WATCH ALONG: Donnie Darko

My favorite part came at the end when we got to see Ashleigh catch the Darko bug. We've all done it after watching it. We fell into a well of conspiracy theories about what the hell was going on. Good thing she didn't watch the Director's Cut as it spoon feeds the viewer more on what is happening. Also, if you ever want to be completely and utterly spoiled on what is happening in this film then watch the Director's Commentary on the DVD. It is him (Richard Kelly) and Kevin Smith who made Clerks, Mallrats, Jay & Silent Bob, etc. I made the mistake of watching that and I will never see this movie the same way again.

I do think that maybe there need to be different ways of indicating that Big Brain Ashleigh should show up. Basically, I think if your approach to Donnie Darko and The Matrix had been flipped it'd have been perfect: The Matrix is a real thinker, whereas Donnie Darko is a more casual sort of approach, and I think you went casual for The Matrix and hard for Donnie Darko. (Perhaps I should've suggested that you be elevated.) For what it's worth, you got quite a bit of what the movie is going for. The gist of things, as i understand it, is that yes, at the end of the movie Donnie sees a wormhole. He also sees that it ends above his bedroom. In that moment, he puts it all together: the airplane engine came through a wormhole, and if he jumps into that wormhole from where he is, he will be returned to the past on that evening before the engine falls. I think the movie sort of suggests that -- and this is all sort of supernatural, so it only has to vaguely make sense -- Donnie's spirit or energy uses the engine itself as the metal craft to fly through the wormhole and end up in his bedroom. He chooses to stay because he knows that this will save Gretchen for the reasons you explained, it will create a reverse chain reaction undoing everything that leads to her death. The conversation between Donnie and Monitoff is about the liquid tubes. As they discuss, the tubes are an illustration of time travel because they take the action before the person they're attached to takes that action: the tube gets up and goes to the fridge before Donnie's dad does. They discuss the fact that if you can see the tube, you can hypothetically betray it by going somewhere else. One thing that seemed to be unclear is that Donnie's school is a conservative religious school. The reason Monitoff says that he could get fired is because Donnie starts talking about what is possible from the point of view of God, and Monitoff doesn't want to say anything that someone might overhear and find blasphemous. It's also probably why Donnie chooses to call Jim Cunningham the Antichrist. This is also supposed to be a clue into Kitty Farmer's psychology, having essentially devoted herself to his teachings; when the truth comes out about him, it's too much for her to conceive of (ironically, because it scares her). I wasn't sure if you actually clocked it, but the reason Donnie says "cellar door" at Grandma Death's house is because they're going into her house's cellar door. The fact that it was written on the board and then they go in one, where Donnie knows something profound is about to happen to him, strikes him in that moment. Cunningham was indeed played by Patrick Swayze. Jake's sister Maggie Gyllenhaal, from The Dark Knight, played his sister in the movie as well. Daveigh Chase played Donnie's younger sister Samantha. You have also seen Donnie's therapist, Katharine Ross, as Mrs. Robinson's daughter in The Graduate, and as Paul Newman and Robert Redford's lady Etta in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. She is also famously married to Sam Elliott (who starred alongside Swayze in Road House -- small world). One famous bit of trivia is that the legal department had to run the part about the Smurfs by the estate of Peyo, the creator of the characters. The estate approved on the basis that everything Donnie said about the Smurfs was canonically accurate. I told you on stream that Frank was Donnie's sister's boyfriend. This is very subtle, so it's not a big deal if you don't get it (the movie only makes it explicit that she knows Frank). The cues are: when Donnie first bikes home at the beginning, you can see his red car speeding away. You also hear him honk the horn, and hear the engine again when Donnie's sister is dropped off right before the engine crashes through the ceiling. The pumpkin you clocked is another clue, as he would've been over or given it to Donnie's sister. She mentions Frank at the party, and then you see that Frank has even been there and "went to get beer," as he wrote on the whiteboard. Finally, you see him and the car when he accidentally runs over Gretchen. When I said that many people prefer the theatrical cut, it's actually because it preserves the movie's mysteriousness better. The director's cut is extended by a fair amount and many people feel it over-explains the movie, to the point where it robs the film of its energy. Personally, even if you didn't feel like you had it all together right after it was over, I did feel like you were really engaged with the movie and that it kept your attention.

Not recognizing young Seth Rogan? And Jake Gyllenhal as the main character?! Hell, his own sister (Maggie Gyllenhal) even played his sister!

One of my favorites! So happy you’re watching this and can’t wait to see what you think

Donnie Darko?! Yes, please! Patreon restarted!