A Conclusion

[Erkki]

Cult around Donnie Darko or requeiememfeoradream? Well, I don't care because I don't even know anyone in real life who has expressed that he or she has seen it.

[_oswald]

The imagery was great, the acting was good and the music fit wonderfully...

...oh, and the last 20 minutes were fucking awful.

[Marek]

I saw Requiem for a Dream some years ago. It didn't strike me as particularly depressing. It didn't strike me as anything at all. In fact, I hardly remember anything about it. I believe I was chemically inconvenienced at the time.

[Roderick]

Wow, then you were pretty much the target audience. Or something.

When I saw Requiem I wasn't on drugs but it felt like it. Wow, that's one kerrazy movie.

[lailoken]

it's interesting to see how one would be able to draw any comparison between Donnie Darko and Requiem for a Dream...

Oh wait, I get it! They're both movies!!!

[Nick]

It's a good film. I'm with the moderates.

You think you're cool for not liking it because it's cool to dislike films that are overhyped. There isn't actually anything bad about the film is there? Really? No. So there you have it.

A kid took too much medication and then a jet engine fell on him. So STFU.

[Chris]

You think you're cool for not liking it because it's cool to dislike films that are overhyped. There isn't actually anything bad about the film is there? Really? No. So there you have it.

This could not be further from the truth in my case. I thought the movie was stupid before I even had any idea it was hyped at all, much less to the extent it actually is.

A kid took too much medication and then a jet engine fell on him. So STFU.

That wouldn't be how I'd sum up the film, but if it was, what about that makes for a good movie?

[Dingo Chavez]

Donnie Darko

Overrated, over appreciated, overzealous, liked it when I was younger, think it's so-so now.

Requiem: For A Dream

Be Cool is more depressing, I felt violated when I watched Be Cool.

12 Monkey

Where were the monkeys? I ask you! Where?

Wait... is this the right thread?

[Erkki]

...

I kind of agree with everything you said, but I still liked it. I liked the style. Or something. The same way I can like "The Naked Lunch", but not really understand what's it about.

[Chris]

Lots of things that are true

Fuck yeah, gerbil. Spot on!

Honestly there were some bits of dialogue and plot points in Donnie Darko that almost made me cringe, they were so artifically self-important. I'm not going to go on at length though, suffice to say I agree with Erkki. Also I'll second that 12 Monkeys recommendation. It's hard not to find something good in even a weaker Gilliam film, but that's definitely a solid one all around. To me, it's a great example of how to go for the same kind of thing as Donnie Darko without coming off as hip faux-intellectual pandering. Man I'm being harsh. I don't feel so bad, though; Donnie Darko has enough supporters that it's not like I'll ever have the last laugh.

[Trithemius]

I saw Requiem for a Dream some years ago. It didn't strike me as particularly depressing. It didn't strike me as anything at all. In fact, I hardly remember anything about it. I believe I was chemically inconvenienced at the time.

I liked some very small parts of Requiem for a Dream; and found some of the cinematography good. Mostly it was trite and dull though. "Drugs are bad, mmmkay" was a summary I found to be pretty accurate. I liked Pi a lot better, in basically every way (including music), but I am prone to getting a bit frothy about kabbalistic themes.

I enjoyed Donnie Darko initially, especially the music, but I found the director's cut to be rubbish and the philosophy behind it to be naff. People frothing over it just mystify me a bit.

Another movie that I find people to obsess over is Mulholland Drive; when I saw this a guy in front of me at the cinema literally said "It was so... weird... it was so... great...". Talk about repressing one's urge to brain people with empty drink cups.

[Chris]

a guy in front of me at the cinema literally said "It was so... weird... it was so... great..."

Bwahahahah, classic

[Jake]

I personally don't mind Donnie Darko. I saw it semi-randomly without some fiendishly adoring friend nearby who was wed to the movie or something... I'd just heard it was worth checking out, so I checked it out. It was fun and a little weird and pretentious, but I wasn't offended by it.

I have little tolerance though for people my age (24) or younger who now like to pretend they were somehow hipster counter-culture anti-Regan off kilter stretched sweater-wearing teenagers in the 80's like Donnie Darko and his sister when they were in fact like 7 years old or even not born yet. It's the film nostalgia version of claiming you liked a band before everyone else but you're actually lying and full of shit, or something. I don't know what I'm talking about.

I don't think Donnie Darko did anything wrong... I mean, it's just a slightly cheezy sci-fi by someone who is obviously making their first feature film. The people that have taken it and run with it as if it's gods gift to the cinema, as something that that totally speaks to the nostaltic 80's hipster upbringing they mysteriously wish they had (why?) are the ones to blame.

Also, I liked Mulholland Drive. It reminded me of Monkey Island 2.

[Trithemius]

Yeah patronizing does hurt. I think I do it all the time though, not sure.

Also, did you guys know that one of the guys from Tears for Fears, the band that does that awful song at the end of Donnie Darko, looks like Gene Ween from the band Ween?

I thought that was a cover of the TFF song?

The TFF version is more.. er.. 80s, less REM.

[Jake]

Chris, I think you're confused

[Trithemius]

I'll join the Gabber Dutch.

I find nothing to hate or rave about, I enjoyed the movie.

It is inoffensive and enjoyable to watch, so fuck you cunty.

Besides, without it I wouldnt have been able to make this fantastic image ¬

That is pretty neat.

[Chris]

Chris, I think you're confused

Yes I admit it, thread edited to hell, nobody pay attention to this.

[Trithemius]

I watched Donnie Darko when it was still an obscure movie, and I liked it, but I didn't think it was like ultra deep and shit like that. It had too much "I'm drew Barrymore. I'm deep, guys!" in it. And she's kind of like Madonna and the Kabala + British Accent. The same kind of intelligence that people who go to coffee shops have and talk about Donnie Darko and other cult books/movies/etc and think that the coffee makes them intelligent.

Is Barrymore into "kabbalism" too?

And coffee does make you intelligent!

[Trithemius]

Bwahahahah, classic

I wonder if I could be a hit "deep" film-maker sometimes. Make an incoherent piece of shite with enough vague dribbling and pretty imagery. Add a somewhat interesting soundtrack. Toss in enough mystical nonsense in the director commentary.

BAM! You have yourself a cult following!

[Roderick]

Perception is projection someone told me. If people want to see something radically awesome in your piece of shite, they have the right to do that. Just use the director's commentary then to say they're idiots and be done with it.

I think you can make a random, arbitrary movie without any cohesion and still let that be a very conscious piece of moviemaking where you really know what you are doing. You can't just say that every movie that's like that is just pretentious drivel. You just don't know that. Maybe to YOU it is, but don't go pretending it's the truth.

[Marek]

I think comparisons between Donnie Darko and Mulholland Drive are unfair. Donnie Darko is an average movie that, like others have said, is guilty of using ambiguity to create a sort of false mystery. But I don't think Mulholland Drive employed such a technique. Many people might accuse the last 20 minutes of that film (where all previously established logic is thrown out) of being some concious ploy to fool the audience, so that it didn't have to make sense. But the film is perfectly legitimate if you look at it as a fantasy of the main character.

I think the "people think it's genius because they don't want to be the ones who 'didn't understand it'" argument is valid for Donnie Darko, but not for Mulholland Drive.

Anyway, just to bring some positivity to this thread I'll say I totally agree about 12 Monkeys. It's one of my favorite movies ever. I love how the end connects to the beginning to form this looped story that actually has no beginning or end.

Also I'm thrilled there'll be two new Gilliam films this year. Finally!

[MrHoatzin]

Marek, you're looking at Mulholland Drive backwards. It is the beginning that makes no sense whatsoever.

Oh and -- by the way -- you're all full of shit. Except maybe Marek and Jake.

[Nick]

That wouldn't be how I'd sum up the film, but if it was, what about that makes for a good movie?

A kid took too much medication and then a jet engine fell on him.

Oh and -- by the way -- you're all full of shit. Except maybe Marek and Jake.

Get a room.

[Trithemius]

Perception is projection someone told me. If people want to see something radically awesome in your piece of shite, they have the right to do that. Just use the director's commentary then to say they're idiots and be done with it.

I think you can make a random, arbitrary movie without any cohesion and still let that be a very conscious piece of moviemaking where you really know what you are doing. You can't just say that every movie that's like that is just pretentious drivel. You just don't know that. Maybe to YOU it is, but don't go pretending it's the truth.

If what you are saying is correct, then truth fails to obtain any objective value; therefore I am basically compelled to treat my personal perception as the genuine article.

At any rate, I tend to assume an "invisible" and "silent" In my opinion... in front of anything said on an internet forum. It's probably a good idea, instead of assuming that people are making claims about a hitherto unquantifiable objective aesthetic reality.

[Trithemius]

I think comparisons between Donnie Darko and Mulholland Drive are unfair. Donnie Darko is an average movie that, like others have said, is guilty of using ambiguity to create a sort of false mystery. But I don't think Mulholland Drive employed such a technique. Many people might accuse the last 20 minutes of that film (where all previously established logic is thrown out) of being some concious ploy to fool the audience, so that it didn't have to make sense. But the film is perfectly legitimate if you look at it as a fantasy of the main character.

I didn't enjoy the film? I also suspect that DD-fans could make similar claims about their beloved film, so I am a little skeptical. I believe that Lynch is probably a "superior" film-maker, but I don't think that made me enjoy MD more; it might have made me enjoy it less.

I think the "people think it's genius because they don't want to be the ones who 'didn't understand it'" argument is valid for Donnie Darko, but not for Mulholland Drive.

Dammit, I posted an hilarious example of precisely that!

People will think "Shit, that was strange. I didn't understand a bar of it... I bet that means it is super deep and arty!".

Anyway, just to bring some positivity to this thread I'll say I totally agree about 12 Monkeys. It's one of my favorite movies ever. I love how the end connects to the beginning to form this looped story that actually has no beginning or end.

I agree!. 12 Monkeys is both interesting, and fun; could it be the very antidote to pretentious "mystery theatre"?