Donnie Darko

I already forgot a good majority of this and I finished watching it 10 minutes ago

Director: Richard Kelly
Writer: Richard Kelly

Bit of back story first. Back when I was an all out emo kid this film was so popular and people kept telling me to watch it and I must have seen it because I remember saying it was crap and pretentious and I remember people telling me that it was really cool and that I was smart and I'd get it but...I don't remember if I ever got it because I really don't remember having seen this before. I mean, I must have, more than once because I was quoting some things in it, like...really basic lines and I just...this thing leaves such a big yet small impact on me for some reason. I never understood how this drew in so many people, especially little emo kids, and I never understood why it was such a cultural phenomenon for people my age and I guess I'll never know considering I'll probably forget about it withing the hour. At least I'm writing about it now to at least prove to myself that I have definitely watched it now.

It's so strange for a film to do this to me, and don't get me wrong, I love artsy films that look kinda pretentious but aren't really. One of my favourites is 2001. I love that film but this one seems to be in that realm of pretentiousness where even it doesn't know what it's talking about. What I mostly got from this was a discussion of science vs belief vs fate. Interesting enough yeah but then they throw in talk of time travel and the end of the world which again sounds interesting in theory but then it throws in literal time travel and literal end of the world but it's not tied together all that well. There's a jet engine that comes crashing down and killing Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) but the engine came from a jet that his mother was on during the end of the world in the future so I just don't know what this film was doing.

Another weird thing in this was the cult that Patrick Swayze was running. Don't be coming at me saying it wasn't a cult because it was, in the sense that people look to this man for answers and he gives them just a basic "don't live in fear and embrace yourself, love yourself" which...is a good message and all but sometimes you need fear in your life. You need fear to spurn you on throughout your darkest times along with love and a lot of other human emotions.

Seth Rogan was also in this, I think he had about 4 lines. I really don't remember, even looking at my notes I really don't understand what I've written. It's not because my handwriting when I'm rushing is atrocious, but because I don't remember what I've written them about.

The final thing that sticks out in my mind is the imagery when Donnie sees Frank (James Duval). I don't remember why it was interesting but it's just...sticking out in my mind as one of the best parts of this film. I know that whenever it was on screen I just thought to myself, this is really cool, why can't other films have stuff like this in it. I vaguely remember looking at Gyllenhaal's face during his "visions" and it really reminded me of Alex (Malcolm Mcdowell) from A Clockwork Orange.

I'm sorry I couldn't do anything...proper with this but I honestly barely remember even watching this and I'm trying to write up what I remember as fast as I can. I had to pause watching Face Off for this because I knew I wouldn't remember shit when it came to writing this. I'm so sorry about how...bleh this is. If you enjoy this film or not, if you remember watching this thing or not let me know and try to educate me on it. It probably won't be much of a discussion because by that time I won't remember even watching this.  Alright, back to watching Face Off. Love ya.

This is just my opinion and if you disagree then that's great, I'm open to discussion and I'm always interested to hear how you feel about this film. This is also a critique which is considered "Fair Use" under the Copyright Act 1976. If you like this film then go and support its creators by buying the DVD or Bluray.