Donnie Darko : A film about nothing?

starcentral

starcentral

Veteran
I'm interested to hear peoples feedback on this movie, there are a lot of theories about what the film could be, or is, about. But I'm curious to know from others - do they feel this film really was about nothing or was there more to it?
 
It's been a few years since I've seen it at this point, but I think that my last feeling on it was that it was a film about predestination and fate. I read something about it a while back suggesting that the plot of the film was driven by unseen aliens, but I didn't buy it.
 
Moral of the story, if you can change something that is pre-destined, what you get may actually end up being worse.
 
who cares? i liked it a lot. thats good enough for me. let it be about nothing if it wants. everybodys doing stuff about "something", a nice little movie about nothing is a welcome respite.
 
starcentral said:
I'm interested to hear peoples feedback on this movie, there are a lot of theories about what the film could be, or is, about. But I'm curious to know from others - do they feel this film really was about nothing or was there more to it?
Click to expand...

It's definitely a story. It has a solid plot:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Darko

I think your question might be does the plot have a theme? It has a classic theme, basically dying, or specifically dying alone. People have explored what it means to die, how we die, in art and literature since there was art and literature.

http://www.math.nyu.edu/~neylon/movies/donniedarko3.html

A theme like dying has more of a visceral affect on an audience than some other themes which may have more of a cerebral affect. Dying and death is about fear, and belief in an afterlife, and how that makes you feel as a human being, which makes it difficult to put into words sometimes or analyze. Maybe that's why you don't immediately identify the theme in this movie.

A movie doesn't have to make a definitive statement about an issue and come to a black and white conclusion, to make you think about it, and therefore have a theme. But I think it's safe to say that a broad theme of exploring our feelings and beliefs about death and the after life are definitely explored in this movie.
 
I would also say that you need to look deeper into the story structure. Is it actually devoid of structure, or if you probe a little deeper do you find it actually does follow a typical hollywood story structure with some more camouflaged elements?

The Hollywood story, or any good story for that matter introduces the protagonist in their normal world. Then there is an inciting incident, something that happens to jar the world of the protagonist. Then there is the first plot point, when our protagonist accepts this challenge, and begins thte journey of dealing with this problem or change in their world. That's the moment i Star Wars when Luke Skywalker decides to go fight the Empire. It's the moment in a Romantic Comedy when the guy decides to go after the girl, even though she hates him, or vice a versa.

I won't bore you with the rest since there's a billion websites with the classic story structure, but I think if you look closer you'll see that Donnie Darko follows this structure which is why it works so well.
 
It's definitely not about nothing, although I'm not sure the filmmaker really knew what he was doing to be honest. I think he got lucky as he hasn't been able to replicate his first success since. In terms of plot, it seems inspired by the ideas in Quantum physics of parallel worlds, how every permutation of an event is possible until it collapses into a single reality. The film is one permutation of reality playing out until it collapses back into a single reality. For me, more than anything the film evokes a certain feeling quite palpably, that feeling that you are living the wrong life.
 
How can you say it's a movie about nothing? Seinfeld, which was a show about nothing was still about something. To really see a movie about nothing you should watch some of the movies Andy Warhol made.

One of the things that I really liked about Donnie Darko was that like real life, it's not always blatantly obvious what the point or message is. There's a little wiggle room in there, but even so it takes on the themes of death and possibility. Was it better for Donnie Darko to live or die? Was the 28 days just a way to show him why he had to die? Was it really an alternate universe that would collapse back in on itself after 28 days? Was it all really about that awkward wave at the end?
Either way, it's still a very entertaining movie and leaves you thinking about it long after you've watched it. More than I can say for a lot of the movies that are supposed to be about something.
 
Andrius Simutis said:
How can you say it's a movie about nothing? Seinfeld, which was a show about nothing was still about something. To really see a movie about nothing you should watch some of the movies Andy Warhol made.

One of the things that I really liked about Donnie Darko was that like real life, it's not always blatantly obvious what the point or message is. There's a little wiggle room in there, but even so it takes on the themes of death and possibility. Was it better for Donnie Darko to live or die? Was the 28 days just a way to show him why he had to die? Was it really an alternate universe that would collapse back in on itself after 28 days? Was it all really about that awkward wave at the end?
Either way, it's still a very entertaining movie and leaves you thinking about it long after you've watched it. More than I can say for a lot of the movies that are supposed to be about something.
Click to expand...

Agreed

Donnie Darko is a great film (and from a virtual unknown and first timer?)

From the opening hook of Echo and the Bunnymen and being introduced to Jake and Maggie. it's a wonder Kelly hasn't much since 2009.

The film is not at all about nothing; it's about a family, a kid, darkness, time travel and sci fi. It stands up today. A mark of a great film.
 
I remember going to see this on its first day out in NYC. For some reason I remember very well it was the day before Halloween, and I blew off a screening of Ginger Snaps (which I had already seen)...to see the film "with the bunny". Totally blew my mind, and it was a favorite for quite awhile. Probably until I saw the directors cut, which added a ton of **** to the film. Kinda bummed to see Richard Kelly never really made another good movie after that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top