Movie of the Year: 2001 – Donnie Darko
Movie of the Year: 2001
Donnie Darko
The Taste Buds talk 2001’s Darko-est film, Donnie Darko!
Writer/Director Richard Kelly’s feature debut, Donnie Darko was almost just a footnote in Jake Gyllenhall’s Career. After debuting at sunset, it was nearly released straight to video, and because of the plane crash element so close to 9/11, it was barely marketed at all. 2001 had a way of swallowing up films and TV. Some properties never really got a shot and if you ask me, that’s the real tragedy. Oh, wait.
A movie for people who love music videos
But despite its ignominious beginnings, Donnie Darko found a cult following that grew and grew, something about the philosophical musings of time travel, dark 80s soundtrack, and the charming disaffected young Gyllenhall grabbed a generation by the guts, going on to become #2 on Empire’50 Greatest Independent Films of All Time list. Number 2. Let that sink in. That seems really high to me, the person who writes these up for a movie podcast.
What we cover
We hit all the important points in this one. At one point Ryan says, “Darko, gentlemen, is full on malarko” which I thought was very upsetting, and if episodes of podcasts had posters, I think we would put that on the poster. We spend quite a bit of time talking about Mexico in this one, which turns out to also be where the movie is set: the odds on that must be pretty long.
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