In
2001, a cult classic emerged completely out of nowhere after dying a
quiet death during a miniscule theatrical run before finding new life
in the mainstream filmgoing public: Donnie
Darko.
The story of a troubled high school teenager plagued by apocalyptic
if not insane prophetic visions of the end of times foretold by a
demonic giant bunny rabbit, first time writer-director Richard
Kelly’s hybrid of David Lynch, John Hughes, Tears for Fears and
Philip K. Dick captured the imagination of cinephiles before
expanding into a bona fide cultural phenomenon beyond anything it’s
creators expected.
Richard
Kelly went from being a newcomer to a formidable auteur with a head
on his shoulders and a unique cinematic vision which took what we
knew from the past twenty years of coming-of-age high school comedies
and surreal science fiction. In no time, the young auteur was on top
of the filmmaking world. And then something terribly disappointing
happened thereafter: Richard Kelly directed two more feature films
which all but killed his film career, Southland
Tales and
The Box.
Eviscerated by critics and flopping at the box office, Richard Kelly
very quickly went from being a wunderkind to a much maligned
sophomore who tried to play in the big league before fumbling the
ball. Soon after, critics and filmgoers began to reevaluate whether
or not Donnie
Darko was
the work of a master or merely a fluke.
Thankfully
however, some fifteen years since the initial release and in spite of
the unfavorable reputations of his subsequent features, Donnie
Darko as
it turned out is still beloved among moviegoers. With the rise of
nostalgic retro 80s cinema and television hits like Stranger
Things,
Donnie
Darko was
then reappraised not just as one of the first true cult classics of
our generation but among the very first to tap into what is now a
trendy celebration of the 1980s film scene. Better still, cult film
distributor Arrow Video teamed up with Richard Kelly to oversee a
brand new 4K restoration of his celebrated science fiction classic
before prompting a theatrical re-release in the UK. Not long after,
Arrow Video’s 4K remaster of Donnie
Darko
would eventually make it’s stateside debut followed by a full blown
theatrical re-release of the new digital transfer.
We
at The Movie Sleuth have never been shy about our love for Donnie
Darko. Both of this review's co-writers have previously written
pieces on the film, with Andrew reviewing it for our Director 101: Richard Kelly article,
and Chris discussing its excellent use of music in our Ten of the Best Movie Soundtracks
piece.
Now, let’s
take a look at this new and improved home video release of Donnie
Darko.
The
Video:
Cited
by Arrow Films as an exclusive 4K restoration, the original 35mm
negatives for Donnie
Darko were
scanned on a pin-registered 4K Lasergraphics Director scanner at
Deluxe Media, Burbank under the supervision of director Richard Kelly
and director of photography Steven Poster. Serving as the basis for
the theatrical and director’s cut versions save for a 35mm digital
intermediate element for certain sections in the director’s cut,
Donnie
Darko is
presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1.
Further
restoration work and cleanup was done at Deluxe Restoration, London
before additional color grading was completed at Deluxe, Culver City.
Lastly, one final visual effects shot exclusive to the director’s
cut was fully re-rendered by Richard Kelly’s visual effects team
for this Arrow Video release.
Originally
shot in anamorphic Panavision 35mm, Donnie
Darko in
theaters, DVD and the eventual Fox Video blu ray all bore the
distinction of looking blurrier than your average film. Much of this
is based on the low light levels and eccentric use of focus and blue
tinting, making the film look beautiful but decidedly muted when
compared to other pictures available at the time. Having seen it
firsthand in 35mm, I can say without hesitation the 4K restoration
looks stronger than it did when it first came out. For the first
time, Donnie
Darko
exhibits heavy film grain and a startling amount of detail never
visible to the naked eye before.
In
some instances the budgetary limitations of the photoshopped CGI
visual effects are all the more apparent in the 4K transfer, as the
grand vista of a portal forming in the clouds looks a bit like a
still photo with some minor manipulations. That said, the 35mm
footage looks fantastic and truly filmic. For those who own the Fox
Video blu ray, my friendly suggestion is to go for the upgrade as in
all honesty I felt I was seeing Donnie
Darko for
the very first time.
Score:
The
Audio:
The
original audio stems for the 2.0 Dolby Surround and 5.1 Dolby
Surround sound mixes for this home video release of Donnie
Darko were
supplied to Arrow Video by Lakeshore Entertainment with DTS-HD 5.1
encoding. While no real work was needed on either the theatrical cut
sound mix or the director’s cut sound mix, fans used to the Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix on the DVD will be delighted by the increased
clarity, depth and range of the new DTS-HD 5.1 rendering. As with
the original release, the theatrical cut is the weaker sounding of
the two despite containing the original soundtrack listing and sound
effects mix. The director’s cut remixed much of the soundtrack to
give greater spatial depth to the soundscape though as aforementioned
many sound effects were re-recorded and music cues were replaced
altogether or removed completely. Depending on your preference, both
mixes sound fantastic in DTS-HD 5.1 and are a vast improvement over
the muted Dolby 5.1 audio on the DVD release. Fans should most
definitely be pleased!
The
Extras:
Arrow Video has pulled out
(nearly) all the stops with this special edition, giving us an array
of extras that easily matches the quality of the upgraded picture and
sound, and makes this a pretty definitive release. While the previous DVD
and blu-ray releases of Donnie Darko may have been lackluster
in the technical departments, they all boasted some impressive
special features, so Arrow really had to bring their A-game in order
to make the extras on this special edition rise to the occasion. To
begin with, they have ported over all of the extras from the Fox
Video releases of both the theatrical and director’s cuts: three
audio commentaries (two on the theatrical cut, with Richard Kelly and
various combinations of the cast and crew, and one on the director's
cut with Kelly and somewhat random guest-commentator Kevin Smith),
four vintage documentary featurettes, archival interviews with most
of the cast and crew, a bunch of deleted scenes, the full Cunning
Visions infomercials made for the film, the Mad World music video,
and the usual assortment of trailers. New to this release are Kelly's
1996 short film The Goodbye Place, which shows early signs of
some of the ideas he would eventually develop into Donnie Darko,
as well as a look at how the film's exhaustive storyboards made it to
the screen. The limited edition set also comes with a very nice
hardcover book, containing several essays and interviews about the
film. And then there's the one very big, very cool new extra that
really sets this set apart, just as much as the 4k remaster itself.
For this special edition,
Arrow Video has teamed up with Ballyhoo Motion Pictures for a
feature-length (85 minute) documentary about the production and
legacy of the film, titled Deus ex Machina: The Philosophy of
Donnie Darko. Featuring extensive interviews with most of the
principal crew (Richard Kelly, producer Sean McKittrick, director of
photography Steven Poster, editor Sam Bauer and more), this new doc
is excellent, and offers very in-depth insights into how
the film came to be. Divided into chapters covering the film's
inception, pre-production, shooting, editing, troubled initial
release, and rise to cult-classic status, Deus ex Machina offers
the more or less definitive history of Donnie Darko, and it is
fascinating. Most of the figures involved – especially the intense
Kelly and the highly-detailed Poster – are great storytellers, and
they paint a compelling portrait of just how unlikely this film is,
and what a hard-fought journey to the screen it had.
It tells the story of Kelly
as an ambitious 24-year-old film-school grad who somehow manages to
launch his first feature script into the stratosphere of indie-film
culture in a way that seemed somewhere between unlikely and
impossible, thanks in large part to the support, enthusiasm, and
confidence of mentoring figures like Poster and executive
producer/co-star Drew Barrymore. As youthful enthusiasm and artistic
vision meet the insane obstacles of finishing and releasing a film as
bizarre and high-concept as Donnie Darko, it becomes very
clear what a passion-project this was for all involved; not just
Kelly, but seasoned pros like Poster, who clearly poured his soul
into the film's visuals. The journey the documentary takes us on is
not only fascinating for fans of the film, but inspiring and quite
educational for filmmakers and artists. Not only did I finish Deus
ex Machina feeling quite motivated to pursue my own art – if
Kelly could make this film happen at five years younger than I am
now, then surely I can put myself out there and find some success too
– I actually learned some very good tips about lighting design and
cinematography techniques from Poster's thorough details about
how he lit and shot the film. If you work in the
film/television/video production industry, this is a must-watch, as
it is one of the more technically informative making-of docs that I
have encountered.
The doc also answers
questions that a lot of fans have had about just how the
highly-divisive director's cut came about, and what Kelly thinks
about it in hindsight. While our spoiler-free ethos extends to
discussion of special features, I can safely say at least that he
certainly does not present the director's cut as the definitive
version, but instead frames the two edits as parallel companion cuts
of the film, both of which serve a valuable purpose. As such, it
makes a lot of sense that both cuts are treated so lovingly in this
set.
The one complaint that I
have about the doc, and the special features on this Arrow set in
general, is that it conspicuously lacks any present-day interviews
with the film's major stars like Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, and
Drew Barrymore. Deus ex Machina does feature a pretty in-depth
interview with James Duval, who plays Frank the Bunny, and his
retrospective thoughts on the film and its importance are very
interesting. But still, it would have been great to hear Gyllenhaal
look back at the film that more or less launched his career, or hear
Barrymore talk about her very personal involvement with the film as
an executive producer and one of its champions. The whole cast is
very involved in all the archival special features ported over from
the DVD, though, so this certainly isn't a dealbreaker; just a bit of
a lost opportunity. This one complaint aside, though, the extras on
Arrow's special edition are spectacular, and pretty definitive. The
documentary alone makes this box set worth picking up, and the
hardcover book just further seals the deal.
Score:
Final
Verdict:
With an excellent 4k remaster
and an exhaustive set of extras topped off with a feature-length
documentary that easily could have been released as a standalone
film, Arrow Video's Donnie
Darko limited edition is an obvious must-buy. The film has never looked or sounded
better, and the special features provide just about everything that a
fan could want to know, plus some very welcome education and
inspiration for the filmmakers and artists out there. While the film
faced some backlash after Southland
Tales and
The
Box cast
an unfortunate shadow over Richard Kelly's career, this special
edition makes a strong case that Donnie
Darko
is just as great, and just as important, as we thought it was to
begin with. The documentary also shows Kelly to be an intelligent
artist with some very real vision beyond this one film, and it makes
me hope that he will be able to overcome the career-stopping effects
of his follow-up features, and stage a comeback that finally lives up
to the greatness of his debut.
If
you're a fan of the film, Arrow's Donnie
Darko box
set is essential, and totally worth a double-dip from the previous
editions. And if you're new to the film, this is the best possible
way to see it for the first time. Highly recommended.
Overall Score:
-
Andrew Kotwicki (Introduction, Video, Audio)
-
Christopher S. Jordan (Extras, Conclusion)
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