What Does The Ending Of Donnie Darko Really Mean?
2. Richard Kelly's Warped Memory Of His Own Adolescence
Few period films capture an era as well as Donnie Darko does, but even those who appreciate the film's blend of '80s references, pop songs playing out like MTV music videos and Ronald Reagan bouncing on a trampoline tend to underestimate how smart the film actually is.
Because this isn't just a reflection of 1988 - it's a memory put on film, the sum of whatever Kelly remembers of his own adolescence, like a weird soup made out of disparate ingredients. Which means the film is purposely discombobulating, as though Kelly's subconscious itself wrote it out.
Darko covers the politics, and the pop culture of Kelly's youth, slasher movies like Halloween (forget slasher-esque bogeyman Frank and that part of this is set on October 31st, check out how Gretchen is killed just after she has sex) and popular '80s science fiction. There's time travel (Back To The Future is referenced) and an homage to ET as Gretchen, Donnie and his two friends cycle to Grandma Death's house in tandem.
Donnie Darko also casts non-more-'80s hero Patrick Swayze, albeit in an atypically sinister role. And the Swayze role just about sums up the film: the references here have been put into a blender and warped, with what comes out the other side being something familiar, but more than a little off.