Donnie Darko: The Director’s Cut
With this Director’s Cut, Richard Kelly’s film has been transformed from a convoluted, confusing mess into an epic, challenging masterpiece. Character development is a LOT better rounded, and the performances, particularly Jake Gyllenhal’s, feel much more fleshed out. Questions still remain for the viewer, though one feels like they have a better grasp of what’s going on, and certain bits (like the little girl dance number), feel trimmed of any excess fat. However, Drew Barrymore’s role still feels pretty pointless, until one sees the “Executive Producer” credit at the end. Many of the film’s strengths are still retained, including the time-lapse photography and some stunningly good dialogue (“What’s a fuckass?”). The Christina Applegate reference in particular is priceless. I could have done without Beth Grant overemoting as the bitch teacher, or Seth Rogen lamely trying to play a school bully, but the others, like Katherine Ross’ unethical psychiatrist, Jena Malone (before she started letting herself go) as Donnie’s girlfriend, Mary McDonnell and Holmes Osbourne as the Darko parents, Noah Wyle as the science teacher, Patrick Swayze’s slick self-help guru, and the ultra-hot Maggie Gyllenhal as Donnie’s sister all come off very well. It’s also good to see even with the added footage, the character of Frank remains mostly an enigma until the film’s final moments. The 80s soundtrack is utilized beautifully and perfectly evokes the era in which the story takes place, along with the Dukakis references (one can easily see the parallel between Dukakis in 88 and Obama in 08), and the final scenes and revelations are a thing of beauty. In the end, this is the film that mints Richard Kelly as the heir apparent to the surrealist genius throne of David Lynch himself…
9/10