Posted by luxa at alyon-101-1-6-234.abo.wanadoo.fr on April 17, 2002 at 00:53:34:
In Reply to: My take on Donnie Darko *SPOILERS posted by Raikus on April 15, 2002 at 19:04:13:
: : I thought it was really good, especially the ironic twist at the end, but
: : there so much stuff I just didn't get, like the fat chinese chick,
: : Grandma Death, Frank, and why theres a spiral thing on the jet
: : engine. Did anybody else understand this stuff? It also had a kick
: : ass soundtrack, great 80s stuff.
: There seemed to be 3 types of people in the movie. Those that were unaware of the tangent universe, those that were somewhat aware of the tangent universe, and then Donnie and Grandma Death who knew it was happening.
: The Chinease girl and Drew Barrymore (and to some extint the therapist) seemed to be those in the middle. They knew that something was going on.
: Frank was killed in the tangent universe. According to the Philosophy of Time Travel, those killed in the tangent universe become extremely powerful. Therefore he was able to travel throughout the tangent universe and appear and disappear at will.
: In other words, the engine was supposed to fall on Donnie and that was it. Nothing else should have happened (like it ends). Frank wouldn't have died, nor the girlfriend, and Patrick's child porn would have never been uncovered, etc.
: As far as the spiral thing on the engine, I'm unsure as to what you mean.
: Hope I've helped more than I've confused.
I agree w/ your points and after 5 viewings (two w/ commentary) kelly actually explained that everyone close to donnie (incl. the shrink, gretchen, etc.) were all subconsciously aware and involved with franks guidance.
beware spoilers from the dvd are next, don't look if you do not want to know...
a couple of things that were cut from the film actually explained/added some things we may not have caught upon first viewing dd:
1/ frank was already present the night of the engine crash because he was dd's sister's boyfriend who took her home
2/ his medication were placebos
3/ a sub-story with watership down replacing the graham greene story in the english class foretells the end more clearly.
there is more but its better when you see this stuff firsthand. the director commentary is great but kind of iritating at times cause jake g. who plays dd interrupts him a lot. the 2nd is with most of the remaining cast, less serious but cool. you'll even figure out exactly what cherita represents :O)
i guarantee that you will want to watch the film again after viewing this.
yikes, sorry for the long post but i really love this film