r/donniedarko

mine is that Donnie Dario’s his Donnie darko off at the Donnie darko of Donnie darko

Just watched this for the first time tonight and it definitely got me thinking.

As a schizophrenic person, I see Frank as a hallucination that sparks delusional psychosis. Schizophrenia sometimes makes me feel more important than I actually am when I'm in psychosis. It can also make me feel completely alone. Schizophrenic people are most likely to die by suicide. I interpreted the ending as a message to suicidal people saying that you aren't as alone as you thought you were, you do touch other people's lives, and people do care about you.

But I don't know if that was intentional and I wonder if the director even thought about actual schizophrenic people while writing this story. I don't think it was a great idea to give schizophrenic people the idea that our time travel delusions can actually be real and things are better off if we are dead.

I know that he goes deeper into the time travel shit in the director's cut and I don't think I care to watch that. I like to see this movie as a classic schizophrenic experience.

I watched the theatrical cut for the first sometime in 2010 and it was something I stumbled upon in the middle of the night on tv. This movie was so intriguing to me and had a major impact on my taste in films and music after watching this mind fuck of a movie as a teenager. There was so much mystery, it was dark, cinematic and I loved every second of it.

Fast forward to 17 years later and I watched the directors cut and really did not enjoy it. The new pacing felt pretty cheesy like it was more of a comedy. The science felt spoon fed to me as a viewer (and I love sci-fi). The mystery felt gone. ALSO the songs being in the “wrong” places really threw me off and the entire vibe that I loved was no longer present :(

The one thing I did enjoy from the directors cut were the extra scenes and interactions with the parents. It painted a bigger picture of the family.

I will definitely be sticking to the theatrical cut moving forward for future viewing or recommendations to friends lol.

Anyone watching the Boroughs on Netflix catch the Gretchen nod where Jena Malone’s character (Claire) visits a care home for people suffering from dementia. Claire sees a woman from a distance and unknowingly waves to her. The person accompanying Claire explains how the resident experiences time in a non-linear manner.