r/donniedarko

I just finished the movie and I think I really liked it, but Im so confused and I feel like I watched a completely different movie to what seemed to be intended. My understanding was that this movie is following a schizophrenic boy who feels isolated from everyone around him, and the strange things happening like Frank are meant to make you questions what's real and what isn't to put you in the shoes of Donnie. I didn't really pay attention to the specifics of the time travel plot or anything because I saw everything as a paranoid delusion Donnie was experiencing, everything sounds so familiar like the fear that someone or something is going to kill him and everyone he loves, the mood swings and reluctance to take medication. I was confused as hell by the ending but figured "eh, I'm probably meant to be confused, none of this is supposed to make sense, it's a representation of a delusion". Then I look online after the movie and apparently Donnie didn't have schizophrenia??? The pills where placebos???? Frank is actually his older sisters boyfriend who went back in time or something and he's special compared to the other dead people?? He opened up a wormhole and transported a plane to another alternate reality???

I'm so confused haha. I like the schizophrenia interpretation more! Finding out that the director spelled everything out feels like it takes away the magic and mystery of different interpretations. I enjoyed the movie though, none of my friends have watched it so I've been excited to talk about my thoughts on it.

I just realized that "Donnie Darko" will have its 25th anniversary on October 26th. Imagine if it was released on Halloween, which would've been a Wednesday that calendar year. I guess choosing the Friday before it was the better commercial decision. Either way, I dub Halloween "Donnie Darko Day."

Growing up with siblings, we usually know who our siblings are dating, esp if they go to the same school. So why didnt Donnie know Frank when Frank took off his mask in the theater?

It could be assumed he didnt know him, or frank wasnt in high school. But thats a bit boring, considering Donnie's psychiatric problems, I think he blocked out franks identity. He knew him, but because of the timeline shift, he blocked it out. SO when Frank revealed himself, Donnie acted like he didnt know him.

I just always found it hard to believe that Donnie didnt know Frank. I mean my brother is 7 years older then me, and I still knew his girl friend. If she was in a bunny suit, I would of recognized her when she took off her mask. SO Why didnt Donnie know frank?

He blocked him out mentally. We could see he was susceptible to hypnotism, so maybe even Frank, was blocking Donnie from realizing who he was. Either way, this is one of the last unanswered questions of the film.

Does anyone know if the director/writer ever touched on the subject?

Given how the Tangent universe that Donnie is thrown into is an entire world being continued and destroyed all to service Donnie learning that he must die to save it (and the people he cares about), I like to think that it wasn't just a test for Donnie's own character and his actions, but a test that's meant to have good results for humanity.

If a troubled kid like Donnie can look at the events of the next 28 days and decide that he needs to die in order to ensure it won't happen, then that's a good reflection of a person's ability to take control of themselves and decided to do the selfless thing for the sake of every other living being.

Given how the end of Donnie Darko doesn't just keep the universe stable, but it implies cosmic good things like that stuff will work out for Cherita, that Jim Cunningham will finally feel guilt and likely kill himself, that Gretchen will live, it appears that the world around Donnie will also be a better place as a result of his choice to die, making it less a suicide and more a cosmic sacrifice for the sake of the timeline.

You could say the scale is too small to imply anything big, and that might be fair, but the Tangent Universe still collapsed. Donnie did prevent the collapse that happened from repeating itself. Whatever is putting Donnie through this set of events, they have to be impressed by the end result, which I think is partly why we have these silver linings despite the grief of Donnie's family.

Also, I thought about if Southland Tales and The Box could be linked to this film in any fashion, and I feel like Donnie Darko's ending is more optimistic if it's a direct contradiction of the more cynical, destructive endings of those films where the human race cause it's own demise, compared to DD where the demise of humanity is presented as a possibility but prevent due to Donnie's sacrifice.

Went even further in speculating and although it's likely a stretch, The Box and Southland Tales could make sense as being in the same world for a lot of reasons, the main one being that the crazy world of Southland Tales where nobody acts right and the Goverment is advanced but also highly surveillance state like feels like an extension of what we see behind the scenes in The Box with both the watching of normal people and alien possessions. the same beings that test couples in The Box could be the ones creating a similar test in Donnie Darko as both revolve around where a human being can be altruistic or not (Can the couples not push the button, can Donnie learn that he needs to let himself die?), only this time it's done differently, the altruism causes the death rather than the death being a result of not being altruistic, and things work out.

Am happy to explain all of this in more detail, but to bring it back round to DD, I personally just think this film isn't just about a kid being shown that his death needs to happen, it's about him being given a choice to let reality die, or die himself, and he picks the latter, and that says something.

yup. any site, I don't mind

https://preview.redd.it/84pmq9sh9n0h1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=12e8f4d1d7500b56328488e5d36822dc29c18379