RETURN TO DONNIE DARKO

Anybody who is cool will be familiar with Donnie Darko, young Richard Kelly's enigmatic sci-fi teen-angst psycho thriller, which was in theaters for about six minutes a few weeks after 9/11. The movie later went through an astonishing cult discovery and is now in the black after a successful DVD run.

The film's cult success has inspired a new theatrical release of the director's cut, in which Kelly apparently backs off from the original release's delicious obliqueness and downright confusion. One of the joys of watching the movie the first time was that -- to be frank -- you really had no fucking idea what was going on, even though you enjoyed participating in the ride. That's a difficult feat, to enjoy a film because it is unreadable without feeling frustrated because you wouldn't be able to describe it to a friend who had not yet seen it. Or to a friend who had seen it, for that matter. Or people who starred in the movie, who disclaimed in interviews: "I have no idea what Donnie Darko is about."

Salon has an interesting, lengthy analysis of the film here. If you haven't seen the film, don't read it. I've seen Darko about a dozen times and didn't find my personal reading of the film despoiled by the analysis; in this age of overexplaining and reductionism, the article, for the most part, is unnecessary.

And here is the trailer. See you in the Tangential Universe. Or not.