“Donnie Darko,” is the first film of writer/director Richard Kelly, starring Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore and Patrick Swayze came out on October 26, 2001. However, three years later, “Donnie Darko” was re-released in a director’s cut version, with remastered sound, picture, 20 minutes of new footage and new visual effects. This marked the film’s impressive success on DVD sales – taking in more than $10 million to date in the U.S. sales alone. When I first saw this film, I couldn’t quite grasp the meaning of the whole story, but now seeing it for a whopping 7 times I can now call it one of my all-time favorite movies to watch.
The opening scene in the movie is where the audience first meets Donnie Darko (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), at sunrise. There is nondiegetic sound, which is peculiar, delicate and strange. The delicate music augments the early morning feel, as do the slow movements of the camera and the duration of the shot. The whole shot made me feel like I was waking up in Donnie’s world. The general mood of the movie is introduced by the mysteriousness of the music with similar pieces of music – on piano with feedback/synthesizer sounds and an open harmonic sound – are played at intervals throughout the film, and by the broad and haunting landscape which suggests a wide scope - that the movie is philosophical and looks at life from a extensive thematic standpoint.
The camera then begins to pan left capturing the scenery around Donnie, as you see, is asleep in the middle of what seems to be a dirt-mountain road in an extreme long shot. As he begins to wake up the camera begins to perform a dolly shot which goes around Donnie’s body to face him head on in a close-up shot. Donnie looks ...
... middle of paper ...
...vision and music. Therefore the movie begins on a simple level. The viewer is introduced to many of the central elements of the film in a purely visual way – Donnie, his family, and the American suburbs. The music makes this an isolated and surreal presentation; the viewer sees the family from the outside before seeing them from the inside. The song also has a feeling of apprehension and of magnitude which makes what is seen seem more significant and mysterious.
Works Cited
Donnie Darko (Director’s Cut). Dir. Richard Kelly; Perfs. Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, and Maggie Gyllenhaal; DVD; Prod. Flower Films; Dist. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2005.
Donnie Darko. Dir. Richard Kelly; Perfs. Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore and Maggie Gyllenhaal; DVD; Prod. Flower Films; Dist. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2001.
The film starts off showing the only sincere moments that viewers will watch with cuts to beautiful fields and artistic shots of headlights coming down a road. Director Jack Riccobono is quick to come away from these scenes as he delves straight into the bitter world Rob and Kevin are divulged in. Their story is told through first person accounts of the films Rob and Kevin, showing viewers their life stories through their own words and actions. The director uses techniques commonly found in documentaries, such as having titles and narration, to fully engage viewers into the lives of the subjects.
Reichardt, Kelly (Director), Raymond, John and Reichardt, Kelly (Writers), Williams, Michelle and Robinson, John (Performances). 2008. Oscilloscope Pictures, 2009. DVD
LA Confidential. Dir. Curtis Hanson. Perf. Kevin Spacey, Russel Crowe, Guy Pierce, Kim Bassinger, Danny DeVito. Regency, 1997.
American Psycho. Dir. Mary Harron. Perf. Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, and Josh Lucas. Lions Gate Films, 2000. Film.
Nicholas Ray. Perf. James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and Jim Backus. Warner Bros., 1955. DVD.
Into the Wild. Dir. Sean Penn. Perf. Emile Hirsch and Vince Vaughn. IMDb. 15 Nov. 2013. 18 Nov. 2013
The film Donnie Darko focuses on promoting hard thinking. The main character, Donnie Darko, is a teenage boy who suffers from delusions and sleepwalking. He avoids his own death by help from a man in a bunny suit. Who also informs Donnie that the world will end. Fear and loneliness is shown throughout the movie and is embodied as being controlled by fear, preying on the fear of others, and fear of tragedy .
Burton, Tim, dir. Big Fish. Writ. Daniel Wallace and John August. 2004. Sony Pictures, 2005. DVD-ROM.
Twenty-eight days…six hours…forty-two minutes…twelve seconds, that is when the world will end. The movie Donnie Darko, Frank tells Donnie that the world will end in just a short time. Throughout the movie, different literary devices are experimented to give the movie a deeper meaning. This provides the audience with a hidden message that gathers the viewer’s attention while keeping them entertained. Donnie Darko is a movie that has imagery, symbolism, and foreshadowing and by merging these devices creates a film that holds their audience’s attention.
The music suited the movie very nicely. By the type of music playing, you could determine what sort of scene was coming up, either fast and light...
Stand By Me. Dir. Rob Reiner. Perf. Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell. DVD. Columbia Pictures, 1986.
“The wolf of wall street.” Dir. Martin Scorsese. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie. Paramount , 2013.Film.
American History X. Dir. Tony Kaye. Perf. Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Avery Brooks, and Beverly D’angelo. 1998. DVD. New Line Home Entertainment, 2004.
House of Cards. Dir. James Foley, Carl Frankloin, John D. Coles, Allen Coulter, David Fincher, Charles McDougal, Joel Schumaker, Robin Wright, and Jodie Foster. Perf. Kevin Spacey, Michael Gill, Robin Wright. Media Rights Capitol, 2013-. IMDB. Web. Feb.-Mar. 2014. .
The Breakfast Club. Dir. John Hughes. A&M Films Channel Production, 1985. Perf. Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Esteves. Film.