Southland Tales

[Ricardo]

A little over two hours of pure stupidity.

[kuntasensei]

Pure stupidity that totally made sense if you paid attention to Donnie Darko. I enjoyed it.

[Ricardo]

Who's Donnie Darko?

[Ackaroth]

Donnie Darko was a movie with Jake Gyllenhaal, one of his early ones. Never saw it, but just read a plot summary to figure out what was going on.


Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a bright and charming high-school student who also has a dark and willfully eccentric side; he does little to mask his contempt for many of his peers and enjoys challenging the authority of the adults around him. Donnie is also visited on occasion by Frank, a monstrous six-foot rabbit that only Donnie can see who often urges him to perform dangerous and destructive pranks. Late one night, Frank leads Donnie out of his home to inform him that the world will come to an end in less than a month; moments later, the engine of a jet aircraft comes crashing through the ceiling of Donnie's room, making him think there might be something to Frank's prophesies after all. The rest of Donnie's world is only marginally less bizarre, as he finds himself dealing with his confused parents (Mary McDonnell and Holmes Osborne), his college-age sister (Maggie Gyllenhaal), his perplexed analyst (Katherine Ross), a rebellious English teacher (Drew Barrymore), a sleazy self-help expert (Patrick Swayze), and the new girl at school who is attracted by Donnie's quirks (Jena Malone). Donnie Darko was the first feature film from writer and director Richard Kelly; Drew Barrymore, who plays teacher Karen Pomeroy, also lent her support to the project as executive producer. A director's cut played in select theaters on a limited basis in the summer of 2004, featuring original music cues and trimmed scenes originally in Kelly's first cut of the film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

[Ricardo]

Thanks. So I shouldn't just have paid attention to Donnie Darko...I should have seen the movie. Didn't see any prerequisites when I rented Southland Tales.

[Ackaroth]

I personally have never seen Donnie Darko, nor heard of Southland Tales, but I *heard* Donnie Darko was good.

[kuntasensei]

Donnie Darko is excellent. Southland Tales isn't quite as good, but does help tie up some of the loose ends from Donnie Darko (and directly addresses the rift that caused the events in DD).