Review - Donnie Darko directors cut

I’m a bit behind and I’ve been promising this for ages, so sorry. It's not like anyone's reading anyway.

Donnie Darko Directors cut. Hmmm…

Yes well, lets get this over with straight away, because frankly it’s not really very good. Indeed the two versions together can be seen as a masterclass in editing. The directors cut is sloppy, with what sounds like temp music, containing unecessary scenes or scenes which are too long. It wasn’t necessary, for example, to have Frank tell Donnie to send Grandma Death the letter. The fact that his pills were placebos was also very much uneccesary. The change of music was highly irritating, and not half as good. And they tried explaining the plot which peeved me off, because I enjoyed being the only one who understood what was going on. The original is slick, the unecessary bits trimmed, all the scenes shorter and too the point. I’d suggest avoiding it if you loved the original. The only reason to get it is for the special features, which sound fascinating (we got our copy free with the mail, and it was a vanilla version so I can’t even vouch for that!) or if you want a lesson in editing.

Three scenes which were worth adding – Donnie hugging his mum and sister when they leave; Donnie and Gretchen lying on a rug in the hills (that bit was just pretty); the entire family coming out smirking after they leave the head’s office.
Scenes which weren’t worth adding – everything else.


Last film watched: Out of Africa, a lovely large sweeping romance, starring possibly one of the most offputting accents ever heard on screen. Spent most of the time trying to decide which of the landscape or the lead was prettier.