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Donnie Darko

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Donnie Darko is a 2001 feature film, the first by writer and director Richard Kelly. Set in 1988, the movie is a psychological thriller/science fiction film about a boy named Donnie Darko who, after narrowly escaping death, has visions of an eerie, bipedal rabbit named Frank who predicts when the world will end. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Donnie, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The film did not perform well in theaters but has become a cult hit since its release on home video. In the United Kingdom, it sold moderately well on DVD, before being reissued in a budget edition with no director's commentary or other extras, where it reached No. 1 in the DVD sales chart.

Contents

Cast

Plot

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The plot of Donnie Darko deals with existential and nihilistic themes, and includes paradoxes that are never explained. As such, multiple interpretations exist.

The film is set in 1988, in Middlesex, Virginia. It is a presidential election year.

In the middle of the night, on October 2, 1988, Donnie is awoken from his sleep by a strange voice and led outside of his house where he converses with a demonic-looking, man-sized rabbit named Frank, who tells him that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. After waking up on the golf course the next morning, Donnie returns home to discover that a jet engine has fallen from the sky, onto his house and crushed his bedroom.

There is an early indication of Donnie's mental illness (specifically psychosis) when his sister accuses him of not taking his medication. Donnie continues to see Frank and begins to see "liquid spears" emerging from people's chests, the paths of which indicate the actions those people will undertake in the immediate future. Whether this is indicative of mental illness, science fiction, or both, is left to the viewer. Though in deleted scenes and director commentary it becomes clear that the pills are placebos and that Donnie is suffering from no mental illness.

Richard Kelly, while not denying the viewers' personal interpretations, has made his own clear through the audio commentaries on the two DVDs, the included Philosophy of Time Travel, and in various interviews. His intended plot is as follows: At midnight a tangent universe spins off the Primary Universe, signified by the appearance of an Artifact, here represented by a jet engine. Tangent Universes are inherently unstable and will collapse in less than a month, taking the Primary Universe with it, if not closed off. Closing the Tangent Universe is the duty of the Living Receiver (Donnie), who is given super powers to perform this task. Those who die within the Tangent Universe are the Manipulated Dead (Frank and, according to the back of the book, Gretchen), who are also given certain powers, a subtle understanding of what is going on, and the ability to contact the Living Receiver via the Fourth Dimensional Construct (water). Everyone else in the orbit of the Living Receiver are the Manipulated Living, who are subconsciously drawn to push and prod the Living Receiver towards his destiny, closing the Tangent Universe and, apparently, dying by the Artifact.

If we follow Kelly's interpretation, the chain of events in brief is as follows: the Manipulated Dead, Frank, rouses Donnie, the Living Receiver, from his bed, and compels him to leave his house, starting a causal loop. There are two Franks in the story. The living one, who is dating Elizabeth Darko and the dead one who appears to Donnie as a premonition from the future, although technically they are the same person. This Frank is dead because at the end of the story, Donnie shoots him through the eye and kills him. According to the Philosophy of Time Travel, dead Frank then has the power to travel through time, and as Donnie is the only person who can save the world, Frank gets Donnie out of bed before the jet engine lands. If Donnie had died, the world will have been doomed.

Frank tells him that the Tangent Universe will collapse in 28 days. The next day Donnie goes to school. His English teacher, strangely, tells new girl Gretchen to sit next to the cutest boy in the room and she chooses Donnie (this begins the romance that ends badly and pushes Donnie to his final action). That night Frank appears to Donnie and makes him flood the school. As a result Donnie walks Gretchen home and asks her out. A bit later, Frank appears to Donnie and tells him to "burn it to the ground", so Donnie burns down the house of Jim Cunningham, a motivational speaker. When the firemen come to investigate the fire, they discover a secret room filled with pedophilic material. As a result, Donnie's conservative physical education/social studies teacher, Ms Farmer, decides to defend Cunningham, whom she believes has been framed. This causes Donnie's mother to chaperone her daughter's dance troupe on their way to California to perform on Star Search (they board the airplane whose engine becomes the artifact in the Tangent Universe). Because of this, Donnie and his older sister, Elizabeth, are able to throw a party while the parents are away. This leads to a romantic interlude between Donnie and Gretchen. At the same time, Frank, Donnie's sister Elizabeth's boyfriend, realizes they've run out of alcohol at the party and drives off with a friend to pick up more beer.

Jake Gyllenhaal as Donnie Darko.
Enlarge
Jake Gyllenhaal as Donnie Darko.

After their interlude Donnie decides to take Gretchen to see Grandma Death (aka Roberta Sparrow, the author of Philosophy of Time Travel). They stumble upon two bullies who were searching through Ms. Sparrow's cellar for her rumored treasure. Donnie, Gretchen and the bullies struggle, and Gretchen is thrown into the road. Roberta Sparrow, a senile old woman, is standing in the middle of the road checking her mail because Donnie wrote her a letter earlier, when Frank comes upon her in his car. He swerves to avoid her, but accidentally hits Gretchen, killing her. Donnie becomes enraged and kills Frank, becoming willing to do what must be done in order to save Gretchen. The plane with his mother and sister passes by the wormhole (or timestorm as referenced in the DVD) and the engine is ripped off and thrust back in time. The audience knows that the mom and sister are on this plane, after Mrs. Darko leaves a message saying that they are catching the red eye back. Donnie reappears back in his room in the Primary Universe, and lies in his bed laughing as the engine falls through the roof and kills him. After experiencing the Tangent Universe, and seeing the paths that every living thing follows throughout time, Donnie dies so that Gretchen, his mother, his sister and Frank may live. According to the Philosophy of Time Travel, every Living Receiver dies by the Artifact. A simple explanation of the movie and its ending, based on the DVD commentary, is that Donnie had to make sure, with Frank the rabbit's guidance, that the chain of events that caused the engine to go through the portal occurs. If he failed, the portal would have caused the end of the world (like Frank said).

The film carefully leaves open the possibility that the entire alternate-universe sequence of events may be Donnie's (or even, perhaps, his mother's) hallucination, reverie, fantasy, or dream (and Kelly has hinted in interviews that dreams and alternate universes just might be the same thing [[Citing sources citation needed]]). At any rate, the story draped on this science-fiction backbone includes a good deal more than speculative inquiry into time travel; the film is also, for example, a darkly comic satire of public education (although Donnie's school is in fact private), and so-called self-help gurus; and Jake Gyllenhaal has received much praise for his performance as the disaffected, alienated, yet charming Donnie.

Much of the backstory is explained on the official [Darko] website, which acts as a combination puzzle and teaser for the movie. It shows that Donnie was institutionalized before the events of the movie occur, and offers other details that help in explaining the goings-on of the movie. The director's commentary on the DVD also gives crucial details, such as the point of departure between the real world and the alternate universe — not when the engine crashes through the ceiling, but instead a few minutes before, when Donnie is called out to meet Frank for the first time.

Characters

Donnie

Donnie is a teenager. He has been diagnosed with some sort of mental disorder and is known to hallucinate, have bursts of anger, and tends toward emotional distance. He is inquisitive and skilled in English and Science classes. He is very interested in time travel and sex.

Donnie's Family

Mom
Donnie's mom seems almost frightened of her son, but is more frustrated with his disrepect and rebelliousness. She seems worried that he hasn't been taking his medication. She seems to be against banning literature, but nonetheless alows herself to be bullied by Kitty Farmer.
Dad
Donnie's dad seems less interested in his children. He finds many of the things the kids say, which the mother find offensive, funny. He snickers when hearing about Donnie's insulting of Kitty Farmer and when his youngest daughter asks "what's a fuck-ass?" He is a staunch republican and seems almost insulted when his oldest daughter suggests voting for Michael Dukakis.

Frank

Frank is somewhat of a guardian to Donnie. He visits Donnie for the first time during the night, and makes him leave the house. Frank reappears several more times in the film, each time dressed in rabbit suit, often giving him tasks to do in the night (e.g. flood the school). Donnie doesn't know who or what Frank is. Near the conclusion of the film it is revealed that he is in fact Donnie's sister's boyfriend, and kills Gretchen Ross, Donnie's love interest in the film. The rabbit suit is a halloween costume.

Jim Cunningham

Cunningham established a self-help public education company, known as 'Cunning Visions Inc'. According to Cunningham, human thoughts and actions can be polarised into two categories, based upon, as Kitty Farmer describes in the film, "the two deepest human emotions", 'fear' and 'love'. 'Bad' thoughts and actions are described as part of the "negative energy spectrum" (fear), and 'good' ones in the "positive energy spectrum" (love). Cunningham then moves on to solving the subject's 'fear'. These include issues such as bedwetting, obesity, premarital sex, and drugs.

Donnie Darko's Jim Cunningham is a reference to 'self-help gurus' throughout the United States. His methods can be seen as pseudoscientific and focused on 'quick fix' answers to the many personal problems people face. It can be easy for viewers to point out the flaws of Cunningham's 'vision'. Indeed, Donnie Darko argues that "life isn't that simple," and that there are things other than the emotions of 'fear' and 'love' that need to be taken into account. One could say that Cunningham's philosophy is based upon moral absolutism, the belief in absolute good, and absolute evil. Cunningham, his program, and his supporters (almost all conservatives), are representations of social and individual hypocrisy, which develops as an important theme in the film.

Jim Cunningham's hypocrisy is displayed on two levels during Donnie Darko. In the Tangent Universe, Frank instructs Donnie Darko to burn Cunningham's house. Donnie obeys, and the fire reveals a secret stash of child pornography behind a painting, dubbed by the media as the "Kiddie Porn Dungeon". Cunningham's career is destroyed, and faces court charges (giving Donnie the revenge he was looking for for what Jim had done to him earlier). However, Kitty Farmer who has always been one of his most vocal supporters, believes there is a conspiracy, and that Jim Cunningham is innocent.

In the Director's Cut version of the film while Donnie and classmates are in Ms. Farmer's class watching Cunningham's Cunning Vision tapes, Frank's voice says: "Watch closely, you might miss something." The next scene in Ms. Farmer's class (the lifeline activity scene), before Ms. Farmer turns off the Cunning Vision tape, Jim pats a young boy's bottom as he gives him a hug, foreshadowing Cunningham's pedophilia.

A further symbolic link may be drawn between Jim Cunningham and conservative Christianity. Upon each entrance into the high school we are presented with the introductory shot of a cross poised above the buildings central entrance. Likewise those teachers which come to associate themselves the most with Cunningham are those whose conservatism leads them to question issues of popular morality. And Mr. Cunningham, himself, in his first presentation before the school links drug abuse, alcohol abuse and premarital sex, as most mainstream conservative christian churches all want to do. Cunningham becomes the primary ideologue upon whom the moral aspect of the curriculum becomes based. The entire school, into whose entrance the symbol of a cross is predominantly prefigured, becomes a vehicle for Cunningham's simplification of all morality into two polar extremes, fear and love (i.e. God and Satan). And it is during Cunningham's first personal presentation that we find a Donnie Darko desperately opposed to his teachings. He calls Cunningham the antichrist. While Cunningham will admit no confusion or grey areas, Donnie himself admits that he is an angry and confused young man, but that Cunningham's oversimplification of moral reality is "absurd". And of course there is the eventual revelation of Cunningham's pedophilia, which directly mirrors the real-life scandals of the Catholic Church.

Kitty Farmer

Mrs. Kitty Farmer represents the film's views on the hypocrisies and shortcomings of contemporary American society, as well as building the movie's theme of irony.

She is a prominent figure in the Middlesex community as a parent and a Jim Cunningham advocate, and as a teacher at the prestigious private Middlesex Ridge School. Kitty has taught physical education, and she currently teaches social studies modelled on Jim Cunningham's self-help philosophy of 'fear' and 'love'. Kitty is a part of the Middlesex community morality , along with Jim Cunningham and Principal Cole. She, her fellows and Cunningham's supporters are conservative, and frown upon liberal aspects of culture they see to be destructive elements, 'succumbing to the path of fear'. Indeed, on the night after Donnie Darko floods the school, at the emergency PTA meeting, Kitty condemns the teaching of Graham Greene's The Destructors, because of its nihilistic themes, leading to 'fear'. Views on the relevance of the book's relation to immorality and the handling of the material are divided.

Ms. Farmer is also the organiser of the school's Star Search team, Sparkle Motion. Her own daughter is on the team, but Kitty made Samantha Darko, Donnie's sister, the lead dancer. This is where Kitty's hypocrisies come to light, contributing to the film's theme of irony. Sparkle Motion dances to Duran Duran's Notorious. The dance proves to be very popular among the audience at the Middlesex Ridge School's talent contest, and Sparkle Motion wins entry into the Star Search contest. Ironically, despite her own conservative views, Kitty encourages the dances very sexually suggestive routines.

In addition, near the end of the film, Kitty appeals to Rose Darko, Donnie's mother, to supervise Sparkle Motion's trip to the Star Search '88 contest in Los Angeles. Kitty cannot attend because she needs to be present at Jim Cunningham's court arraignment following the 'Kiddie Porn Dungeon' scandal. Kitty accuses Rose of not being committed to the dance team by saying "Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion", thereby contradicting her own dedication as she is defending someone who is perceived to be immoral and hypocritical, and finds it easier to tell someone to do something than do it herself.

Spoilers end here.

Production

The movie was shot in 28 days, on a budget of under US$5 million.

Background

Initial Stages

Casting

Music

Main article: Donnie Darko soundtrack

Critical Reaction

Director's cut

The UK DVD cover for the director's cut.
Enlarge
The UK DVD cover for the director's cut.

A director's cut of the movie debuted on June 4, 2004 in Seattle, Washington and was released in New York and Los Angeles on July 23, 2004. Twenty minutes of footage, including interstitial excerpts from the in-movie book The Philosophy of Time Travel, were added, as well as some soundtrack changes. The director's cut DVD, released on February 15 2005, included the new footage and additional soundtrack changes, as well as some additional features exclusive to its two-DVD set, including excerpts from the storyboard, a 52 minute production diary, #1 fan video, a "cult following" video interviewing British fans, and the new director's cut cinematic trailer. A director's cut DVD was released as a giveaway with copies of the British Sunday Times newspaper on February 19, 2006.

Differences

In the director's cut:

Reception

Publicly screened for the first time at the Sundance Film Festival, critic Andy Bailey billed Donnie Darko as a "Sundance surprise" that "isn't spoiled by the Hollywood forces that helped birth it."

Although critically acclaimed, Donnie Darko debuted in U.S. theatres in October, 2001 to a tepid response. Shown on only 58 screens nationwide, the film grossed $110,494 in its opening weekend. By the time the film closed in U.S. theatres on April 11, 2002, Darko had grossed $517,375.

Despite the poor showing at the box office, the film had attracted a devoted fan base. Donnie Darko was originally released on DVD in March, 2002. During this time, the [Pioneer Theatre] in New York City's East Village began midnight screenings of Darko that continued for 28 consecutive months.

Strong DVD sales led Newmarket Films to release a "Directors Cut" on DVD in 2005. Bob Berney, President of Newmarket Films described Darko as "a runaway hit on DVD," citing U.S. DVD sales of more than $10 million. In 2003, Darko composer Michael Andrews found his piano-driven cover, with Gary Jules on vocals, of "Mad World" at the top of the UK music charts on Christmas day.

Awards and Nominations

2001 — Richard Kelly won with Donnie Darko for "Best Screenplay" at the Catalonian International Film Festival and at the San Diego Film Critics Society. Donnie Darko also won the "Audience Award" for Best Feature at the Sweden Fantastic Film Festival. The film was nominated for "Best Film" at the Catalonian International Film Festival and for the "Grand Jury Prize" at the Sundance Film Festival.

2002 — Donnie Darko won the "Special Award" at the Young Filmmakers Showcase at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The movie also won the "Silver Scream Award" at the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival. In 2002 Kelly was nominated for "Best First Feature" and "Best First Screenplay" with Donnie Darko, as well as Jake Gyllenhaal being nominated for "Best Male Lead" at the Independent Spirit Awards. The film was also nominated for the "Best Breakthrough Film" at the Online Film Critics Society Awards.

2003 — Jake Gyllenhaal won for "Best Actor" and Richard Kelly for "Best Original Screenplay" for Donnie Darko, at the Chlotrudis Awards, where Kelly was also nominated for "Best Director" and "Best Movie."

2005 — Donnie Darko ranked in top five films on My Favourite Film, an Australian poll conducted by the ABC.

Trivia

Related Products

References

External links

 

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