i love this movie as you all probably do too, but a lot of people i've talked to walk out of it with entirely different takes on what it means and what it's about...

i'll post mine later, since i don't want it to bias you... what did you guys think the movie was meant to convey?

haven't seen it. or previews. what's it about?

i think the movie was meant to convey the importance of the direction of fate, any rebelliousness or defiance of that resulting in a negative outcome. though i am not sure the story was meant to say that we are all traveling down a set, specific path incapable of alterations and so forth. but it does suggest that many things happen for a reason.

Good, then I won't waste my time seeing it.

uff, what do you say that?

Fate is shit.

good shit.

I hated Donnie Darko. It's the kind of crap that chicken-shit teenagers claim to be independent film. It's really just a case of pretentious filmmaking and an incoherent narrative. Worst of all, the soundtrack features Joy Division. Did some one say post-adolescent cliché fronted by musically retarded, self-consumed, jackass?

I'd say it's up there with Kill Bill.

[quote="gekigangar3"]good shit.[/quote]

Fictitious shit.

[quote="Catfish"]I didn't get it.[/quote]

chicken-shit teenagers? indie film?

neither, dude... it's just a good movie.

tell me catfish, which cliche does donnie darko follow?

[quote="Catfish"]I hated Donnie Darko. It's the kind of crap that chicken-shit teenagers claim to be independent film. It's really just a case of pretentious filmmaking and an incoherent narrative. Worst of all, the soundtrack features Joy Division. Did some one say post-adolescent cliché fronted by musically retarded, self-consumed, jackass?

I'd say it's up there with Kill Bill.[/quote]

[b]You make me so hard[/b].

just because of the comparison with kill bill (which was so bad that it was good... i only hope it was done that way deliberately).

oh wait... i know what's going on.. you can't like something that a lot of other people li ke... i remember now... afraid of the mainstream.

[quote="zenkalia"][quote="Catfish"]I didn't get it.[/quote][/quote]

Good one, but there’s really not much to get about Richard Kelley’s clumsy, ham fisted attempt to comment on fatalism and social alienation.

[quote]tell me catfish, which cliche does donnie darko follow?[/quote]

I was clearly referring to Joy Division with that comment, but that is not to say Donnie Darko does not apply.

“A disturbed but bright high school student who lives in a Regan-era suburb populated by eccentric and quirky adults deals with his feelings of alienation and emotional disorder.”

Just because there is a giant fucking bunny and talk of time travel, does not mean Donnie Darko escapes the same tired clichés that handicap it’s Hollywood counterparts.

where did you get that quote? you made it up didn't you? google gives me nothing. that's a horrible summary of what's going on.

the bunny and the other crazy shit isn't what's important. the donnie isn't alienated at all... he has emotional problems, but he's also the most caring person in the film.

[SPOILERS. STOP READING HERE IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT]

over the course of the movie he hurts a lot of people accidentally. a LOT. some of these people deserved it. others didn't. the point was the he was causing pain and he was given an opportunity to change it with that portal. he was given the choice to stay in bed and die, or to go out to that golf course and go on with his life. the main themes aren't abot alienation, they're about pain, happiness, sacrifice, accepting lies and that ignorance is bliss. although "ignorance is bliss" is pretty damn cliche, i think the way that it's converyed was intelligent.

"social alienation"? nice try. hehe...

[quote]"social alienation"? nice try. hehe...[/quote]

Did you notice I never stated alienation was the only theme or even the primary theme, I said "Good one, but there’s really not much to get about Richard Kelley’s clumsy, ham fisted attempt to comment on fatalism and social alienation. "

However alienation [b]was[/b] a primary theme. It was Donnie’s' aberrations which separated him from the people that surround him. Kelley even took it a step further and decides to attribute Donnie with messianic characteristics, hence his choice at the end of the film. Self-sacrifice to restore rightness. Sacrifice and alienation have gone hand in hand sine before the bible. I'm not saying Donnie was a Promethean archetype, but Kelley definitely intended his alienation to enhance other sub-themes and heighten the audience's emotional investment in his choices/actions. This is a tired technique, but I suppose the "isolated, emotional teenager in possession of exclusive knowledge or power" appeals to the lowest common denominator among adolescent audiences. If this were executed with a bit more elegance it might have distracted me from Kelley's obtuse, masturbatory edification of "tangent universes" and time travel.


[quote]where did you get that quote?[/quote]

Literary plot demarcation

main character+setting+external conflict