Donnie Darko

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Review added by
Jitendar Canth

I WANT YOU TO WATCH THE MOVIE SCREEN. THERE’S SOMETHING I WANT TO SHOW YOU.
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 134 & 113 mins
Retail Price: £24.99
Release Date: 2017
Content Type: Movie

Synopsis:
Fifteen years before Stranger Things combined science-fiction, Spielberg-ian touches and 80s nostalgia to much acclaim, Richard Kelly set the template – and the high-water mark – with his debut feature, Donnie Darko. Initially beset with distribution problems, it would slowly find its audience and emerge as arguably the first cult classic of the new millennium.

Donnie is a troubled high school student: in therapy, prone to sleepwalking and in possession of an imaginary friend, a six-foot rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world is going to end in 28 days 06 hours 42 minutes and 12 seconds. During that time he will navigate teenage life, narrowly avoid death in the form of a falling jet engine, follow Frank’s maladjusted instructions and try to maintain the space-time continuum.

Described by its director as “The Catcher in the Rye as told by Philip K. Dick”, Donnie Darko combines an eye-catching, eclectic cast – pre-stardom Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, heartthrob Patrick Swayze, former child star Drew Barrymore, Oscar nominees Mary McDonnell and Katherine Ross, and television favourite Noah Wyle – and an evocative soundtrack of 80s classics by Echo and the Bunnymen, Tears for Fears and Duran Duran. This brand-new 4K restoration, carried out exclusively for this release by Arrow Films, allows a modern classic to finally receive the home video treatment it deserves.

Special Features:
Brand new 4K restorations of both the Theatrical Cut and the Director’s Cut from the original camera negatives produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release, supervised and approved by director Richard Kelly and cinematographer Steven Poster

Audio commentary by writer-director Richard Kelly and actor Jake Gyllenhaal on the Theatrical Cut

Audio commentary by Kelly, producer Sean McKittrick and actors Drew Barrymore, Jena Malone, Beth Grant, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Katharine Ross and James Duval on the Theatrical Cut

Audio commentary by Kelly and filmmaker Kevin Smith on the Director’s Cut

Brand-new interviews with Richard Kelly and others

The Goodbye Place, Kelly’s 1996 short film, which anticipates some of the themes and ideas of his feature films

The Donnie Darko Production Diary, an archival documentary charting the film’s production with optional commentary by cinematographer Steven Poster

Twenty deleted and alternate scenes with optional commentary by Kelly

Archive interviews with Kelly, actors Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, James Duval, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Holmes Osborne, Noah Wyle and Katharine Ross, producers Sean McKittrick, Nancy Juvonen, Hunt Lowry and Casey La Scala, and cinematographer Steven Poster

Three archive featurettes: They Made Me Do It, They Made Me Do It Too and #1 Fan: A Darkomentary

Storyboard comparisons

B-roll footage

Cunning Visions infomercials

Music video: Mad World by Gary Jules

Galleries

Trailers

TV spots

Illustrated collector’s booklet containing new writing by Nathan Rabin

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Candice Tripp