alsoMad World ) . Plus the wonderful design of Frank the Bunny . And yet , despite these things , this version of the movie did n’t issue forth together the same way that I think back it doing when I was 21 .
Maybe I ’m just more jaded . perchance I ’ve matured as a movie theatre watcher . Or maybe The director ’s slice simply is n’t as good . But Kelly ’s tale , where Donnie performs the heroic deed of self - sacrifice to save his town and everyone in it , somehow did n’t find as clean-cut this time , even when this specific edit induce things much more explicit .
The managing director ’s deletion of Donnie Darko has about 20 minute of extra footage in it , most of which are minor character moments . There ’s also the major improver of vast clump of text that lay the groundwork for Donnie ’s research into time travel . These very unmediated and obvious scene remove some of the wonder that a spectator had in 2001 watching the theatrical baseball swing . In fact , they preclude the film from being a text that the witness could read into whatever they wanted . In the past times , I call up thinking , “ Maybe Donnie ’s actually a superhero . mayhap he ’s a time traveler . mayhap he ’s in a parallel dimension . ” Almost all of it could meet into Kelly ’s original framework . But in this version of the film , you are almost coerce to put very specific pieces into a singular puzzle . And it feel less magic as a result .
The ideas in the film remain fascinating . A teenager struggling not just with being a teenage , but mental issues and the idea he has some special role in the universe . Then that role that includes metre travel , wormholes , and all the awesome hypothesis that go along with them . Kelly ’s script is place in 1988 , but it has a recent 90 , ego - mindful , misanthropical tone to it . Donnie and his friends have their Quentin Tarantino / Kevin Smith inspired soda water culture conversations , the cast features several Eighties wizard ( Patrick Swayze and producer Drew Barrymore ) and the way that boring motion turns into sped - up motility , all result in some exceedingly coolheaded scenes .
But , during this rewatch , those parts did n’t quite dwell up to the whole . Donnie Darko has lots to say about lots of things ( among them religion , Americana and mental wellness ) and the story is sure well - paced . But when it ends , I was disappointed that I did n’t watch out the theatrical cutting . That cut , the one I grew up with , truly made me want to dive deep into all the mystery and minutia of the motion-picture show . This time , I felt like I had all the answers I needed . Either that , or the film just has n’t age well .
Either way , it ’s still impossible not to be astounded by Kelly ’s ambition and audacity here . Not to be stun by Jake Gyllenhaal ’s performance . Or delighted by the mad , twisted sentience of humour that interpenetrate the movie . But there ’s also no doubt , in 2016 , that Donnie Darko looks like the body of work of a very young , evolving filmmaker whose best work ( we ’d hoped ) was onward of him . It ’s a film that will forever be tie in to a specific sentence and place — reek in the center of the sovereign - filmmaking manna from heaven — but one that has n’t quite grown to top it . At least , not the director ’s cut .
Donnie DarkoJake GyllenhaalMovies
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