Donnie Darko 2001

Haven't seen it since it came out.
Donnie is instantly a bit of an annoying cliché (he even occasionally pulls a weird zoned out face because that's what crazy people do.) He's just so dark and moody isn't he? The dialogue, like with the 'go suck a fuck', around the table was juvenile and didn't fit into the average suburban setting at all. You won't find any naturalism here. A lot of the dialogue is just annoying teens being dicks. Maybe they've watched too much Tarrantino or maybe the writer of the movie did? It rambles.
So we watch flat characters wander around in this world for a while until something obviously creepy happens for the sake of it and then it's back to tarrantino light for dialogue filler. It's not especially interesting to look at either. For a movie that's apparently deep (do smurfs have dicks) not is explored within the themes or characters. Themes are replayed over and over again like the fear one. And what does it say about fear? Just that it's fear. Or maybe its more than that but... nah let's just leave it at that because Donnie had his rebellious teen rant about fear and that's what really matters. That's what this movie essentially is... a teen rant. Sometimes they talk about mom and school. Y'know deep shit. Then it'll touch on a bad science or talk about time travel to try and create some depth with the Darko theory. That's the teen science audience pleased also and the depth sorted then...
How this is considered thought provoking is truly bizzare.
Donnie apparently has daylight hallucinations. These are mild usually. Donnie is obviously a lot crazier then that. A lot. He'd never be able to control his schizophrenia like he does. Or he just happens to have episodes at the right time. And the bunny. Awful.
Feels like a contrived cult movie too. It takes elements that it knows will elevate the movie to a level of adoration and plays them out fully. Edgy kid character. Cool retro soundtrack. Trashy cool dialogue. Darkness. Pretentiousness. Being relatable to 'damaged teens'. It's a pure adolescent movie and a movie for people to put on the movie CV to look like they get it. Not scary either. I'm suprised Netflix hasn't made a Donnie Darko series yet?

Theme- 8/10
Rewatchibility- 7.5/10
Acting- 8.5/10
Kinematography- 9/10
Time- 8/10
Total - 41/5 = 8.2

This movie is the reason I need to write down my thoughts like this. Often I will watch a movie show, track it, score it, and wait to write my thoughts on it later. Well, can't do that anymore and Donnie Darko is to thank for that. I looked at this movie and went "What exactly did I watch with this one?" I remember liking it and the 8.2 seemed to coincide with that, but all the details were foggy. Actually most of the details, some are engraved into my mind... (I'm looking at you, Swayze). But as I'm typing the plot is becoming more clear and I believe that the initial fogginess seems to be because of the film's intent. It's an interpretative film with a unique artistic swing. Some will hate it, some will love it, and most will be with me somewhere in the middle scratching their head and saying, "Well, that was... a movie." My experience with Darko is like that of 'Requiem for a Dream' in that I thought it was a really good movie but I don't know if I'll ever voluntarily watch it again.

From Wikipedia: “Chūnibyō (中二病) is a Japanese colloquial term that translates to "eighth-grader syndrome" […], typically used to describe early teens who have delusions of grandeur, who so desperately want to stand out that they have convinced themselves they have hidden knowledge or secret powers.”

That’s the word that first came to mind to describe Donnie Darko and his supposedly “emotionally deep” and “thought-provoking” attitude towards the system and adult society. Combine it with the new wave soundtrack and a mysterious entity wearing a rabbit suit and you know exactly whom this film is intended for. I expected to like it, as to some extent I used to be part of the same generation of subculture angsty teenagers that Donnie represents. However, it strangely didn’t click with me at all. It tries so hard that it ends up feeling too naive and artificial for my taste. It’s not completely cringeworthy: it has a quite unique atmosphere and some cool moments here and there, but nothing noteworthy if you are older than 17.

Wrongly labeled as “surrealist” just for the fact that it never seems to make any sense on its own, it’s actually just a poorly presented sci-fi film with time travel and multiverse stuff.