...in the years since the film was made, the country and the world have become even more divided.... Maybe the movie is more meaningful today than ever.
Yet, for all the questions the first theatrical release raised, the Director's Cut only addresses a few of them and persists in leaving many of them unanswered. Is Donnie a living receiver of information from some other dimension? Does Donnie ever discover who he really is? Are our lives fated, predestined, or can destiny be changed? Can we dodge doom? Can others affect our destinies for us? Do others directly affect our lot in life, whether we know it or not, and to what extent? Are there tangent realities from which we can choose? Are superior or supernatural forces manipulating our lives, a deus ex machina controlling all things? Can love overcome all obstacles?
In the end, the "Donnie Darko" Director's Cut leaves us with the same message we got from the first version of the film, namely, that life is not so simple after all. Nothing is as it appears. It's not just all about good and evil, fear and love, conservative and liberal, black and white, sane and crazy. Everything, including the new cut of the film, is in between. Maybe that's the way it should be.
Video:
The aspect ratio of this anamorphic widescreen production is about the same as it was before, measuring approximately 2.10:1 across my standard-screen Sony XBR HD television, giving us pretty much the full effect of its theatrical showing. The image quality, however, remains not quite letter perfect, whether intentional or not. Sometimes Fox's usual crystalline clarity is in evidence, and sometimes the picture is soft, vague, and almost blurred. Since I could find no plausible explanation for why the director would want purposely to do this (it isn't necessarily one of his cinematic devices), I can only assume it was this way when shot, an element of the original print (or introduced in the digital transfer). In any case, the defects are not severe and should not hinder anyone's enjoyment of the film. I also noticed a small degree of grain throughout the movie. Otherwise, the color is good, fairly natural, even though facial tones tend on occasion to turn too orangish or pinkish. No big deal.
Audio:
In compensation for the slightly murky video, the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is excellent, particularly for the all-enveloping quality of its musical track, which, as I've said, could sometimes in the first version be too much of a good thing when it began to obscure what characters were saying on screen. Here, I didn't notice the problem. In any case, the sound generally aids the eerie mood of the story line, with good, strong dynamics and a really deep bass.
Extras:
Disc one contains the feature film, twenty-eight scene selections (ah ha, twenty-eight again), English as the only spoken language option, and English and Spanish subtitles.
Of greater importance, disc one contains what has to be one of the most listenable audio commentaries I've ever heard on a DVD. Writer/director Richard Kelly invited his friend, writer/actor/director Kevin Smith to join him in the commentary, saying with tongue firmly planted in cheek that it was done to avoid the possibility of any long, silent stretches. Thank goodness for Smith. He not only brings a warm and refreshing earthiness to the proceedings, he keeps Kelly firmly grounded every time he goes off on a symbolic or metaphoric tear. This is an absolute must listen because between Kelly and Smith virtually the whole commentary is about the new film and its meaning, comparisons between the first and second versions almost always the center of attention. For instance, Kelly tells us he added music, songs, graphics, and sound effects to further heighten the sci-fi elements of the story, which he now admits he had wanted to do in the first place if time constraints hadn't interfered. The director also tells us that he wanted the new cut to reflect more concretely the supernatural or science-fiction aspects of the plot, the new version being infused with more of a comic-book sensibility toward time travel, alternative universes, and variant destinies. He wanted to show the possibility of other, tangential dimensions helping to shape our own. Smith is there to bring us back to earth when Kelly gets too metaphysical on us, even prompting Kelly on occasion to admit that he still isn't exactly sure what his own story is about. Which is kind of ironic, considering that so many viewers over the past few years have claimed to know what every gesture in the film represents. Is there a parallel world involved in the movie, or is it all a dream? We still don't know, not for sure, not even with the new Director's Cut or with the filmmakers' commentary. All we can say for sure is that the movie is a little more solid now, a little more matter-of-fact, with fewer loose, speculative ends, whether you consider this for good or not.
Disc two contains a few more interesting items. The first and most important of these is the "Donnie Darko Production Diary" (with optional commentary by director of photography Steven Poster). It was made in 2004, it's fifty-two minutes long, and it's divided into twelve chapters. Needless to say, it's a making-of documentary that begins in July of 2000 and takes us from the initial scouting of locations for the film, through the rehearsals, and on to the final shooting. The days are counted down in the schedule just as they are in the film, a cute touch, while the actors and filmmakers note what's going on. Steven Poster's commentary is helpful in filling in details of the actual filmmaking process. He adds at the end, "Did any of us understand what Richard (Kelly) had in his head? Sure, I understood it completely. Not. But that's the genius."
Next comes another recently made documentary, this one produced in the U.K. and titled "They Made Me Do It Too: The Cult of Donnie Darko." It's twenty-eight minutes long (twenty-eight yet again) and includes comments from artists, magazine editors, film critics, distributors, record-company owners, the director, and fans, all extolling the virtues of the movie. After that item is a storyboard-to-screen featurette, seven minutes long, that puts the film's rough initial sketches on the top of the screen and the completed shots beneath them for several comparison scenes. Then, there is "#1 Fan: A Darkomentary." Here, I'll quote from the introduction: "In the Summer of 2004, DonnieDarko.com held a documentary competition to find the #1 Donnie Darko fan. The winning film would be added as an extra feature on the release of the Director's Cut DVD." Well, here we get the winning entry. To conclude the extras, there's a widescreen theatrical trailer for the film.
The two discs come housed in a slim-line keep case, further packaged in a simple, almost surrealistic, slipcover as pictured at the upper right. Unfortunately, no insert comes with the set, which might have been useful not only as a handy chapter guide but as something outside the disc to identify the scenes containing extra material. Opportunity lost.
Parting Thoughts:
"Destruction is a form of creation," Donnie says in English class one day, responding to a question his teacher (Drew Barrymore) asks about a short story. His sentiment pretty much sums up the nature of the picture. The themes are mainly ones of tearing down in order to build up; self sacrifice for the good others. At the end of the Director's Cut, the sentiment is every bit as sappy as it was before, but the film is still well intentioned. The "Donnie Darko" Director's Cut is rated R for its depictions of profanity, alcohol, and drug use, and for its suggestions of sex; otherwise, it's largely non-offensive.
In the end, the "Donnie Darko" Director's Cut leaves us with the same message we got from the first version of the film, namely, that life is not so simple after all. Nothing is as it appears. It's not just all about good and evil, fear and love, conservative and liberal, black and white, sane and crazy. Everything, including the new cut of the film, is in between. Maybe that's the way it should be.
Video:
The aspect ratio of this anamorphic widescreen production is about the same as it was before, measuring approximately 2.10:1 across my standard-screen Sony XBR HD television, giving us pretty much the full effect of its theatrical showing. The image quality, however, remains not quite letter perfect, whether intentional or not. Sometimes Fox's usual crystalline clarity is in evidence, and sometimes the picture is soft, vague, and almost blurred. Since I could find no plausible explanation for why the director would want purposely to do this (it isn't necessarily one of his cinematic devices), I can only assume it was this way when shot, an element of the original print (or introduced in the digital transfer). In any case, the defects are not severe and should not hinder anyone's enjoyment of the film. I also noticed a small degree of grain throughout the movie. Otherwise, the color is good, fairly natural, even though facial tones tend on occasion to turn too orangish or pinkish. No big deal.
Audio:
In compensation for the slightly murky video, the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is excellent, particularly for the all-enveloping quality of its musical track, which, as I've said, could sometimes in the first version be too much of a good thing when it began to obscure what characters were saying on screen. Here, I didn't notice the problem. In any case, the sound generally aids the eerie mood of the story line, with good, strong dynamics and a really deep bass.
Extras:
Disc one contains the feature film, twenty-eight scene selections (ah ha, twenty-eight again), English as the only spoken language option, and English and Spanish subtitles.
Of greater importance, disc one contains what has to be one of the most listenable audio commentaries I've ever heard on a DVD. Writer/director Richard Kelly invited his friend, writer/actor/director Kevin Smith to join him in the commentary, saying with tongue firmly planted in cheek that it was done to avoid the possibility of any long, silent stretches. Thank goodness for Smith. He not only brings a warm and refreshing earthiness to the proceedings, he keeps Kelly firmly grounded every time he goes off on a symbolic or metaphoric tear. This is an absolute must listen because between Kelly and Smith virtually the whole commentary is about the new film and its meaning, comparisons between the first and second versions almost always the center of attention. For instance, Kelly tells us he added music, songs, graphics, and sound effects to further heighten the sci-fi elements of the story, which he now admits he had wanted to do in the first place if time constraints hadn't interfered. The director also tells us that he wanted the new cut to reflect more concretely the supernatural or science-fiction aspects of the plot, the new version being infused with more of a comic-book sensibility toward time travel, alternative universes, and variant destinies. He wanted to show the possibility of other, tangential dimensions helping to shape our own. Smith is there to bring us back to earth when Kelly gets too metaphysical on us, even prompting Kelly on occasion to admit that he still isn't exactly sure what his own story is about. Which is kind of ironic, considering that so many viewers over the past few years have claimed to know what every gesture in the film represents. Is there a parallel world involved in the movie, or is it all a dream? We still don't know, not for sure, not even with the new Director's Cut or with the filmmakers' commentary. All we can say for sure is that the movie is a little more solid now, a little more matter-of-fact, with fewer loose, speculative ends, whether you consider this for good or not.
Disc two contains a few more interesting items. The first and most important of these is the "Donnie Darko Production Diary" (with optional commentary by director of photography Steven Poster). It was made in 2004, it's fifty-two minutes long, and it's divided into twelve chapters. Needless to say, it's a making-of documentary that begins in July of 2000 and takes us from the initial scouting of locations for the film, through the rehearsals, and on to the final shooting. The days are counted down in the schedule just as they are in the film, a cute touch, while the actors and filmmakers note what's going on. Steven Poster's commentary is helpful in filling in details of the actual filmmaking process. He adds at the end, "Did any of us understand what Richard (Kelly) had in his head? Sure, I understood it completely. Not. But that's the genius."
Next comes another recently made documentary, this one produced in the U.K. and titled "They Made Me Do It Too: The Cult of Donnie Darko." It's twenty-eight minutes long (twenty-eight yet again) and includes comments from artists, magazine editors, film critics, distributors, record-company owners, the director, and fans, all extolling the virtues of the movie. After that item is a storyboard-to-screen featurette, seven minutes long, that puts the film's rough initial sketches on the top of the screen and the completed shots beneath them for several comparison scenes. Then, there is "#1 Fan: A Darkomentary." Here, I'll quote from the introduction: "In the Summer of 2004, DonnieDarko.com held a documentary competition to find the #1 Donnie Darko fan. The winning film would be added as an extra feature on the release of the Director's Cut DVD." Well, here we get the winning entry. To conclude the extras, there's a widescreen theatrical trailer for the film.
The two discs come housed in a slim-line keep case, further packaged in a simple, almost surrealistic, slipcover as pictured at the upper right. Unfortunately, no insert comes with the set, which might have been useful not only as a handy chapter guide but as something outside the disc to identify the scenes containing extra material. Opportunity lost.
Parting Thoughts:
"Destruction is a form of creation," Donnie says in English class one day, responding to a question his teacher (Drew Barrymore) asks about a short story. His sentiment pretty much sums up the nature of the picture. The themes are mainly ones of tearing down in order to build up; self sacrifice for the good others. At the end of the Director's Cut, the sentiment is every bit as sappy as it was before, but the film is still well intentioned. The "Donnie Darko" Director's Cut is rated R for its depictions of profanity, alcohol, and drug use, and for its suggestions of sex; otherwise, it's largely non-offensive.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]13664[/release]