Donnie Darko

First off, I’ve got to say, I’d never seen this film before. I’d heard great, great things, but had yet to see it. The opportunity came up a couple times this semester, but I opted to wait and see it in class.
This film was absolutely crazy. About three-quarters of the way through I was thinking of The Usual Suspects, and how the whole thing never really happened. But, it did happen, sort of. After reading the articles, and playing on the Donnie Darko website, I understood that everything that happened took place in a Tangent Universe. Meanwhile, in the film's "real" universe, the only things that happened were Donnie's death and a strange deja vu experienced by the whole town. Bitchin' twist!
The film, by itself, out of the context of the articles and the website, doesn't do as much for me. It's a really neat story. I wasn't very familiar with the Gyllenhaals coming into the film. Jake did an excellent job, and that leaning forward dark-lit eyes thing was put to good use. Molly was underutilized, but my favorite scene between the two of them was definitely the dinner table where they exchange went something like:

Donnie: You are such a fuckass.
Elizabeth: Did you just call me a fuckass? You can go suck a fuck.
Donnie: Oh, please, tell me Elizabeth, how exactly does one suck a fuck?

That was definitely a quote to take from the film. Along with the Smurf thing. I had deja vu with a couple scenes of the film. I might've seen these as clips in other films, or randomly caught part of the movie on tv without knowing what it was. The one where Jake's mom is arguing against the censorship of certain books and the smurf debate. I really liked this exchange, especially since it's a conversation I could see myself having with friends (or being in Jake's position for it) if Smurfs had ever been my thing (unfortunately they weren't). It felt very much like a conversation from a Tarantino film. I really enjoy intertextuality (which as I understand it now is sort of the same thing as pastiche?) - again, I highly recommend checking out Family Guy (it's vulgar like South Park, and makes cultural references all the time - one of my favorite shows on tv, I can't wait for it to come back in '05!).
I was pleasantly surprised to come across Jena Malone, whom I really enjoyed in Life as a House - although it felt like she could've moved straight to Middlesex from the setting of Life as a House (or visa versa - the films were released the same year). She's very good at playing the cute, somewhat odd girl who takes an interest in the outcast teenage/protagonist male bringing about some sort of change (again, Life as a House).
Patrick Swayze seemed desperately out of place. But he pulled it off nicely. His first appearance came just short of making me groan. That said, he grew on me. Pedophilia was a great twist to his character, giving him a vital layer of depth. Without the pedophilia, I think I would feel differently about him. It really rounded him out, gave him a purpose, and when it was revealed in the film, it was a big fat “Oooooh!” with regard to his Fear and Love shtick.

Document 1
Document 2
Philosophy of Time Travel
Spoilers

This movie was pretty crazy. I only get it after reading all the articles.

Having the frame of the TonyStuff articles, I can see the entire movie as having taken place in a tangent universe. And I can see in the end where everyone wakes up experiencing a deja vu sort of thing from what seems like a collective dream they've all had. The stuff taken from the Donnie Darko website makes it pretty hard to argue against. The entire movie seems to be explained on the website, including a list of characters and what roles they play.

Living Receiver:
Donnie Darko

Manipulated Dead:
Frank Anderson
Gretchen Ross (another ...?)

Manipulated Living:
Edward (Eddie) Darko
Rose Darko
Samantha Darko
Elisabeth Darko
Katherine (Kitty) Farmer
Elisabeth (Beth) Farmer
Jim Cunningham
Kenneth (Ken) Monnitoff
Karen Pomeroy
Principal (Larry) Cole
Cherita Chen
Seth Devlin
Ricky Danforth
Joanie James
Susan (Susie) Bates
Susan (Suzy) Bailey
Sean Smith
Leroy (Jones)
?... Carter
Linda Connie
Roberta Sparrow

In class, you asked a question about why people collect DVDs. I’ll tell you, I have a collection of over seventy movies (that is different titles, I’m not counting bonus discs or anything like that – seventy different movies). I collect for a few reasons.
1) Some movies I want my friends to see. I enjoy watching movies, especially with friends, and exposing them to something they’ve never seen before always holds an excitement to find out what their reaction will be. Will they enjoy it as much as I will? Will they get the same thing that I got from it?
2) Another reason is comfort. When we were younger, and still living at home, any time my sister was too sick to go to school she would slip Ferris Bueller’s Day Off into the VCR and watch it. This happened every time she was sick. I gleaned that from her, and any time I was sick I would turn it into my own personal film festival. My mom would go rent some movies I’d never seen, and I’d spend the day on the couch under a pile of blankets watching them. (Funnily enough, I first watched The Matrix under these settings, and I actually fell asleep! I didn’t watch it again until my mom made it the first DVD in my collection. At which point I immediately ran upstairs and watched it from start to finish again, for the first time, and it instantly became one of my favorites).
3) I hate watching movies that have stuff too “racy” for tv that is important to the essence of the story (the Die Hard series is an excellent example – on network tv the climactic end of Die Hard 2 – which was only an okay movie - has someone doing a crappy impersonation of Bruce Willis, saying “Yippie Kai Yay Mister Falcon,” as opposed to the distinctive “Yippie Kai Yay Mother Fucker” which is sort of an inside joke to fans of the original – I can’t watch it on). If I decide I’m going to watch a film on tv that I own and falls into this category there is a good chance I will get up from my seat, track down the DVD, put it in my player, and queue it up to where I started watching (occasionally I’ll watch from the start). Then I get to enjoy the film with higher quality and the way it was supposed to be watched, with explicit language (or what have you). And I’ll finish faster than the tv-showing anyway.
4) It’s inexpensive and durable. Unlike video, DVDs can be watched over and over without a loss in quality. To boot, these days rental fees are so high and the cost of DVDs is so low that if there is a chance that you’ll want to watch a movie you plan on renting more than two times, it’s in your best interest to just buy the DVD flat out the first time you watch it. I’ve bought a few films sight unseen (Reservoir Dogs, Animal House), and have watched both of them enough times to beat out having rented them.
5) The special features. What could be better than listening to director commentary? Watching how an elaborate scene was actually executed. Trailers. Making of featurettes. Scenes before they got CGI-ed. Interviews with the cast and crew. Everything you could ask for short of a one-on-one session with anyone. – (And since I’ve become disenchanted with collecting cards, this is an enjoyable focus for my disposable income).