I am seeing the director's cut in a couple of days, I was just wondering if anyone here had seen it, and if so, did you think the extra scenes made it any better?
It's one of my favourite movies of all time and I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

I didn't know there was a directors cut.
How many extra scenes are there? I've seen a few deleted scenes in the DVD, and i don't think the extra scenes add any more to the story than what was actually in the movie itself. What we needed to see, we saw.

Maybe it shows more of Frank. I like Frank.

Who doesn't. Frank is definately an interesting character.

Yeah I had to watch that movie like 3 times to kinda understand it.

I've watched it about 10 times and i still see no logical way of interpreting it. What's your take?

Spoilers?


The only thing I think I got is that he had to end his world so the rest could live. Im not really sure its so messed up. My stoner friend says he understands so maybe thats the trick.

Donne Darko is a great film, one of my fave movies and I do have the Directors Cut.

There is actually quite a considerable amount of added scenes in... I don't know if it makes it any easier to understand, although there are scenes with passages from the Phillosophy of Time but it makes a lot better.

My only complaint is that the song at the begining (Killing Moon or Head Over Heels, I can't remember) where Donnie rides his bike home is replaced by another song and moved to the Party scene. Maybe I'm use to the one in the original release been there but IMO it just doesn't work and flow as well with the new one.

My interpretation (and this is basically molded together from what Richard Kelly has said and from various other interpretations) of Donne Darko is that...

When the jet engine fell in his room, because it had no origin corrputed the flow of time and created the tangent universe which will collapse on it's self in 28 days, 06 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds in a black hole that could wipe out the whole of existence.

So in the Tangent universe Donnie is saved by Frank and is guided by Frank and the Manipulated Living (Dr. Thurman, Karen Pomeroy, Dr. Monitoff, Gretchen etc) to do things or to be at certain places at a certain time.

Examples...

Frank guides Donnie to flood the school so that he will meet Gretchen and start going with her.

Donnie and his friends see Grandma Death walking to the mail box, and Ronald suggests that someone should "write that b****". Perhaps manipulating Donnie to write to her, so that she is reading the letter when Frank's car swerves to miss her.

Karen Pomeroy tells Donnie about 'CellarDoor' which is a hint to Donnie to go to Grandma Deaths.

Basically Donnie must take the jet engine back through the wormhole to give it an origin and save the universe.

Donnie is laughing and didn't get out of bed, even though he knew the engine would kill him because the Tangent Universe had solved his problem of dying alone through achieving enlightenment, and subsequently he knew he was going to "something better" (from his letter to Roberta Sparrow). He was therefore laughing through sheer joy and anticipation, and didn't want to get out of bed.

For the most part no-one knows about what happened in the Tangent Universe except those during the Mad World montage who seem to remember, who also turn out to be most of the Manipulated living or Manipulated Dead (Frank).

http://www.tonystuff.co.uk/darko-spoilers.htm#top
- Page of theories/explanations

The Philosophy of Time Travel
- Good page. This page basically just gives the info available to us from the Philosophy of Time Travel. And it all basically back-up the interpretation I just wrote, which is why a lot of people go for it, although Richard Kelly has said that there isn't one 'definitive' interpretation.

Wow, that's a pretty crazy explaination Crow. Impressive!

I didn't get half of that, except that what you touched on with the 'events creating events' stuff.

My take was that the movie was all about fates and destinies. We all have a path through time that we follow blindly which is technically a form of time travel, since we do travel through time constantly. Donnie saw his path and realised he had a choice to follow the path or not. Not being in his bed the night the jet engine fell caused the disturbance in time and the string of events was hereby screwed up, leading to the creating of the tangent universe as you said to correct the path. Frank appeared to Donnie to guide him to correct the path until the end of his world, in which he would be given the choice again, in which he choice to follow his path and recieve his correct destiny. This of course corrects the timeline and the individuals affected by Donnies stray from his path are reset meaning the events that happened outside the correct timeline were reset. They happened, but they didn't. Which is why Frank touches his eye at the end. He knows something happened to it, but at the same time, nothing did.

The jet engine falling through time to land on his bed in the past i don't understand. Why did this happen in the first place?

And also, what is the relivance of such things like teh plane being called 'The Red Eye' and Frank getting shot in the eye?

I was going to buy the directors cut with my voucher to HMV, but ended up getting SHrek 2 instead. However its definitely on my xmas list. I heard it had over 30 mins extra footage..?

Have to say though the original is amazing the way it is, whatever it really is about.

Damn. Now I'm regretting buying the original.

I want to see this director's cut.

Warning: Spoilers



It's not really clear is it. It makes for an interesting story though
Yeah I just saw it, very interesting. It made me understand it more, the passages from the book were definitely helpful.
As far as I could see, in following the rabbit Frank who acted as the 'manipulated dead', a parallel or tangent universe as they call it was created allowing Donnie to choose his destiny. When the science teacher told him that if we could see our destiny, we would have a choice to go against it. Realising this, Donnie followed his 'destiny' through Frank, who told him what to do and how to do it. In returning the jet engine to the wormhole, Donnie denied his preformed destiny and saved mankind from the collapse of the alternate existence or tangent which would have created a black hole and thus consumed humanity. In letting the jet engine fall on his room and kill him, he saved the rest of humanity.
Thanks TheCrow, you have just made many things about this movie clear which weren't before.

i really want to see this movie, but i havent had the chance yet.

Just in case anyones interested Empire magazine said that the director's cut wasn't as good as the original as it added stuff that it didnt need to be added, they brought it down from a 5 ***** to a 4**** film

Ames

Yeah. DD is awesome, it needs nothing extra. Personally i'm happy i own the original.

Hmm yeah, the non-director's cut one left you much more to guess. Whereas the DC is very easy to understand in comparison. I don't think one is better than the other, they're good in their different ways. Like in the extra bits I love the whole eye thing and how they show passages from the book.
I liked it both times I saw it, don't think the original needed anything more to be an excellent film, however the DC provided me with a better understanding of what the hell was going on (that movie screwes with your mind).
I went to see it again (I know, obsessed) with a couple of friends today, and they absolutely loved it, neither of them had seen the original though.

That, my friend, is an understatement.

I saw it with Catrat and we talked about it and I thought I understood. Until I tried to explain the story to my mum and brother. It came out sounding tacky and I gave up because I couldn't explain what I didn't understand.

So here I am reading this and I realise, I don't get it! After reading the links theCrow provided (thank you thank you thank you), it does make a bit more sense, but I want to get this straight.

SPOILERS

The jet engine falls on the house but Donnie isn't there to die. Because the engine essentially came from nowhere theres a...disturbance? a paradox? and, in order to allow this engine to be at the right place at the right time, a tangent universe splits off. If that universe wasn't created, what happened could not of happened as it is impossible for the engine to appear from nowhere.

Why is the world going to end? Which world? The tangent world or the "normal" world? Is the world going to end because, with this paradox of an engine from nowhere, it will implode/be destroyed?

So, Donnie must die so that....the parallel universe cannot be created? But, if the world wasn't created, the engine could not have been diverted through the wormhole to land on the house. Why did Donnie have to die? He was such a cute boy...

Ok, my brain is about to explode.

I think I need to see this again and discuss more with others.

This is one screwy movie

For anyone who knows I have a question...
Why did Frank come in the first place? To warn Donnie, but wouldn't the tangent not even have been started without Frank? Because Donnie would have stayed in the room?

That's just it eh. Was it not Frank who lured Donnie away from his room in the first place?

He said 'Wake Up' and Donnie left his room and went to meet Frank. If the tangent Frank had never said or done anything in the first place, Donnie would have died in his room and none of that would have happened.

You know, I wouldn't be surprised if even the writer couldn't answer these questions for you.

The writer/director Richard Kelly has said that there is no one difinitive interpretation of what is going on so one person's view is as good as the next.

The engine is indeed a paradox because it came from the future (albeit a parrallel/tangent version) but the future hasn't happened yet so how could it.

But in the most widely held interpretation because the jet engine has no origin (it came from the future of a tangent universe which hasn't happened yet) it corrupts the universe and the tangent universe fractures itself into existence to deal with it.



The tangent world is going to end but in doing so a black hole will be created thus threatening the existence of the real universe. And yes it's going to end because of the paradox with the engine.



It isn't really clear if Donnie had to die. Donnie did his job which was to do what he did in the tangent universe and guide the jet engine back through the wormhole into the real universe thus giving it an origin, which put and end to the tangent universe and saved the real one. So going by that he didn't really but maybe he thought it was a dream and felt no need to get out of bed or maybe he wanted to die. Because of what he did in the tangent universe he solved his problem of dying alone.

Richard Kelly states a couple of things in the DVD commentary (with Jake Gyllenhal) that at the begining of the movie when Donnie's sister comes home, Frank was honking his car horn warning Donnie to get up and:

1. he didn't listen;

2. or didn't hear.

So this implies that he didn't need to die. There does seem to be a fated aspect for Donnie's death, in that all Living Receiver's die. Something that is covered in The Philosophy of Time Travel.

Note that Frank does honk his horn in the first sequence as well, but he doesn't drive away the second time around.

Great movie,has alot of things in it that are hard for most to understand, thats one of the reasons I like it. I'm not fortunate enough to own a copy of this flik but I give it a throughout the movie alot of ideas are thrown out, but the basics are all we really need to focous on.Donnie for the first time in his life had a purpose,most of us dont have one today.He had a girl who loved him to the end,and although guided by an intresting rabbit,was happy for the first time since innocence,how many of us have that lasting happyness?Donnie could be considered the luckiest man alive in my book,and although his life was short,he lived the last few hours like a king returning home after the crusades.

great explaination burnside. very well put.

Why thank you.

I don't think there's anything to do with parallel universes and saving of humanity, these are topics from other stories.

There are facts that are meaningful:
Drew Barrymore's character is showed a lot in the movie. She's struggling. But what's her purpose? Is she just a counterpart of the love-fear teacher?
Above all, what does she knows about the CellarDoor??? She's taking Donnie to see the death of Gretchen, there's no other purpose for her to talk about it.
She knows more than she says.
Note that the phisics theacher sleeps with her. He was the one to give to Donnie the book of Granny Death.

What about thinking that Granny Death and Drew are the same person? Isn't she an expert about Time Travel? Couldn't she be able to go back in time as long as she wishes?

Now I go beyond: couldn't she be the psychiartist and Gretchen as well?...

Gregorio

i just saw this movie yesterday. it is kinda wierd. but good

Gregorio, great deductive thinking. I'd liek to expand on what you mentioned about the teacher, Barrymores character, and Grandma Death being the same character.

Gretchin could also be the same character again in the tangent universe, no?

Think about it. We are not introduced to her character until after the jet engine falls and the tangent universe is created. All three characters are completely indirectly related, from the teacher telling Gretchin to sit next to whatever boy she thinks is cutiest, right after Donnie scores big by hitting the thesis of the short story on the nail. Grandma death, his teacher and Gretchin all directly affect Donnies path in ways that no one else close to him can. And finally, it is his teacher who leads him to Grandma Deaths house with 'CellarDoor' where Gretchin is killed and the tangent universe collapses.

There are other connections too.

Does anyone have any theories on the fat girl? Why is she important? I kind of understand the others importance but I had no idea why she kept on appearing.

OMG i loved that movie. everybody else i know hated it though. I definitlely need to get the directors cut.

I have never seen a theory to do with Cherita. Richard Kelly has stated in interviews that she is the innocent with good motivations and is victimised because of it.

Personally I don't think she plays a big part in the whole grand scheme of things... other than maybe been a contributing factor to Donnie doing what he does.

Did you ever think that up into the final scene, Frank is a ghost? The final scene is what CAUSED him to be a ghost. I realised this a week or so ago, but you probably all already know of it.

Donnie Darko deals on another level, much higher than ghosts Walken. He's not a ghost, he's a tangent universe representation.

Frank, above all else is a paradox. Because if the future hasn't happened yet then he can't be around to guide Donnie. Well, you could say he is a time traveler, like Donnie but Frank is from the tangent universe which hasn't happened yet, so how could he be at the begining to wake Donnie up to save him in the first place which sets off the whole set of motions which kills him.

Which is one of the things Donnie Darko deals with... Is the future pre-determined? Can you change your destiny? etc.

Yeah that confused me so much. Maybe Frank had some kind of power and it's like a parallel universe but not. Oh so confused.
Maybe a slip in time of sorts?

My fondest interpretation of Donnie Darko is that it was all a dream.

lol, just kidding. My strongest iterpretation of Donnie Darko is that Donnie is actually a missing link in the universe. The one non-variable. Things can change around him, however all things are effected by him and consequently never change, unless he himself takes proactive action to change things.

Time travel question: If you travelled backwards in time, would you take evreybody with you? If not, that would mean evrey split second had its own dimension, slowly shuffleing along, and that you'd actually transport yourself between these dimensions and not time.

as I read all this, i see i almost understood the movie approximately well...
but, as someone has allready mentioned, i dont think it has very much to do with saving of humankind...dont really think Donnie was a hero... when Frank said this world will end, i think he mean this universe ends, but there is also tangent universe...eeh, ok, nevermind
I mean, I actually think the end of the world was Donnie's death. I mean, it ended to Donnie. "every living creature dies alone". He saved some things, he did what he had to do in some ways, but it wasnt so...lets say, important, as saving of humanity. Remember his conversation with a therapist, that one when he says he sees Frank right now.
I think something of that kind.

Click on my name on the members list and look to the right.

Frank is GOD.

I detested this movie. They were trying to get a deep thinking movie out of an already overused idea. Bad acting as well.

Necroposter!

But yeah, not among my favorite movies. I can't say, off the top of my head, that anything was wrong with it, but it just didn't strike a chord with me.

....

this is an old one.

I only liked the movie for the Jake Gyllenhaal factor.

Me too

But yeah i didnt watch the original i went straight to the the directors cut when i saw it (I avoid seeing movies if there isa directors cut why? thats another story) I thought it was good i saw all the extras too which were pretty crap but hey

Well I liked it. It was weird and fruity and it tasted kind of salty.

lol i thought you were talking about jake gyllenhaal just then