'Donnie Darko' Explained: An Analysis of Richard Kelly's Masterpiece (2023)

Donnie DarkoIt premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2001, eight months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was director and writer James Richard Kelly's first feature film. Considered one of the greatest cult classics of all time, the film was made on a budget of just $4.5 million. It was filmed in just 28 days, which coincidentally is the same number of days in the film's plot.

Donnie Darkois a hybrid film and oscillates between horror film and science fiction masterpiece, with hints of typical 80's high school film and new age religion. This complete film review will delve into the meaning ofDonnie Darko: the characters, the plot, the story, the easter eggs, the music and everything else that makes the movie so special and strange. Obviously it's full of spoilers. Without further ado, here's Donnie Darko's explanation...

Fan

The official trailer tooDonnie Darkoit's pretty scary. The trailer starts well, with an idyllic suburban setting in 1980s America: green grass, trampolines, an immaculate private school, and so on. The scene and music quickly devolve into the darkness of a psychological thriller or horror movie. We're introduced to Donnie Darko, then the rest of the trailer is filled with disturbing scenes/hints of insanity, hallucinations, violence, and sci-fi elements like time wormholes. All in all, the 2+ minute trailer does a great job of articulating the feel and plot of the movie without giving too much away.

characters

Despite the film's meager budgetDonnie Darkofeatures an all-star cast of famous names and recognizable faces. Drew Barrymore and his production company Flower Films were instrumental in making this all-star cast possible. The main characters are as follows:

• Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Donnie Darko.
• Jake's real-life sister Maggie plays Donnie's sister Elizabeth.
• Drew Barrymore plays Karen Pomeroy, Donnie's English teacher.
• Noah Wyle interprets the outro of two professors from Donnie, Kenneth Monnitoff.
• Holmes Osborne plays Eddie Darko (Donnie's father) and Mary McDonnell plays Rose Darko (his mother).
• Katharine Ross é Donnies Therapeutin Dr. Lilian Thurman.
• Beth Grant plays Kitty Farmer, an annoying mother and gym teacher.

In terms of character analysis, Donnie Darko is the protagonist and everything we know about the other characters comes through his narrative voice. What Donnie knows, we know.

There's also the big question of who's playing Frank, this guy in the bunny suit/mask/costume. That isJames Duval, an actor who has played numerous roles in independent films and major blockbusters. Patience Cleveland plays Roberta Sparrow or Granny Death, another mysterious character. Jolene Purdy plays Cherita Chen, the young woman in the earmuffs who is constantly bullied.

Other actors and actresses in the film include Jena Malone as Gretchen Ross (Donnie's love interest), Patrick Swayze as Jim Cunningham (a motivational speaker reminiscent of Tony Robbins, whom Donnie hates) and even Seth Rogen - yes, you read that right. Seth Rogen is atDonnie Darko— and he plays Ricky Danforth, a high school bully.

"Ricky Danforth" is a great name for a high school bully. In an interview, Rogen told about the experience of filmingDonnie Darko: "It was a great experience; I didn't get it at the time and I still don't, but I had fun. Does the other bully on the left look familiar too? That's because it's a young Alex Greenwald, the lead singer of the pop/rock band Phantom Planet, more known for its track "California", which played in the opening sequence of the TV showO OC. Alex Greenwald played cocaine-snorting bully Seth Devlin in the film.

plot

Donnie Darkotakes place in October 1988 over four weeks. You can divide the plot into three sequences: Donnie's Awakening, Donnie's Crime and Love and Donnie's Sacrifice on Halloween Night. In the wake-up sequence, we meet Donnie and his surroundings, which take place in a mysterious plane crash in a suburb in the late 1980s. During the crime story, Donnie falls in love with Gretchen and commits three crimes: flooding the school, setting fire to a pedophile's house and shoot someone in the eye. Eventually the film fits into the sacrifice plot and we realize that everything that happened is due to a black hole in time that could destroy the entire world and Donnie prepares for that with the help of a seven foot rabbit to heal the tear in the universe with your victim. The plot unfoldsDeus ex machina(God Out of the Machine) where something happens out of nowhere that breaks the suspense throughout the film.

To analyze

Most people find the filmDonnie Darkobe confused. But even a casual viewer can enjoy the film without understanding it. To interpretDonnie Darko, let's start with the main symbols, motifs and moments; then we'll move on to an interpretive summary of the bigger picture. we will answerwhat really happenedDonnie Darko?here as far as can be answered.

bunny/frank costume

Who is Frank the Rabbit, that weird crazy Easter Bunny thing? he is bad is he good? Where does he come from? Why is Frank wearing "that stupid bunny outfit" as Donnie so elegantly puts it in the film?

Frank the Rabbit, or Franklin Anderson, Jr., is, as one commentator notes, an "inverted spirit" or the "manipulated dead." He is an inverted ghost because in the real biological world of everyday life, Frank is not dead. However, in Donnie's alternate timeline or the parallel universe, or more specifically the Tangent Universe, Frank is dead and was killed by Donnie and is only present through a wormhole. Donnie kills him because he accidentally runs over Donnie's girlfriend while he was running away to get more beer.

Imagine that there are two universes. Frank lives in a universe. In another universe, Frank is dead. Then, Frank dead in the other universe begins to invade the reality of the other universe to help change the course of events so that he does not die, but also because it causes him to destroy the world he will save .

That's exactly what Frank also does: he helps Donnie and the world, albeit in a scary and violent way. The strangeness of Frank's appearance and methods can easily be stopped as a kind of distortion as he transports himself from one universe to the next. Just as things merge or distort in our dreams, so does Frank.

And the famous rabbit costume? This was probably inspired by the bookwater ship belowby the English author Richard Adams, where rabbits talk and act like humans. You can explain that Frank ended up with the bunny costume by accident; Frank was probably taughtwater ship belowin high school and kind of mastered the character as he moved through universes.

Essentially, Frank helps Donnie achieve everything from flooding the school to burning down the mansion to finding a way to save the world - and he is Donnie's savior. Frank is not the bad guy. He's helping Donnie.

Donnies Tattoo: 28:06:42:12

What does Donnie's tattoo mean, or more specifically what Donnie wrote on his arm with a pen? What is the role of numerology in the film? Frank explains the numbers to Donnie: “28 days…6 hours…42 minutes…12 seconds. Then the world will… end.” So the tattoo is just a reminder to Donnie of how much time he has left to save the world. It's a countdown to the end.

On Stack Exchange, a user explains how the author creatively uses numbers to create glitches in theHeadquarters-similar effect throughout the film:

The movie takes place in 1988. Frank tells Donnie that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. When you add those numbers up, the total is 88. When Samantha asks when she can have kids, Donnie says, "Not until 8th grade." Donnie mentions to his therapist that his dog, Callie, died when he was eight. (He is later seen holding a stuffed dog in his office.) Donnie jokes about this.Back to the futureDeLorean that had a speed of 88 MPH. According to the TV reporter, the fire at Jim Cunningham's house was put out "sometime after 8am last night". The night flight that almost crashes is flight 2806, boarding at gate 42 at 00:00. the climax ofDonnie Darkotakes place a week before the 1988 US presidential election, when George Bush won on November 8, 1988 (11/8/88). The film was shot (on a budget of less than $5 million) in 28 days. There are 28 scenes in the director's cut of this film.

The meaning of all these numbers creates a scary undercurrent if you have enough time to pay attention to these things. The meaning of the number eight (8) inDonnie Darkoseems to be nothing more than just an interesting easter egg in the movie.

philosophy of time travel

theories oftime travelare abundant in the film, which makes it so confusing and difficult to understand. The best summary of such theories is in thephilosophy of time travelby Roberta Sparrow. This was written by director/writer Richard Kelly and later published as a book to help fans decode the film. This is the book that Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff (Donnie's science teacher) provides it, and it was written by Roberta Sparrow/Grandma Death, the old woman who always checks her mailbox. It's supposedly fiction, but Donnie fears it's all true.

Spirituality/religious significance

There is an interesting tension between science and religion, or between logic and mystery.Donnie Darko. The tension is most clearly articulated in the biography of Roberta Sparrow (aka Granny Death). The film tells us that Roberta Sparrow started out as a nun in a Lutheran church in Alexandria, VA, but left the convent to become a science teacher at Donnie's School in Middlesex, VA. Then she finally freaked out and "became a totally different person". What does all this mean?

The allegory is clear. Roberta Sparrow represents both the occult and the scientific, both revelation and reason. Roberta had to study religion and science to discover and unravel the mystery of time and the universe - and as soon as she cracked the code she went crazy, at least by the standards/norms of the primary universe or the everyday reality that we all know and live in it while we live our biological lives.

The evidence for the necessity of both science and religion is reinforced by the actions of science teacher Kenneth Monnitoff. When Donnie and his teacher talk about the universe, they first talk about Stephen Hawking's book.A Brief History of Time. The conversation then goes on until science teacher Donnie hands over Roberta Sparrow's book, which is not a science book but a religious book that begins with an invocation to prayer. It is clear that both books are necessary to understand the meaning of life, and as the conversation turns to religion (or spirituality), Mr. Monnitoff needs to end the conversation with Donnie.

Donnie's therapist, Lilian Thurman, describes Donnie as an agnostic. She says, "Donald, you are an agnostic. An agnostic is someone who believes that there can be no proof of the existence of God... Cut plays an even more important role, also because the supernatural is involved.

Richard Kelly also establishes Donnie Darko as a Christ figure or even as a sort of antichrist against suburban notions of Christian sin. As Jesus Christ, Donnie must sacrifice his own life to save the world. Furthermore, it is explicitly signaled that we must draw such parallels when Donnie watches a double feature of the cinema.the bad death(1981) eThe Last Temptation of Christ(1988). However, Kelly also draws parallels between Donnie Darko and comic book superheroes; Isn't it funny how similar the name Donnie Darko is to Peter Parker?

You made me do this / Destiny

Predestination or predestination is an important concept inDonnie Darko. In this part of the article, the analysis is theoretical and extrapolative, such as the question aboutIs there free will?answered only vaguely. Let's start with what is explicit and work to what is implicit and then to what is purely literate theory.

After flooding the school, Donnie writesyou forced mein a strange font said to be Donnie's handwriting. The idea is that everything Donnie does is out of his control. Donnie tells his therapist, "I have to obey him... because he saved my life. He's controlling me and I have to obey him or I'll be alone." The point here is clear: Donnie's body and mind are in the service of something beyond him, and his free will is severely impaired. time vortex. (Or, to use the film's blunt language, Donnie is the "Living Receiver" at the mercy of the "Manipulated Dead" operating from another dimension.)

Donnie's free will is on the line, but what about everyone else? It's also clear that Donnie can see into the future of what he will do and what others will do. These future apparitions come as tentacles of water or gelatinous bubbles.

What should we do with it? There is an unearthly scene of metal and water that only lasts a few seconds in the movie. This is the other universe, or in the vocabulary of the movie The Fourth Dimension of Time, from which Frank the Bunny operates and speaks to Donnie.

One way to interpret free will in Donnie's world is to think that in the fourth dimension of time human will takes place and these choices are then transmitted to the primary universe of human action. It's a kind of sci-fi version of Platonic dualism. There is a delay in your transmission, which allows Donnie to see the selected paths.

soundtrack

ODonnie DarkoThe soundtrack is as iconic as the film itself, mainly because of the final track (which will be discussed later), but also because the ominous yet romantic soundtrack seems to linger and fits the picture perfectly. California-based composer Michael Andrews wrote the score and, due to a limited budget, played most of the instruments himself. Track tracks are arranged in the order of their appearance in the film.

• "Carpathian Mountains" - 1:35
• "Das Tangentenuniversum" – 1:50
• “The Artifact and the Life” – 2:30
• “Average Sex Times” – 1:41
• “Manipulated Life” – 2:08
• “Philosophy of Time Travel” – 2:02
• "Liquid Spear Waltz" - 1:32
• „Gretchen Ross“ – 0:51
• “Burn” – 1:58
• "Slipping" – 1:17
• „Rosie Darko“ – 1:25
• "Basement Door" – 1:03
• "Insurance Trap" – 3:11
• "Waltz in the 4th Dimension" - 2:46
• "Time Travel" - 3:01
• "Did you know him?" - 1:46

The soundtrack also includes several upbeat 1980s songs by Joy Division, The Church, Echo & the Bunnymen, and Duran Duran. The film's opening song is "The Killing Moon" by Echo & the Bunnymen.

There was talk that U2's "MLK" and Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls" would also be on the soundtrack, but they never materialized. Fun fact: "West End Girls" was supposed to be the song used for Sparkle Motion's talent show performance.

"Mad World" -Song

The most memorable part of the soundtrack is the song that plays at the end.Donnie Darko, a cover of the Tears for Fears song "Mad World" featuring Michael Andrews on piano and Gary Jules on vocals. Lyrically, the song is an emotional journey of youthful angst, confusion and sadness at growing up in a crazy or "insane" world, with the melodramatic assertion that death is the only redemption from insanity. The song's opening lyrics create a cadence through a simple rhyme scheme:

There are familiar faces all around me
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for your daily runs
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Your tears fill your glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head, I want to drown my sadness
Not tomorrow, not tomorrow

Then comes the famous refrain:

And I think it's kinda funny, I think it's kinda sad
The dreams I die in are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to accept
When people run in circles, it's really, really
Crazy world, crazy world

The lyrics were originally written by Roland Orzabal of Tears for Fears in 1980, when he was just nineteen years old. But the Tears for Fears version is quite different from Gary Jules'Donnie Darko. The Tears for Fears version is catchy and almost uplifting (despite the sad lyrics), while the Gary Jules version stands out.Donnie Darkoit is a morbid ballet. As a YouTube commentator points out in the Tears for Fears music video for the song, Tears for Fears focused on the "kind of funny" part of the song and Gary Jules on the "kind of sad" part.

Upon closer analysis, Orzabal likely wrote the song in a moment of teen melodrama, but as it was processed by the band and label, it became a quintessential '80s pop song. What Gary Jules and Michael Andrews elicited in their version of "Mad World" probably more closely resembled the feeling Orzabal originally felt: a sense of hopelessness at the state of the world and utter melodramatic despair.

So why is the "Mad World" cover so impactful in the end?Donnie Darko? On the one hand, the letters seem to match the images very well. As with any good sound design, the viewer almost thinks the music was written for the movie. The final scene cycles through all the "familiar faces" in the film, showing them "drowned in sadness" and as if "there is no tomorrow" - and the film collapses on itself in a state of insanity.

common questions

WhereDonnie Darkotake place?It is set in a small rural town called Middlesex, Virginia; However, it was filmed in California and does not contain any real Virginia scenery. Writer-director Richard Kelly grew up in Virginia and presumably played scenes from his childhood in the film. Kelly noted that shooting the film in California was difficult because they constantly had to hide the palm trees from the cameras.

ANDDonnie DarkoAHalloween Movies? Donnie Darkotakes place in October and the main events of the film take place on Halloween night. The film's distributor was confused about how to market it when it hit theaters, and when it had its brief theatrical release, Newmarket Films marketed it as something to watch on Halloween. However, despite the initial marketing, it is not a traditional Halloween movie. Donnie wears a skeleton costume for Halloween.

it's a horror movie Donnie Darkoat first glance, it looks like a horror movie. It's mostly driven by how scary and menacing Frank the Rabbit is. The film's distributor wanted to make it more of a horror film by having Frank the Rabbit murder children, but the director and creative team refused to change the film that way. So yes, it's a horror movie, but not your typical horror movie.

What is itDonnie DarkoFont or typeface?The fonts used throughout the film were all created specifically for the film. Reddit users have noted its similarity to the Calligrapher and Flat Brush fonts from the Broderbund collection. The Trajan font is also used. Another interesting fact about the movie's fonts is that after watching the movie, director Christopher Nolan just gave feedback that they should update some of the fonts.

What is the role of schizophrenia in the film?Donnie appears to be mentally ill. He is sleepwalking. He's hallucinating. He hears voices. However, after watching the movie a few times, it's clear that Donnie isn't crazy. We are informed by Dr. Thurman said the pills he takes are "placebos". Just water pills.” Therefore, Donnie's visions and bizarre behavior are not the result of pills. Also, it's clear that Frank is actually communicating with Donnie from another universe and what he's experiencing is real.

Why was the film controversial?Donnie Darkowas in first placecontroversialas critics who first saw the film at Sundance were deeply divided. Some thought it was a terribly presumptuous movie and others thought it was amazing. It was also controversial because of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. That was a recent memory back in 2001, and people were very uncomfortable with the scene where Donnie finds a gun and shoots another high school student. Finally, 9/11 happened, and thenDonnie Darkohit theaters a month later. This was compounded because the central premise of the plot is that a jet engine falls out of the sky.

What is the meaning of the fat man in the red suit?In a movie full of weird things, the fat smoker in the red tracksuit is particularly weird. who is this guy The director explains that he is an agent of the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) who was sent to monitor the Darko family because the events involving the family and the plane crash are very strange.

The best way to watch/stream

Although most people have seenDonnie Darkoat home on VHS or DVD, the director said the film was meant to be seen in theaters. "I made this movie for the big screen and not many people saw it in theaters when it came out," says Richard Kelly. He continues, "We have to keep the theater experience alive and bring people together in theaters."

You are unlikely to seeDonnie Darkoin theaters, but if you want to get as close to the theatrical experience as possible, maybe don't stream to your phoneNetflixorHello. Watch on the big screen. If you're in the UK, high-resolution 4K Blu-ray is available; In the US, this Blu-ray edition is the highest quality you will receive.

Whatever you do, don't download the full movie torrent. Support the companies and artists that bring these films to life.

Consequence

there is no sequelDonnie Darko. However, there is an unofficial sequel calledS. Darko(2009) about Donnie's sister Samantha. This is an unofficial sequel, as the original writer and director ofDonnie Darko, Richard Kelly, had nothing to do with the film and did not even see it. When Kelly was asked about the so-called sequelDonnie Darkovonpop affairsHe said: "I had nothing to do with it. And I hate it when people try to blame me or blame me for not having [participation]. I don't control the rights behind theDonnie DarkoFranchise. I had to give them up when I was 24. I hate it when people ask me about it because I've never seen it and I never will, so...don't ask me about the sequel.” So if the director of the original doesn't think there's a sequel, you shouldn't even do it.Donnie Darko 2It is not a thing. Needless to sayDonnie Darko 3it's not a thing either.