Donnie Darko Fans Miss The Point That Richard Kelly Is Not a Genuis
Apparently there is a sequel to Donnie Darko in the works. This is a terrible idea for obvious reasons. But beyond those obvious reasons there is something else bothering me. There is a petition to stop the movie from being made and it goes like this:
We here highly resolve that once-in-a-lifetime cinematic statements like “Donnie Darko” should be left as is for future generations to discover. The film currently in production called “S. Darko” is a threat to the “Donnie Darko” legacy; as is the fact that the only man who could possibly do such a film justice, the man who conceived the original singular vision: Richard Kelley, has no involvement in the production nor has he endorsed it.
We implore you, please cease production of “S. Darko” to preserve this unique American film.
Um. Guys, I don’t know if you know this but Richard Kelly is really, really, not good at being a director. Now, I enjoyed Donnie Darko, I’m pretty sure I even own it on DVD, so there’s that, but at this point I’m pretty convinced that Donnie Darko coming together and being pretty good and watchable was either a giant accident or the hard work of a lot of people behind the scenes who were not Richard Kelly. Let me explain.
Did you see this movie, you guys? It’s so bad! It’s so bad that I almost think you should rent it (except that if you’re going to rent Southland Tales to see a bad movie, you should really just rent The Room instead (AKA the Citizen Kane of bad movies) so that we can talk about it and laugh and laugh).
And not just that it’s bad, I have more to back it up! The extras on the DVD, you guys. Watch them and be horrified. Every actor in the film is interviewed about the script and what the movie is about and NOT ONE OF THEM KNOWS. All of them, with varying degrees of tact, say that they don’t understand a word of the script, how their character fits in, or the direction they are given but they’re “sure it will work out”. No it won’t, actors. No it won’t. I’m sorry you signed a contract, it will be over soon.
Whoops!
Not to mention we get to see Richard Kelly being an idiot (”I used a lot of Robert Frost poetry in the movie!”) and being a bad director (”Yeah that, but like, more angry. Cool”).
Also. It was supposed to be a comedy (it was not a comedy).
My point, Donnie Darko fans, is that your petition is petitioning not necessarily the wrong thing exactly but for the wrong reasons, kind of. And also that Southland Tales, which is a very current movie to be talking about, was really bad.
END POST.
Tags: directing, donnie darko, mistakes, richard kelly, southland tales
