Donnie Darko...

[chocobaR]

Can anyone explain to me exactly what happens in this movie? I've seen it twice and I'm still confused. 🙁

 

[Fausto]

What happened depends on who you ask. There's not a definitive interpretation that I'm aware of.

 

[Goosemaster]

Dude realizes what will happen if he lives, so he chooses to die so tht the other will live. Quite direct I thought.

 

[hdeck]

searching google will give you a lot of good interpretations. most of which are completely different from each other but can be validated. one more reason donnie darko is such a great movie.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Dude realizes what will happen if he lives, so he chooses to die so tht the other will live. Quite direct I thought.

That's one interpretation, but what if the whole thing was a dream? It's not quite that clear.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Fausto

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Dude realizes what will happen if he lives, so he chooses to die so tht the other will live. Quite direct I thought.

That's one interpretation, but what if the whole thing was a dream? It's not quite that clear.

That would explain the rabbit

My enterpretation is manic depressive boy with suicidal tendencies trips on acid, hilarity ensues, some people die, dreams he gets crushed by an airplane engine but has a heart attack due to mixing hallucinagenic drugs with crack

 

[chocobaR]

Check this link, it's some guy's interpretation of the movie. It's intense!

http://www.stagingpoint.com/archives/000053.html

 

[Dacalo]

Everytime I have seen it, I have had different interpretations 😕

 

[DaveSimmons]

There are a couple of archived threads from last year with links to websites that explain the (made-up) logic behind the time loop, including how people are different in the loop based on whether they were living or dead in the original reality. Wierd stuff, but a good movie.

 

[chocobaR]

Okay I understand the movie alot better now. Here is what I believe now based on everything that I heard and saw:

Donnie was supposed to die when that part of the airplane fell in his room but he managed to survive. This some way modified the reality and because of this anomaly, the world had to be destroyed unless Donnie was able to go back in time and let life continue on. During all the movie, he has to make up his mind. I don't think he was insane, he was just confronted with weird things and he didn't quite know how to handle them.

Frank, that annoying lady, Grandma Death, that physics teacher (Noah I think), Drew Berrymore, the guy that likes child porn, his doctor and Gretchen we're all there to help him make up his mind. In the end, he decides to sacrifice himself to save everyone. I think that all of those people knew what was happening because in the end, we see each of them looking sad & troubled. The physics teacher wakes up and looks troubled, like if he knew Donnie had done it. The annoying lady is crying. Frank also seems troubled and touches his eye (the one Donnie shot in the future). They all knew what had just happenned.

The thing I don't quite understand is why Gretchen, at the end, says hi to Donnie's mother and that the mother replies. The little boy is like "Did you knew them?", Gretchen replies "No.". Then they zoom on her face and she seems to be remembering some stuff and she raises her hand. I guess she also knew what had happenned and was just saying hi in a friendly way.