Donnie Darko
it’s tradition to watch this every 2nd of october and for some reason even after a handful of watches, i’ve never officially logged it.
this film is literally perfect to me in every way and i genuinely love it the more i watch it. i’m not fully versed in all camera, writing, and acting techniques (yet) but one thing that i think anybody can clearly understand is the overall vibe and atmosphere of a film and words can’t explain how much i LOVE the atmosphere that Richard Kelly and the entire team were able to build for this film. it is also very funny at times (at least to me) i actually laughed a lot more this time compared to others. can’t forget about one of the most important and iconic parts of the film which is Frank’s costume. making it a very creepy dark blue bunny is just so odd but fucking awesome and eerie.
fall is my favorite season and halloween is my favorite holiday so incorporating both things into this film already sells it for me. although there are plenty of other films with the same setting, this one stands out to me so much due to how moody and surreal it is. a majority of the film uses cool blue lighting that just sets the perfect tone for the whole thing. also props for being able to do the 80’s setting so well without trying too hard, there are only little hints here and there that remind us what time this takes place in like the televisions, the movies showing in the theater, and the halloween costumes and its all done so great.
now i doubt anyone could write about this film without mention how AMAZING both the score and soundtrack are. of course the soundtrack is going to be all 80’s music but it’s clear that they were meticulously chosen to fit the vibe of the film which makes it so much better. Tears For Fears, Duran Duran, Joy Division, Echo & the Bunnyman???? i mean come on this soundtrack is peak. on this watch the score stood out to me a lot more than before. i had listened to it separately from the film about 2 years ago and still listen to it because it’s so hauntingly beautiful and it really does help some of the scenes stand out so much more.
i can’t praise this film without of course talking about the performances too. young Jake Gyllenhaal is literally the only person that i think could ever actually play Donnie Darko, he just fits so well. Mary McDonnell stood out a lot to me on this rewatch as Donnie’s mom, she’s so good at acting consented and loving for Donnie that I even teared up a bit during the scene where Donnie asks her “how’s it feel to have a wacko for a son?” and she replies “it feels wonderful.” Patrick Swayze plays the creepy and manipulative Jim Cunningham really well, 2000s Drew Barrymore is of course looking stunning, and it still shocks me every time i see young Seth Rogen in this.
i also wanna talk about the one thing everyone probably thinks about when they finish this film for the first time which is: what happened?
as soon as i finished my first watch of this film, i of course went on a crazy dive for hours online and then i found out that all the answers are literally on a website. the philosophy of time travel by Roberta Sparrow explains everything that went down in this film which deals with a tangent universe and people acting as the “manipulated living”, “manipulated dead” and the whole deal with Frank having to lead Donnie to the right place through all these actions to save the primary universe. this whole thing with artifacts, water and metal being key components to time travel, make this one of the most creative sci-fi ideas i’ve ever seen and i love how confusing and mysterious it still all is even after finding out what it’s all about.
that’s all i’m gonna write for now. Donnie Darko is a masterpiece, idc what anyone else says. and i’m gonna finish this with a quote from the film:
“What’s the point of living if you don’t have a dick?”