Some notes about Donnie Darko and Sweden - part 2

Hey people :)

Are you familiar with the movie Donnie Darko? It was made in 2001 and starred, including Jake Gyllenhaal and Drew Barrymore. Both of them were still unknown in general and not seen as big movie stars.

Interestingly, the movie was never shown in Sweden in some of the larger and commercial cinemas. At the moment, I do not exactly know why this was the case.

In 2022, the Swedish Film Institute showed the movie in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmoe. The movie showing was done as a part of the Cinemateket program. The movie was shown with an age limit of 15 years and presented in the following way:

"Donnie Darko is not just about time travel but is a time travel – specifically to October 1988. You can find timely new wave bands on the film's soundtrack, like Tears for Fears and Echo and the Bunnymen. With Halloween around the corner, the possibly schizophrenic Donnie Darko is haunted by nightmares about Frank, an end-of-the-world prophet in a bunny costume who announces that the world will end in 28 days, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds.

The first meeting with the doomsday prophet occurs when Donnie sleepwalks – the same night an airplane engine crashes through his bedroom. Instead of being grateful for the coincidence, he is drawn deeper into Frank's rabbit hole, develops a liking for a schoolmate, and delves into the philosophy of time travel, collected in a book by the local nutcase "Grandma Death."

Virginia-raised Richard Kelly had attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts and worked as an assistant in Hollywood when he began writing his feature film debut. The interest in the script was high, but Kelly faced obstacles when he insisted on also directing the movie. Everything changed when the script landed with Drew Barrymore. Kelly offered her the role of the English teacher, and Barrymore offered to produce it. The rest is cult film history."

What do you think about the movie? Is Donnie Darko one of your favorites?