By the time he is 16, high school student Donnie already knows what death is. After an accident that almost cost him his life, Donnie discovers the ability to change time and fate. The changes that have happened to him frighten those around him – parents, sisters, teachers, friends and his girlfriend.

4k movies reviews
To begin with, this film exists in several versions, and I highly recommend watching a version that is close to the director’s, and not an hour and a half truncated.

‘Donnie Darko’ is that amazing case when so many things are mixed in one film, I mean not the number of plot lines, but rather ideas, genres, that such a film simply cannot fail to interest a thoughtful viewer. In short, this is a movie about strange boy Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) and the End of the World. You can put an end here, but this “explanation” does not explain anything at all, but on the contrary raises a number of questions. What’s so strange about him, this Donnie? Why will the End of the World come? The film successfully gives answers to these questions, the truth, in turn, generates new ones, and as soon as you are ready to exclaim that everything has become more or less clear, it turns out that you are only confused even more.

At first glance, Donnie is an ordinary schoolboy. As an ordinary American schoolboy, he quarrels with his sister (Maggie Gyllenhaal), parents, teachers, finds himself a girlfriend, sometimes he is a hooligan. True, sometimes he goes to a psychologist-psychiatrist and suffers from somnambulism … And he also has a friend. From a conversation with a psychologist:

“- I have a new friend.
– Real or imaginary?
– Imaginary.

His name is Frank. He walks in a suit of a big gray rabbit with a very “friendly” smile. And the most interesting thing is that it actually exists. He lives here, in this reality, in the same “space-time continuum” as Donnie. And in another universe, he died. And you will even find out why. But only in this reality does he want to live.

The fate of the hero comes to the fore. Many people are associated with it, each has its own story. This is the teacher of literature (Drew Barrymore), who wants to see interested students in her lessons, because she knows that “we are losing them.” This is psychologist Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze), who developed his own method from a series of how to become happy and now offers this panacea to everyone, especially in schools, because he loves children so much …

These minor characters give a lot to understand about the era, about time, about society. Why, for example, the physicist (Noah Wyle) refuses to talk to Donnie about travel to parallel dimensions: “I’m afraid of losing my job.” There are young teachers in the school, with their ideas that can interest young people, can arouse their interest in the subject, in life – but they are simply crushed, while the hypocritical preachers receive universal love. But Donnie will call everyone by his name.

“- I think you are the bloody Antichrist.”

He will do this because, as noted, he is weird. Throughout most of the film, the feeling that he is simply mentally abnormal does not leave. But this is not at all his unusualness. Its uniqueness lies in what decision he will make at the end of this whole story.

“- Donnie Darko … What is that name? Like some superhero … ”

Donnie is not a superhero. He’s not even crazy. In the director’s cut, there is a moment when Donnie learns that the pills he was taking, which could possibly have hallucinations, are actually just a placebo, that is, a dummy. So who is Donnie Darko?

“Donnie Darko” in the life of Richard Kelly

If you listen to an interview with the director of the film, Richard Kelly, or comments on deleted scenes, you will immediately feel how he worries that in the original version so much was cut out. He lovingly talks about what every detail, conversation means and how sorry he is that this or that scene was not included in the film. Without all these pieces, the film loses all meaning. The truncated version lacks excerpts from the book of “Granny Death” by Roberta Sparrow, that is, the viewer does not receive any information at all about the theory of time travel, about parallel universes, about portals, about conductors, about wormholes. Those moments that help to reveal the image of the protagonist, to make him more understandable, human, were cut out, many details disappeared and this is terrible, because according to the director’s idea, everything in this film was not accidental, everything was in place. For example, the name Frank. It was used by several characters several times throughout the film. Frank was always invisibly part of what was happening, the same Frank, the guy in the bunny suit.

Richard Kelly directed Donnie Darko at the age of 26. The film received a number of awards, but did not have much success, which I am not surprised considering that the viewer saw an incomplete version. Over time, he was offered to remount the tape and release it again. Probably it was after this that the audience’s recognition and understanding came. The film has become longer, explanations have appeared, and a book on time travel has appeared, which can be viewed online.

I have read more than once that Kelly is compared to Lynch, who, by the way, can sometimes not be understood without comment. The future will show whether Kelly will become the new Lynch, but after watching his “Stories from the South”, which left a very ambiguous impression (if this is the most absurd thing I have ever seen, or the most amazing funky masterpiece), for some reason I doubt it … Lynch is mystical, irrational and brilliant in his vision of the world and his ability to show this world. Kelly so far for me is just very original and atypical in general. He bends his line and in “Stories from the South” we again encounter “space-time collapse” and a number of very specific characters. Whether he will be able to develop his potential, we will find out in 2009, when his “Parcel” will be released and possibly put everything in its place, showing who is a genius and who is just a good director.

“- Why do you need a rabbit costume?
“Why do you need a man’s suit?”

Donnie Darko and music

I really love the music that ultimately serves as the soundtrack for the film. Although the director had to abandon a number of compositions due to a meager budget, the tracks with which they were replaced turned out to be even better in my opinion. This is such a musical excursion into the past:
INXS – Never Tear Us Apart
Tears For Fears – Head Over Heels
Duran Duran – Notorious
Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart

But most of all I liked the final composition:
Michael Andrews & Gary Jules – Mad World
A beautiful song, perfectly suited for a beautiful ending.

So what is this movie about? About the “collapse of a black hole”, about “wormholes in time”, about the problem guy Donnie, about first love, about the system, about school, about relationships between people, about the most beautiful phrase in the English language … Maybe that “all God’s creatures die alone ”? But not everyone has such a blissful smile on their face as Donnie. Is this a movie about sacrificing oneself to save others? Then who is Donnie Darko and what End of the World are we talking about?

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (81.2 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles
English-SRT, English-PGS.