Donnie Darker (Or: Don't doubt Filmbrain's commitment to Sparkle Motion!)

Earlier this year, when it was announced that a director's cut of Donnie Darko was in the works, there was serious amount of buzz -- both in the blogosphere and in the real world. So what happened? Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut crept into NYC without any fanfare, and is only playing at two theaters. Perhaps the distributor felt it wasn't worth trying to compete with the big summer films....like Catwoman. Like many people, Filmbrain missed Donnie Darko the first time around, and only discovered it on DVD. (For a fascinating tale of how poor marketing and publicity can destroy a film's chances, listen to director Richard Kelly's commentary track on the DVD.) Then of course there were the midnight screenings, which began here in NYC at the Two Boots Pioneer Theater, which helped turn the film into a cult phenomenon. It was the success of these midnight screenings that played a huge part in Kelly's decision to put together this new cut. Most (all?) of the new scenes in the director's cut were found on the DVD, but now they've been properly incorporated into the film. The new version has some music changes as well, but more on those in a moment. Too often is the case that a director's cut offers little or no improvement on the original, and in some cases (Apocalypse Now Redux) it actually worsens it. With Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut, the cut scenes were originally part of the film, but pressure from various sources (and perhaps first-feature insecurity) led to their excision. With these scenes restored, the film just feels more complete than the previous version. Perhaps it was due to seeing it theatrically for the first time, but Filmbrain found this new cut to be significantly darker than the original. With more time to explore the characters (particularly Donnie) the film can be viewed as an extremely depressing tale of a mentally ill teenager -- i.e., what if all the fantastical elements in the film are merely figments of the imagination of a schizophrenic. (Filmbrain isn't suggesting such an interpretation, but the new cut allows such thoughts to creep in.) The depressing and disturbing elements of the original -- the treatment of Cherita, the child exploitation of Sparkle Motion, the banning of Graham Greene, the existence of Jim Cunningham, etc. -- seem somehow magnified this time around. The only negative things about the new cut are the enhanced special effects (completely unnecessary) and the slight music changes, though this is more a personal gripe. The opening scene of Donnie riding his bike to Echo and the Bunnymen's The Killing Moon was perfect -- INXS' Never Tear Us Apart is a poor substitute. If you haven't seen the film, this is a great chance to see it as Kelly intended. If you know the film only from home video, it's more than worth the money to see it on a big screen.

Comments

[cynthia]

i'm actually heartened to hear that the possible interpretation that it was all in the head of a schizophrenic is more viable now. i always thought that from watching the previous version, and many people disagreed with me and said i was over-interpreting.

[Filmbrain]

Great minds think alike, Cynthia.

The more I think about it, the more I believe it could be interpreted that way, though I'm not in the mood to incur the wrath of hardcore Donnie Darko devotees. I'm still getting hate mail about Casino Royale!

[Jonathan Scott Chinn]

I would definitely place myself in the "hardcore devotee" category, and I'm not scandalized by the suggestion that the film is really an interior examination of a teenage schizophrenic. I'm not sold, either, but it's a viable perspective. In fact, constructing the film as an earnest fantasy-horror tale is an interesting way to avoid the dramatic pitfalls and film cliches of the "crazy person" movie, while maintaining the psychological heft of the topic. For example, imagine how much less A Beautiful Mind might have sucked if Ron Howard had simply made a straightforward spy-intrigue-math movie, as opposed to relegating the shadowy figures pursuing Russell Crowe to a cheesy device--kind of like Pi, but with tonier production values. But then, a hack like Ron Howard would never do anything that interesting.

It's interesting, what you mention about the marketing of this film: I had forgotten the directors' cut was even open in NYC until I read about it here, on Monday afternoon. It's a shame to see that the same marketing blunders are being perpetrated now, as they were in October of 2001. Where are the TV ads, the bus banners, the magazine features, the Richard Kelley interviews in hip culture rags, all that stuff? It's really too bad. I'm looking forward to the new cut, and hope to catch it this weekend.

[jim]

Just saw Donnie Darko a couple of weeks back, mainly because of this excellent article at Jumpcut. I loved the film, but was annoyed by the director's commentary. Never did finish it (the latter, not the former). Speaking of fun spy parodies of the sixties: what did you think of The President's Analyst? I loved the Capraesque Hemo the Magnificent-like film the Phone company shows him towards the end that explains the future of telecommunications Bell Lab's style.