Review of Donnie Darko (2001) by Ildefonso M — 05 Apr 2015

Anyone who attempts to wrap this in a nutshell has no business in your life, even mentioning the deep troubles that go further than just the messy haired, cleverly titled hero. However I would not recommend viewing the original theatrical version, this will only distort your brain, it'll feel it is without reason, at least more graciously than the sophomoric and boring premise of pointlessness being the point, ala Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

I give it a perfect score due to the great job of wrapping so much into 2 hours. The thought provoking idea of time travel and wormholes (don't even think about Interstellar), and the human condition somehow choosing flesh and bone vessels at random to host these burdens and enlighten a brighter path, and the universe attempting to use these thoughts to attempt to comfort us about our impending demise. I especially appreciated the iconic 80's music, which sort of tells us the tale from a soda pop, pop-rocks drive-in perspective. You can feel Richard Kelly telling us that this era has some mystery to it, and from our end, the view can be haunting and enigmatic should we allow the film to take over, leaving behind the inhibitions that we know better.

The film also uses the simplest of imagery to kinda oversimplify this for us, of course I'm referring to the Director's Cut, which is the version you want to see. I can see them now, the nay-sayers who say the cult classic has nothing to offer but the grandiose disgusting sake of warping our minds. I tell you this assholes, please tell me when grandiosity is justified then?!