Donnie Darko (15.)
Directed by Richard Kelly. 2001.
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle, Patrick Swayze, Katharine Ross and Drew Barrymore. Available now in a 4 Disc, Dual format (Blu-ray and DVD) boxset from Arrow Video Featuring both the Theatrical Version and the Director's Cut. 113 mins/ 133 mins
I have a suspicion that maybe, just maybe, cult favourite Donnie Darko – the one with the kid that sees the big psychotic rabbit called Frank; the Harvey of the 21st century – is a failed film. A fantastic film, a wonderful film, but a failed film. If you saw the film on its initial release in 2001, you probably left the cinema intrigued, and mind blown, and wondering what exactly had happened. Since then, director Kelly has offered his interpretations of what his debut film was all about, and with every director's cut or commentary, every discourse on time travel and manipulated living and tangent universes, the less you understand; or rather the less his account of what he thought he was making, tallies with what the rest of think we are watching. Which makes me feel that Donnie Darko is a failed film; but a failed film made up entirely of wonderful moments.
And this lavish presentation from Arrow offers up support for my theory in the form of the commentary track for the Director's Cut, in which Richard Kelly is joined by Clerks filmmaker Kevin Smith. Recorded for the original release of his extended version of Darko, and before Kelly made his largely unloved follow up Southland Tales, this was perhaps the first time we heard his views on the film. (Prior to this though there was an active Donnie Darko website that published extracts from Grandma's Death's Time Travel book that features prominently in the film, especially the longer version.) And it's very revealing that Smith often seems perplexed and a bit disappointed by Kelly's explanations of what is really happening in the film.
After Kelly outlines some aspect of the film's mythology that Smith had no idea about, Smith exclaims either “you're doing a shitty job of communicating these things, or you're just doing it in such an artistic way that we're too stupid to follow it.” And I think it's the former, which may explain why he's had such problems trying to follow up the film. (He hasn't directed for over 7 years and there's no sign of that changing any time soon.) For me Southland Tales is much easier to follow than Darko, but its mysteries didn't have the allure of his debut, and its execution is very uneven.
None of which diminishes DD. If anything they make it more special, a strange interface between two unaligned realities. Accidental classics are still classics. If nothing else, it is perhaps the most perfect expression of being a teenager ever put on screen. It replicates teendom exactly: being misunderstood; feeling special; being pretentious; having intense crushes; believing all the best songs are playing just for you; everything you are experiencing and thinking seeming way more important and perceptive than it really is. I think this intense reproduction of how being a teenager feels is why I feel so fondly towards a couple of the female characters. Jenna Malone is the perfect teenage sweetheart. To this day I still feel protective of her on screen, and will not forgive a director who doesn't treat her well – I think we are primarily looking at Zach Synder for Sucker Punch, here. And what is the magnificent glow Kelly finds in Drew Barrymore, as the very cool but slightly cruel English teacher, that makes her so much more alluring in this film than anything else she's been in?
The acting in Darko is uniformly excellent. It's full of your favourite memories of that actor; the performances they were most appealing in. The Darko family are so richly drawn, so real. Mary McDonnell has been good in many things but here, as the vaguely Hillary Clintonesque mother, she is really remarkable. Her interplay with Holmes Osborne as Donnie's father suggests a shorthand that has been gathered up over twenty plus years of marriage. Some of the more peripheral characters are quite broadly drawn, like caricatures, but those in the centre are so real, so human, that it makes all the liquid spears and wormholes that bit more disturbing, even transgressive: this is not the kind of family that should be stuck facing this kind of nonsense.
Though his subsequent career has made us question Kelly's talent, the Head Over Heels sequence 15 minutes in, when the camera glides through the High School hallway, sometimes in slow motion and sometimes speeded up, introducing all the major themes and characters to the sound of Tears For Fears, is magnificent; like every John Hughes movie compressed into a minute and a half. Was he really only 27 years old when he made it?
Extras.
Firstly, you have a choice of versions. The original theatrical version and the director's cut. The latter is generally regarded as inferior. Firstly because a lot of people feel the new scenes explain too much. Secondly because Echo and the Bunnymen's “Killing Moon” at the beginning has been replaced with INXS “Never Tear You Apart.”
There's an hour and a half long feature called the Philosophy of Donnie Darko, which sounds intriguing but turns out to be a straightforward Making Of. Still, it is extensive and a useful reminder to people who write about film making like it really is one man's vision, that every film is the result of an inordinate number of factors, and choices and compromises and luck plays a very big part. The heroes of this film turn out to be producer Drew Barrymore, and us, cinema goers in the UK. After it had tanked in America, its UK release was when it started to get noticed and slowly grow into the phenomenon it is today. Go us.
Full specs for this release:
Brand new 4K restorations of both the Theatrical Cut and the Director’s Cut from the original camera negatives produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release, supervised and approved by director Richard Kelly and cinematographer Steven Poster
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations of both cuts
Original 5.1 audio (DTS-HD on the Blu-ray)
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by writer-director Richard Kelly and actor Jake Gyllenhaal on the Theatrical Cut
Audio commentary by Kelly, producer Sean McKittrick and actors Drew Barrymore, Jena Malone, Beth Grant, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Katharine Ross and James Duval on the Theatrical Cut
Audio commentary by Kelly and filmmaker Kevin Smith on the Director’s Cut
Brand-new interviews with Richard Kelly and others
The Goodbye Place, Kelly’s 1996 short film, which anticipates some of the themes and ideas of his feature films
The Donnie Darko Production Diary, an archival documentary charting the film’s production with optional commentary by cinematographer Steven Poster
Twenty deleted and alternate scenes with optional commentary by Kelly
Archive interviews with Kelly, actors Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, James Duval, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Holmes Osborne, Noah Wyle and Katharine Ross, producers Sean McKittrick, Nancy Juvonen, Hunt Lowry and Casey La Scala, and cinematographer Steven Poster
Three archive featurettes: They Made Me Do It, They Made Me Do It Too and #1 Fan: A Darkomentary
Storyboard comparisons
B-roll footage
Cunning Visions infomercials
Music video: Mad World by Gary Jules
Galleries
Trailers
TV spots
Exclusive collector’s book containing new writing by Nathan Rabin, Anton Bitel and Jamie Graham, an in-depth interview with Richard Kelly, introduction by Jake Gyllenhaal and contemporary coverage, illustrated with original stills and promotional materials
Limited edition packaging featuring new artwork by Candice Tripp
Directed by Richard Kelly. 2001.
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle, Patrick Swayze, Katharine Ross and Drew Barrymore. Available now in a 4 Disc, Dual format (Blu-ray and DVD) boxset from Arrow Video Featuring both the Theatrical Version and the Director's Cut. 113 mins/ 133 mins
I have a suspicion that maybe, just maybe, cult favourite Donnie Darko – the one with the kid that sees the big psychotic rabbit called Frank; the Harvey of the 21st century – is a failed film. A fantastic film, a wonderful film, but a failed film. If you saw the film on its initial release in 2001, you probably left the cinema intrigued, and mind blown, and wondering what exactly had happened. Since then, director Kelly has offered his interpretations of what his debut film was all about, and with every director's cut or commentary, every discourse on time travel and manipulated living and tangent universes, the less you understand; or rather the less his account of what he thought he was making, tallies with what the rest of think we are watching. Which makes me feel that Donnie Darko is a failed film; but a failed film made up entirely of wonderful moments.
And this lavish presentation from Arrow offers up support for my theory in the form of the commentary track for the Director's Cut, in which Richard Kelly is joined by Clerks filmmaker Kevin Smith. Recorded for the original release of his extended version of Darko, and before Kelly made his largely unloved follow up Southland Tales, this was perhaps the first time we heard his views on the film. (Prior to this though there was an active Donnie Darko website that published extracts from Grandma's Death's Time Travel book that features prominently in the film, especially the longer version.) And it's very revealing that Smith often seems perplexed and a bit disappointed by Kelly's explanations of what is really happening in the film.
After Kelly outlines some aspect of the film's mythology that Smith had no idea about, Smith exclaims either “you're doing a shitty job of communicating these things, or you're just doing it in such an artistic way that we're too stupid to follow it.” And I think it's the former, which may explain why he's had such problems trying to follow up the film. (He hasn't directed for over 7 years and there's no sign of that changing any time soon.) For me Southland Tales is much easier to follow than Darko, but its mysteries didn't have the allure of his debut, and its execution is very uneven.
None of which diminishes DD. If anything they make it more special, a strange interface between two unaligned realities. Accidental classics are still classics. If nothing else, it is perhaps the most perfect expression of being a teenager ever put on screen. It replicates teendom exactly: being misunderstood; feeling special; being pretentious; having intense crushes; believing all the best songs are playing just for you; everything you are experiencing and thinking seeming way more important and perceptive than it really is. I think this intense reproduction of how being a teenager feels is why I feel so fondly towards a couple of the female characters. Jenna Malone is the perfect teenage sweetheart. To this day I still feel protective of her on screen, and will not forgive a director who doesn't treat her well – I think we are primarily looking at Zach Synder for Sucker Punch, here. And what is the magnificent glow Kelly finds in Drew Barrymore, as the very cool but slightly cruel English teacher, that makes her so much more alluring in this film than anything else she's been in?
The acting in Darko is uniformly excellent. It's full of your favourite memories of that actor; the performances they were most appealing in. The Darko family are so richly drawn, so real. Mary McDonnell has been good in many things but here, as the vaguely Hillary Clintonesque mother, she is really remarkable. Her interplay with Holmes Osborne as Donnie's father suggests a shorthand that has been gathered up over twenty plus years of marriage. Some of the more peripheral characters are quite broadly drawn, like caricatures, but those in the centre are so real, so human, that it makes all the liquid spears and wormholes that bit more disturbing, even transgressive: this is not the kind of family that should be stuck facing this kind of nonsense.
Though his subsequent career has made us question Kelly's talent, the Head Over Heels sequence 15 minutes in, when the camera glides through the High School hallway, sometimes in slow motion and sometimes speeded up, introducing all the major themes and characters to the sound of Tears For Fears, is magnificent; like every John Hughes movie compressed into a minute and a half. Was he really only 27 years old when he made it?
Extras.
Firstly, you have a choice of versions. The original theatrical version and the director's cut. The latter is generally regarded as inferior. Firstly because a lot of people feel the new scenes explain too much. Secondly because Echo and the Bunnymen's “Killing Moon” at the beginning has been replaced with INXS “Never Tear You Apart.”
There's an hour and a half long feature called the Philosophy of Donnie Darko, which sounds intriguing but turns out to be a straightforward Making Of. Still, it is extensive and a useful reminder to people who write about film making like it really is one man's vision, that every film is the result of an inordinate number of factors, and choices and compromises and luck plays a very big part. The heroes of this film turn out to be producer Drew Barrymore, and us, cinema goers in the UK. After it had tanked in America, its UK release was when it started to get noticed and slowly grow into the phenomenon it is today. Go us.
Full specs for this release:
Brand new 4K restorations of both the Theatrical Cut and the Director’s Cut from the original camera negatives produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release, supervised and approved by director Richard Kelly and cinematographer Steven Poster
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations of both cuts
Original 5.1 audio (DTS-HD on the Blu-ray)
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by writer-director Richard Kelly and actor Jake Gyllenhaal on the Theatrical Cut
Audio commentary by Kelly, producer Sean McKittrick and actors Drew Barrymore, Jena Malone, Beth Grant, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Katharine Ross and James Duval on the Theatrical Cut
Audio commentary by Kelly and filmmaker Kevin Smith on the Director’s Cut
Brand-new interviews with Richard Kelly and others
The Goodbye Place, Kelly’s 1996 short film, which anticipates some of the themes and ideas of his feature films
The Donnie Darko Production Diary, an archival documentary charting the film’s production with optional commentary by cinematographer Steven Poster
Twenty deleted and alternate scenes with optional commentary by Kelly
Archive interviews with Kelly, actors Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, James Duval, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Holmes Osborne, Noah Wyle and Katharine Ross, producers Sean McKittrick, Nancy Juvonen, Hunt Lowry and Casey La Scala, and cinematographer Steven Poster
Three archive featurettes: They Made Me Do It, They Made Me Do It Too and #1 Fan: A Darkomentary
Storyboard comparisons
B-roll footage
Cunning Visions infomercials
Music video: Mad World by Gary Jules
Galleries
Trailers
TV spots
Exclusive collector’s book containing new writing by Nathan Rabin, Anton Bitel and Jamie Graham, an in-depth interview with Richard Kelly, introduction by Jake Gyllenhaal and contemporary coverage, illustrated with original stills and promotional materials
Limited edition packaging featuring new artwork by Candice Tripp
