The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen podcast – Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko

Podcast: The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen
Date: 30 October 2026
Hosts: Stephen Fenech & Trevor Long

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[00:01:43] Stephen Fenech: Hello and welcome to The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen, a special podcast, a movie podcast we do every week where I, Stephen Fenech, present a new movie every week to my co-host Trevor Long to watch for the very first time, and hence the name The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen. Trev, how you doing?

[00:02:00] Trevor Long: Good day to you, Stephen. This may well be one of your finest.

[00:02:06] Stephen Fenech: Well, you know what, I knew going in, and I did warn you last week that this is— go with it, you know, have an open mind. And this is one of those movies, and we’ll, we’ll tell you what it is. It’s Donnie Darko. Uh, warning, explicit.

[00:02:20] Trevor Long: No one listening has heard of this movie.

[00:02:22] Stephen Fenech: They have actually, and it’s got a pretty high rating on IMDb. Uh, but there is explicit language as well, just a warning there. It was released in 2001 starring a very young Jake Gyllenhaal, uh, also Jenna Malone. And he— Jake Gyllenhaal’s, uh, sister, uh, Maggie Gyllenhaal, is all— plays his sister in the film. Uh, it was written and directed by Richard Kelly. Now I think, look, as a bit of background with this one, written and directed Richard Kelly, it was his first film And it’s the sort of movie that I think is a classic rewatchable because you’re picking up other things. You know, first watch, I don’t— I didn’t expect you to fully get every little detail of it, but hopefully in this show we’re going to help break it down for you.

[00:03:15] Trevor Long: But doing this early on, specific podcast so that I can understand it, I got you. No, yeah, cool, cool.

[00:03:19] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, no, well, and you know what, there’s other people who— and I’ve done a lot of— I did a lot of reading online on how people interpret interpreted the movie. And there is a, there is a, a definitive explanation which we’ll talk about. Hopefully you’ll— it dawned on you as well. Um, the movie, you notice that Drew Barrymore’s in the movie. Now, yeah, she, her and, and Richard Kelly— while Drew Barrymore was filming Charlie’s Angels back in 2000, uh, Richard Kelly actually made a deal with her production company, Flower Films, to produce the movie. At that point, it was destined to be like a direct-to-video or cable TV film, but she said, no, no, let’s make it. That they, they had a budget of just $4.5 million, and, and, and the, and the agreement that she plays a part in the movie as well. So she’s the one who got it off the ground as well as starring in it. Um, there was also another really influential writer-director— well, at the time he wasn’t as powerful as he is Christopher Nolan was also the other guy who did Dark Knight and recently The Odyssey. He was also an influential factor in securing a cinema release for it as well. Now, just, uh, just do you remember in the movie how they talk about the time depicted in the film? It was filmed over the same period, 28 days. So the time depicted and the time it took to shoot was the same, 28 days. So I know, I know you have no first impressions of this before the viewing. So what, what did you— what was your thumbnail? Give us something of any impression before you watched.

[00:05:07] Trevor Long: Just the rabbit head, the, the freaky weird looking character head. That was the thumbnail, I think. And, and dark. So yeah, like I looked at it and went, this is— is this a horror? Like, I didn’t know, like, it looked haunting. Let’s be honest, that’s a haunting thumbnail.

[00:05:24] Stephen Fenech: It was, it was meant to be in parts, but, um, yeah, it was, uh, I’m pretty sure you— it was pretty jarring for you, no doubt. Um, now this was released around the time, around 9/11 time, around 2001, end of 2001. We didn’t get it in Australia till well into 2002 for some reason. It didn’t— I don’t think it released in Australia til almost a year later. But at the time, the original advertising material featured a crashing plane, and being so close to 9/11, they thought, you know what, we’re going to pull all that. So it, it, it, it, it really hurt the initial box office, uh, draw of— because they pulled all the major advertising because of the depiction of the planes, and it was around the time of 9/11. So it’s a bit sensitive.

[00:06:17] Trevor Long: Uh, it was—

[00:06:17] Stephen Fenech: it’s, it’s again one of those movies that gained a lot of, uh, a lot of momentum when it was released on home video and DVD.

[00:06:24] Trevor Long: There was a—

[00:06:25] Stephen Fenech: yeah, box office was, was good, not great. So it really sort of attracted sort of cult attention on, uh, on home viewing. Right, let’s hear what Roger Ebert says about it. Little thing before I read this review, this is his second review of the movie. First review in 2000, 2001, he gave it, I think, 2.5 out of 4 stars. But they re— in 2004, they released the director’s cut, which was a little bit longer. Now, which one did you watch first of all?

[00:07:00] Trevor Long: Did you watch here?

[00:07:02] Stephen Fenech: Yes.

[00:07:02] Trevor Long: What platform was this on? Whatever platform. Yes, they were both there, and I thought that was really fascinating. I’ve never seen that before because you always say to me, which one did you watch? And I’ve never had the option, but I was fascinated by the fact that it even presented the options, and I nearly did go director’s cut because I thought, buddy, Stephen will tell me he’s got it on 4K Blu-ray and he watched the longer version and what did I miss? But I thought, do you know what, I’m just going to go the everyday watch on this one.

[00:07:27] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, that’s fine. Well, the director’s cut is—

[00:07:29] Trevor Long: So this Roger Ebert review is of the director’s cut. Yes.

[00:07:34] Stephen Fenech: So in 2004.

[00:07:35] Trevor Long: So two things matter in this review is what I’m hearing. Two things matter. He’s seeing, seeing it a little bit differently through the director’s eyes, and he’s got the context already, so he’s— it’s like a second watch automatically too.

[00:07:48] Stephen Fenech: Correct, correct. So he’s given it 3 out of 4 this time, and he says, pay close attention, warns the website for Donnie Darko: The Director’s Cut, because you could miss something. Damn, I missed it. I’m no closer to being able to explain the film’s events than I was after seeing the 2001 version, which was 20 minutes shorter. The difference is that doesn’t bother me so much. The movie remains impenetrable to logical analysis, but now I ask myself what logical analysis would explain the presence of a 6-foot-tall rabbit with what looks like the head of a science fiction insect. In that 2001 review, I found a lot of time— a lot to admire and enjoy in Donnie Darko, including the director’s control of tone and the freshness of characters. My objection was that you couldn’t understand the movie, which seemed to have parts on order. With the director’s cut, I knew going in I wouldn’t understand it, so perhaps I was able to accept it in a different way. I ignored logic and responded to tone, and I liked it more. There are many— there may have been another factor at work. As I grow weary of films like The Princess Diaries 2, which follow their formulas with relentless fidelity to cliché and stereotype, I felt the gratitude to directors who make something new. Donnie Darko: The Director’s Cut is alive, original, and intriguing. It’s about a character who has no explanation for what’s happening in his life and is set in a world that cannot account for prescient rabbits named Frank. I think, after all, I’m happier that the movie doesn’t have closure. What kind of closure could there be? Frank takes off the insect head and reveals Drew Barrymore. Who in classroom flashback explains the plots and brings in Grandma Death as a resource person. So he’s kind of liked it a little bit better. Yeah, I think he watched it different. That’s the thing, he watched it different.

[00:09:41] Trevor Long: Yeah, I think that review is him going and going, I don’t mind, I’m going to go in, still don’t understand, but I don’t mind. Yeah, that’s remarkable.

[00:09:50] Stephen Fenech: Righto, this is your last exit before the freeway. We’re going to dive down a deep rabbit hole explaining, uh, Donnie Darko. And if you haven’t seen it You can watch it on Fetch!

[00:10:00] Trevor Long: Along with thousands of other movies, there are 10,000 movies to rent or buy on Fetch. And if you’ve got a Fetch box and a Fetch subscription, the other great thing is the movie box. Settle in for the perfect movie night anytime you want. Fetch movie box includes 50 or more ad-free movies on demand every month for just $3.99. With new hand-picked titles, there’s always something ready to watch. And just so you know, I did an analysis of the 50 movies that are there right now and 2 of them we’ve covered on this show. Erin Brockovich, we, we covered, uh, just a month ago on the 18th of September, if you want to scroll back to that episode. And The Da Vinci Code, which we did in October 2023. So scroll back, enjoy it on the Fetch Movie Box for free as part of your monthly subscription, and then enjoy us recapping it here on The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen. Movies are always fun to explore, as we’re about to find out, and there’s plenty of movies you might not have heard of right there in the movie box. So just Just let them pick for you and enjoy a night on the couch with your Fetch and a movie of your choice out of their selection. The Fetch Movie Box for just $3.99 or as part of a Fetch subscription. You can get Fetch at major retailers, you can buy it online, and you can find out more details at fetchtv.com.au.

[00:11:12] Stephen Fenech: Alrighty, now you have seen it. Um, I’m, I’m gonna read out some of the messages you sent me while you were watching it later. But just give us your first impressions.

[00:11:25] Trevor Long: I don’t get it. I don’t understand it. I knew it was on a budget when I saw the full rabbit. I went, that’s a rabbit costume you could get from Walmart, except for the head, you know? So they’ve spent money on the head and they’ve just got a synthetic fur rabbit costume that you can get from any party hire shop. Look, I want to understand it. I want to understand this concern and theory of time travel. I want to understand how a jet engine falling off a plane that his mother and sister are on landing in his own bedroom while they’re home makes sense, but I don’t. And yeah, I, I, I think I, I think I could and should rewatch this for that reason, uh, and maybe I go in with Roger and just go, let’s just see if we can take a couple of nuggets out of this. But moreover, I’m handing it over to you, Stephen, to explain what the hell I just watched.

[00:12:18] Stephen Fenech: All righty, now we’ll do that, but what’s your social media post here then?

[00:12:22] Trevor Long: All right, what can I say about Donnie Darko? Watch it on drugs so it makes sense, or, uh, is it a disturbed teen grappling with the concept of time travel after a disaster in his home while haunted by a man dressed as a frightening bunny? Hey, let me know what it’s about, I’m actually keen to know. That’s very good.

[00:12:40] Stephen Fenech: Um, it was released in Australia on October the 27th 2002, so quite a while later. Uh, saw it on— I didn’t see it in the movie, I saw it on video for the first time. And, uh, and I’ve watched it a lot, and every time I watch it, I’m looking out for things. It’s one of those movies where there’s little nuggets that you pick up every time you see it that sort of lead back then to the explanation. Uh, let’s talk about the cast. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Donnie Darko. He was in, uh, Southpaw. He was in the remake of Roadhouse. Ironically, uh, Patrick Swayze is in this movie too, who was in the original Roadhouse.

[00:13:22] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:13:23] Stephen Fenech: Presumed Innocent, the T— do you ever see that on Apple TV? There’s the TV show. We did the movie on this show. Have you watched the TV show, the TV version?

[00:13:31] Trevor Long: Yeah. No, I don’t think I have.

[00:13:33] Stephen Fenech: Jake Gyllenhaal plays the Rusty Savage character that Harrison Ford played in the movie that we, that we did. Uh, he was also in Day After Tomorrow. Jenna Malone plays Gretchen. Now she was in— do you remember when we did the movie Contact with Jodie Foster? Remember that movie, right?

[00:13:50] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:13:50] Stephen Fenech: So Jenna Malone, who’s Gretchen, the girl, his girlfriend, she played the young Ellie. So the Jodie Foster when she was younger was played by Jenna Malone in this. It was— so she’s obviously a bit older in this movie, but That was— she was Ellie as a youngster in, uh, Contact. She was also in, uh, in Hunger Games movies, and she was in the recent Netflix show The Burrows, which I watched as well. There she— I think she played a daughter of one of the characters. Mary McDonnell plays Rose Darko, so that’s Donnie’s mum. She was in Independence Day. She was the president’s wife in Independence Day. She was in Dances with Wolves, and she was also in the re— the new version of Battlestar Galactica. Maggie Gyllenhaal, which is Jake’s sister, plays Elizabeth. She was in, uh, Secretary. She was also in The Dark Knight and Crazy Heart. Patrick Swayze, do you recognize him? He was Bill Cunningham. He was the, the evangelist, you know, not evangelist, he was sort of, you know, the whole fear of conquer your fears and all that kind of motivation. Of course, Dirty Dancing. He was in Ghost, which we’ve done, and Road— we’ve done Roadhouse, haven’t we? Roadhouse.

[00:14:59] Trevor Long: We did Roadhouse, definitely.

[00:15:00] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Yeah, uh, and did you also notice Drew Barrymore? Did you also notice Noah Wiley? Remember the, the—

[00:15:08] Trevor Long: yes, the guy from there, the guy from ER?

[00:15:11] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, he was in it too. So they had a few little cameos in there as well.

[00:15:14] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:15:16] Stephen Fenech: Anyway, before we get to the, the run-through, let’s have a chat about Hisense. Hisense, if you’re in the market for a TV, there’s some wonderful new technology, RGB Mini LED. Is the new format for their TV. So this is replacing the back— the backlight, which used to be just one light. It is now red, green, and blue. So that’s where the mini LEDs come into play. So as well as making the backlight, they’re also creating the color. And because it doesn’t require a filter, you’re getting much better color, color accuracy, and color volume as well. And it’s all controlled through the HiView AI engine. Each RGB cell is controlled so that you’re getting the best possible result on the screen. And if you’re a gamer, what a great place to play your games. It’s got native 180Hz game mode. Also great for watching sport, really smooth, puts you— it’s like you’re at the stadium watching it live. It also has an anti-reflection and glare-free layer so that you don’t have any distractions, even if you’re watching it as we typically do here in Australia in your very bright living areas. It also has out of the box great sound, 2.1.2 multi-channel surround sound. And this is one of the only TVs you can buy that is also IMAX enhanced. So all those IMAX films, you can watch them in their proper aspect ratio and quality on a Hisense TV. And with these RGB TVs, the UR8 is the more affordable of the mini RGB lineup, the Mini LED lineup, and available in sizes from 55 inches all the way up to 100 inches. So Hisense catering for our, our growing taste in larger TVs. And of course, the VIDAA operating system gives you plenty of options to get connect to your favorite catch-up, catch-up apps and your streaming services, and also be able to connect all your other sources like gaming consoles and set-top boxes like your Fetch Box. So check it out if you’re in the market for the TV. Go and stand in front of a Hisense TV today, or you can check them out at hisense.com.au. Okey-dokey, let’s get into this. And we start in— it’s October 2nd, 1988, and Donnie Darko wakes up on a mountain road with his bicycle and rides home.

[00:17:44] Trevor Long: The road, you’re going to get run over. It’s the instant parent in me going, mate, what’s going on here?

[00:17:49] Stephen Fenech: What are you doing, mate? So he rides home to suburban Middlesex in Virginia. How about dinner? Interesting little dinner conversation. There’s a bit of political friction because, yeah, remember, this was set in 1988, so there was an election coming up. They’re discussing politics. And, um, so they flick the Friction flares between seemingly conservative older sister Elizabeth and her liberal parents Eddie and Rose, sort of highlights the family’s upper middle class sort of dysfunctionality. Donnie is revealed to be in therapy and off his medication, and his mother confronts him about what he’s been up to.

[00:18:28] Movie Audio: [Rose confronts Donnie in his bedroom about where he goes at night and whether he threw the paper at the neighbours’ house. He tells her to get out, she says she no longer recognises her son, and Donnie snaps back with an insult, telling her to take the pills herself.]

[00:18:58] Trevor Long: Oh, man, you know the funny thing there is, as soon as he said it, I went, oh my God, mate, that is It’s a weird thing, but that’s— it’s like the— I think it’s one of the biggest insults you could say to your mother. Do you know what I mean? Like, it— yeah, it’s actually quite a— it’s quite a— it’s quite a lame word, but it’s such a strong thing to say to your mother that it instantly hit me. And so I’m like, what’s she gonna say? And it was fascinating. She kind of walked into the husband and went, well, he just called me a bitch.

[00:19:27] Stephen Fenech: And then he said, you know, You know, you know, bitch. That was good. Uh, the first, uh, we, we see in later on, he sleepwalks into the backyard and hears a deep voice calling his name. He meets Frank, a figure in a grotesque metallic rabbit mask. Now my, uh, my interjection— I’ve only got a couple in this show, but my interjection is going to be called an engine drop, okay? My engine dropped.

[00:19:56] Trevor Long: Oh my God.

[00:19:57] Stephen Fenech: Okay, is that Frank the Giant Rabbit was inspired by the animated film version of Watership Down, which is the book they eventually read. Remember, they banned the Graham Greene book later on and they read Watership Down by Richard Adams, which a book I read as a kid too. Great book. And so, um, the, the— in, in the director’s cut, there are clips shown in the— of Watership Down, the film. The 1978 film. But Frank, we hear, delivers an ominous prophecy.

[00:20:35] Movie Audio: [Frank wakes Donnie, tells him he’s been watching him and to come closer, then gives the countdown — 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds — until the world ends.]

[00:21:32] Trevor Long: Why? Righto. Jeez. Thanks, Frank.

[00:21:37] Stephen Fenech: Your thoughts there?

[00:21:39] Trevor Long: What were you thinking? ‘How’s the world going to end?’ Okay, well, I’m in here at this point. I’m like, okay, it’s a prophecy. It’s a dream. I don’t think he’s on, you know, hallucinogenic drugs. Is it a problem with his medication or is he just, you know, disturbed at night? Great. I’m all in. You know, the bloke’s having nightmares. I’m okay with this general concept of, you know, this late teens kid sleepwalks and has these weird nightmares. And I’m okay with it being, oh my God, the world’s going to end. So yeah, at this point I’m cool, I’m in.

[00:22:10] Stephen Fenech: Okay, so he wakes up the next morning on a golf course. Did you notice who was on the golf course? One of them was Jim Cunningham, Patrick Swayze’s character.

[00:22:19] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:22:20] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, and, um, another guy. Meanwhile, because he’s— don’t forget, he was out. Okay, so he spent the night on the— he slept, woke up on the golf course. In the meantime, a rogue jet engine crashes through his bedroom. The ceiling of his bedroom.

[00:22:38] Trevor Long: And so if he was home, he would have been talking and had been on the— well, I looked at him when it did fall right next to his bed. But anyway, I’m assuming it would have killed him, just the collapse of the, the room or something. And because he, you know, they’re all out the front, there’s this weird— there’s a weirdness to the characters around the house at this point, I’ve got to say. Yeah. And I don’t know whether this is intentional or not, but the investigators are all a little bit like, um, You know, they don’t strike me as they’re like from the FAA or the NTSB. It strikes me that they’re from a secret government agency. And the way they’re acting, I think you’re mentally— yeah, do you think so? Yeah. And the family are kind of just standing around looking, and then Donnie walks in. It’s like, oh my God, there you are! He’s alive! Yeah.

[00:23:21] Stephen Fenech: But the investigators can’t locate a corresponding aircraft or flight record. As well. So they don’t know where it came from. I’m pretty sure that’s the mystery right there, right?

[00:23:32] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:23:33] Stephen Fenech: So put a pin in that one.

[00:23:35] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:23:36] Stephen Fenech: Now he heads to school. School resumes at Middlesex High, and I loved, loved the montage for Tears for Fears song, you know, Head Over Heels. And it shows that, that song, it showed the dynamic of the school. Did you notice in this film?

[00:23:51] Trevor Long: You know what’s really interesting is Harry started singing along to this. Harry’s 15. I went, “Dude, how do you know this song?” He goes, “It’s on TikTok, Head Over Heels.” I went, “Oh, okay.” So it’s obviously having a resurgence as well in a trend. But yeah, I thought it was weird that Harry knew this song anyway. But yeah, you get that general US school dynamic for sure.

[00:24:10] Stephen Fenech: It was popular when I was Harry’s age. I think I was about 16 when this was a big, big song. When it came out, it was massive and it showed— well, it showed who’s who. There was a couple of bullies. Showed a couple of new teachers as well. I think Jim Cunningham sort of flashed through for a second. The sister was sort of practicing her dance moves with her friends as well. And so it was really clever way of, in a short space of time, just sort of showing, oh, here’s the state of mini exposition of a bunch of little things. Yeah, oh, that was really well done. And I sang along to every word of that song. Um, in the classroom they’re talking about Graham Greene’s The Destructors, and, uh, this is in in Drew Barrymore’s class. She’s the teacher, and Donnie weighs in with his opinion about the passage. But they also meet the new student, Gretchen Ross.

[00:25:01] Movie Audio: [The teacher asks Donnie for his take on The Destructors, given his recent brush with destruction. He argues that destruction is a form of creation and the boys just want to see what happens when they tear the world apart. New student Gretchen then arrives, says she was put in the wrong class, and is told to sit next to the boy she thinks is the cutest.]

[00:25:50] Stephen Fenech: And so she sits right next to Donnie.

[00:25:53] Trevor Long: Funny enough, that’s a wild thing to say.

[00:25:57] Stephen Fenech: My other engine drop is, despite being his teacher, Drew Barrymore is only 5 years older than Jake Gyllenhaal.

[00:26:04] Trevor Long: Yeah, but the, the way they’ve, uh, both wardrobe and makeup here—

[00:26:07] Stephen Fenech: yeah, she made a big difference.

[00:26:09] Trevor Long: She looks Honestly, she looks sensational.

[00:26:13] Stephen Fenech: She looks all grown up, doesn’t she? Drew Barrymore. That’s right.

[00:26:15] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:26:16] Stephen Fenech: I love this little bit. Remember, he’s being driven by his dad to his therapist, and in this, in the car, you might have also heard the conversation where he’s saying, oh, you know, talking about the FAA, and you know what they’re talking about, the, the serial number on the jet engine doesn’t match any others, doesn’t exist on a plane.

[00:26:33] Trevor Long: And so it’s this weird, you know, conspiracy. So we’ve gone from potential government agency to now it’s a conspiracy because they literally can’t find a plane to match an engine, which is insane.

[00:26:45] Stephen Fenech: Exactly. And they nearly run over an old lady whose name is— her surname is Sparrow. And memory says, Dad, Dad, stop! And she’s known for sort of being— going to a letterbox every day and sort of wandering around aimlessly. And Donnie gets out of the car and she whispers something in his ear. Did you notice this scene? And you never know what she says.

[00:27:07] Trevor Long: No, I think never.

[00:27:09] Stephen Fenech: She says it to him later again, I reckon. What she says here is what she says later to him. I’ll tell you now, she says— remember later on near the end, she says there’s a storm coming. I think that’s what she whispers in his ear.

[00:27:23] Trevor Long: That makes sense because, you know, she’s— she— we find out she does this every day, walks to the mailbox and back. So it makes sense that she’s basically got this repetitive She’s in a cycle, correct? Yeah, yeah.

[00:27:34] Stephen Fenech: Uh, he— Donnie’s at therapy, sees his psychiatrist Dr. Lillian Thurman, and he admits he stopped taking his medication and increased— uh, confesses to aggressive impulses and reveals he’s also seeing Frank.

[00:27:52] Movie Audio: [Donnie tells Dr. Thurman he’s made a new, imaginary friend called Frank, who told him to follow him into the future and said the world was coming to an end. Asked if he believes that, Donnie dismisses it as stupid.]

[00:28:29] Stephen Fenech: Interesting. Dr. Thurman, by the end of this session, adjusts his prescription and uses hypnotherapy as well to explore his detachment. Back at school, uh, they’re in class and they’re watching an instructional video about overcoming fear by Jim Cunningham. That’s Patrick Swayze. Donnie hears Frank’s voice again in this little section, and the voice says, pay close attention, he might know something. And we will work out later on what happens with him. Now Frank again commands Donnie to act. He breaks into the high school overnight, axes a water main to flood the campus, and manages to embed a an axe into a bronze statue and spraying the words ‘they made me do it.’ It’s more baffling to see the axe in the statue than the destruction from one watermelon, don’t you reckon?

[00:29:26] Trevor Long: Like, it’s— that’s the thing that makes you go, okay, so now he’s not only sleepwalking, seeing a supernatural imaginary, imaginary character, being driven to do stupid things. These are all— it all still makes sense until you go, wow, the axe in the statue, that’s Pure solid bronze.

[00:29:44] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, it’s pretty, pretty solid. So he’s almost got super superpowers almost. And they sprayed ‘They made me do it’ on the pavement. Do you remember later on in the classroom they were getting him to write it on the board to match the writing? But if there’s a little— there’s a little thing if you pick up later in the, the writing on the fridge at the party at the end matches that writing. Remember when we’ll get to it because Elizabeth’s boyfriend is Frank, right? The, the threads will connect a bit later, right? So on the fridge later you’ll see the similar writing to that one. Uh, here, because of the, the flooding of the school, water’s canceled. Uh, Donnie defends Gretchen from local bullies and establishes an immediate connection. And because the school’s flooded, Gretchen says, oh, do you think you can walk me home?

[00:30:38] Movie Audio: [Bullies harass Gretchen before school is cancelled, and she asks Donnie to walk her home. She explains she moved after her stepdad stabbed her mother and fled, so she and her mum changed their names. Donnie shares that he once accidentally burned down an abandoned house and wants to be a writer or painter. Gretchen jokes that “Donnie Darko” sounds like a superhero name — and he asks what makes her think he’s not.]

[00:32:07] Trevor Long: Interesting. See, that’s— What makes you think I’m not? It’s like, I thought you meant to think, wait, what? What did you just say? Do you know what I mean? Like, it’s that—

[00:32:16] Stephen Fenech: it’s the accent as well. I think he says, what made you think that? Is that what he said? What made you think that?

[00:32:20] Trevor Long: I thought it’s what makes you think I’m not.

[00:32:22] Stephen Fenech: Oh, I think I said, what is— why do you think that? Anyway, good, good, uh, good that it’s out there. Uh, they bond over— they sort of got a similar sense of alienation. And then Donnie at the end, ask her to be both a bit quirky. Yeah, they are the perfect couple. And Donnie says, can you— you want to be my girl? You want to go with me to be my girlfriend? And she went, yeah, why not? At the PTA meeting, we see the conservative gym teacher Kitty Farmer protesting the Graham Greene text while Donnie hears from Frank again.

[00:32:55] Movie Audio: [Frank tells Donnie he got away with it. At the PTA meeting, Kitty Farmer holds up The Destructors, describes how the children in it destroy a house by breaking a water main, and demands it be removed — while Frank tells Donnie he can do anything he wants. The English teacher pushes back, and Kitty mixes up Graham Greene with Bonanza.]

[00:34:11] Stephen Fenech: Did you get that joke? Graham Greene. She is— we’ve all seen Bonanza. She meant Lorne Greene, which was the guy that was in Bonanza and Battlestar Galactica. So she’s sort of—

[00:34:23] Trevor Long: I thought that was a funny scene because, you know, they, they’ve had a major incident at the school. The school needs money to pay for it. They’re having a P&C meeting— we call them P&C meetings— and, you know, the principal’s trying to get, you know, Essentially the parents to get on board with funding and stuff, and this stuck-up old-school teacher just doesn’t give a rat’s about that, wants to talk about this stupid book. So it’s classic school, it’s classic public school, to be honest.

[00:34:46] Stephen Fenech: The next day Donnie’s in class reading what turns out to be a bit of a prophetic poem.

[00:34:55] Movie Audio: [Donnie reads his poem to the class: Frank says a storm is coming that will swallow the children, and Donnie will deliver them home and send the monsters back underground where only he can see them. Asked who Frank is, he answers: a six-foot-tall bunny rabbit.]

[00:35:33] Stephen Fenech: So he’s open about it.

[00:35:35] Trevor Long: Credibility with your classmates. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:35:39] Stephen Fenech: Uh, in the next class, Kitty introduces motivational speaker Jim Cunningham’s simplistic fear versus love philosophy and then asks them to read a passage and place an X on the scale. Donnie publicly mocks the binary scale and receives in-school suspension.

[00:36:00] Movie Audio: [Donnie argues the exercise ignores the whole spectrum of human emotion and can’t be reduced to fear or love; Kitty threatens him with a zero. In the principal’s office with his parents, Kitty reports the crude suggestion Donnie made about where she could put the Lifeline exercise card.]

[00:36:57] Stephen Fenech: Did you hear the dad laughing in the background? The dad was laughing.

[00:37:01] Trevor Long: It’s one of my favorite things about almost all high school movies that involve a parent visiting. It’s like there’s always the mom or the dad just giggling, or when they walk out going, good on you, son, you— that kind of, that kind of thing.

[00:37:13] Stephen Fenech: And Donnie’s in the back really smiling it up too. Uh, next, so, uh, he goes to have a chat. Donnie goes to see his science teacher Kenneth Monotoff— that’s, um, Noah Wiley’s character— about wormholes and time travel. Now, what does Monotoff do? He gives Donnie a copy of The Philosophy of Time Travel which was written by Roberta Sparrow. You know, the old grandma that they nearly ran over?

[00:37:41] Trevor Long: She wrote this book.

[00:37:43] Stephen Fenech: She’s a senile former science teacher turned reclusive, spends her days checking an empty roadside mailbox. Now here’s where I think— and I’m gonna, I’m gonna get, I’m gonna get my WhatsApp conversation and, uh, I’m gonna quote, I’m gonna quote you here, right? This is when, yeah, Trevor, I think, sent me a message at this point of the movie.

[00:38:06] Trevor Long: Saturday night, I got a 100-inch Hisense TV rolling on the fetch, and, uh, yep, Stephen’s making me watch this.

[00:38:12] Stephen Fenech: I’ve got to find it, and I’m going to use a swear word here. The message says, mate, what the actual fuck am I watching? Was the message.

[00:38:24] Trevor Long: Okay, right.

[00:38:25] Stephen Fenech: And my response was, didn’t it?

[00:38:28] Trevor Long: Did it have a live screenshot as well? Yeah, good.

[00:38:30] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, correct. And I said, haha, it will all make sense. And I said, is anyone else watching with you? And there’s a picture of young Harry next to you. And I said, look, tell Harry to listen to the show on Friday, all will be revealed. He said, and you said, it better be revealed before then.

[00:38:46] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:38:47] Stephen Fenech: And then you used another expletive which I won’t share here, but that’s all good. But it’s at this point of the movie, I think, where you’re thinking, hang on a minute, Now at this point, Donnie’s sitting in his— at his home and he sees these translucent sort of liquid-like energy conduits emerging from people’s chests, showing the predetermined part. Looks like water. Looks like water.

[00:39:11] Trevor Long: Harry and I were like, okay, so it’s like a— this is like a vision to the future. It’s a— it’s— it’s a—

[00:39:17] Stephen Fenech: yeah, it’s happening here.

[00:39:18] Trevor Long: And then it rumbles and it begins to show the the forward path. So it’s like seeing into the future without— it’s actually a really cool representation of visualizing the future and seeing something before it happens.

[00:39:31] Stephen Fenech: So he follows his own little chest worm into his parents’ bedroom where he finds a gun hidden in his father’s closet. So later, directed by Frank, uh, and during a motivational school assembly by Jim Cunningham Donnie gets up to the microphone and asks some awkward questions.

[00:39:54] Movie Audio: [At the assembly Donnie asks Jim Cunningham how much he’s being paid and whether it’s all to sell his book, calling it the worst advice he’s ever heard, then gives blunt, practical advice to the students who’d asked questions. Cunningham labels him a troubled, frightened young man; Donnie agrees he’s troubled, confused and afraid — then calls Cunningham the Antichrist.]

[00:41:25] Stephen Fenech: Called him the Antichrist.

[00:41:27] Trevor Long: Oh my God. But the best part about that is it’s, it’s almost utter and complete honesty from Donnie, do you know what I mean? It’s not just about his, his BS advice to kids. It’s about him and what he sees of him, and then he’s of himself, you know. Yeah, I am pretty disturbed and all that stuff. I think, I think it’s a really nice, just pure honesty.

[00:41:45] Stephen Fenech: The 3 people he refers to on the stage got up before him and said, how do I, how do I know what I want to do when I leave school? And this other kid, how do I, I want to, I’m getting bullied, and how do I lose weight? And all that sort of gear. Yeah. So he said, look, he sort of laid some truth bombs on him.

[00:42:01] Stephen Fenech: Uh, Donnie, in the next scene, he’s, I think he’s heading home and he finds Jim Cunningham’s wallet outside his mansion. And then we hear Frank’s voice saying, ‘Now we know where he lives.’ Yes. So put the penny in that one. He’s back at the therapist. He’s doing his best to describe to the, the liquid energy conduits he’s seeing emerging from people’s chests. And there’s even a diagram of it in The Philosophy of Time Travel. Yeah, he’s showing us a Sparrow book.

[00:42:32] Trevor Long: Yeah, actually has this same thing in it.

[00:42:36] Stephen Fenech: Now Donnie and Gretchen go to the movies. Donnie sees Frank again sitting next to them in the cinema, and he talks to him while Gretchen sleeps beside him.

[00:42:47] Movie Audio: [In the cinema Donnie asks Frank why he wears that stupid bunny suit; Frank asks why Donnie wears that stupid man suit. Frank’s eye is wounded, he says Frank was his father’s name, directs Donnie to watch the screen and asks if he’s ever seen a portal — then tells him to burn it to the ground.]

[00:43:56] Stephen Fenech: he said at the end there, burn it to the ground. And he could go— sneaks out while, um, Gretchen’s still asleep in the movie. He goes and torches Cunningham’s mansion. Uh, meanwhile, Donnie’s sister Samantha is performing their dance act Sparkle Motion at the school. Talent show, and Jimmy Cunningham himself is the MC. So he’s— he ain’t home when his house is getting burned down. Firefighters extinguish the blaze, but guess what? They uncover a hidden kitty porn dungeon, which leads to Cunningham’s arrest. That was a bit of a shock. Now Kitty Farmer is— now wants to represent and coordinate Cunningham’s legal defense. So he comes to Donnie’s house and asks his mother Rose to chaperone the school dance troupe, the Sparkle Motion, there’s to Star Search in Los Angeles. So they’ve heard her and the daughter, mum and the daughter, have to fly to LA now for that. Yeah, Donnie and Elizabeth are left home alone and they’re thinking, wow. So, and, and he says to her later on, he says, look Remember when she gets an acceptance to Harvard and they decide to throw a party? But we’ll talk about that in a minute. In an intense hypnotherapy session, Donnie breaks down and confesses to arson, and admitting, admitting that Frank told him the sky will open up soon.

[00:45:27] Movie Audio: [Under hypnosis Donnie confesses to flooding the school and burning down Cunningham’s house, saying he only has a few days before they catch him. He says he has to obey Frank, who saved his life, that he has the power to build a time machine, that Frank is going to kill — and that he can see him now, and the sky is going to open.]

[00:46:46] Stephen Fenech: So Dr. Thurman realizes Donnie is severely, uh, ungrounded from reality.

[00:47:05] Trevor Long: She’s just realizing this now.

[00:47:07] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, well, this is interesting now. Elizabeth and Donnie, remember, she, she just got accepted into Harvard and he said, why don’t we throw a party? No one’s gonna know. Mum and Dad are gone. So they throw a massive costume party to celebrate Elizabeth’s acceptance into Harvard, and Donnie realizes though the countdown hits zero at midnight.

[00:47:28] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:47:28] Stephen Fenech: Now Gretchen arrives distraught at the door. Her mother has left, she’s bolted. She and Donnie head upstairs and, uh, do the bizo in her— in his parents’ bedroom. Donnie tells her and her friends They need to go. We gotta go.

[00:47:56] Movie Audio: [Donnie tells the others they have to go and see Grandma Death.]

[00:47:59] Stephen Fenech: No, it’s great. His time is running out.

[00:48:02] Movie Audio: [Donnie insists they have to leave now.]

[00:48:03] Stephen Fenech: So he realizes it’s all happening as midnight passes. Donnie, Gretchen, and his two friends— I love their costumes too. One of them was dressed up as Hulk Hogan. Did you see that guy? They bike to Roberta Sparrow’s house to search for answers in her cellar. Now inside, the bullies Seth and Ricky ambush them in the dark to rob Grandma Death. Now the scuffle spills out onto the road and a red Pontiac Trans Am, swerving to miss Grandma Death who’s on the road, runs over Gretchen and kills her instantly.

[00:48:40] Trevor Long: Brutal.

[00:48:41] Stephen Fenech: Like, pretty brutal scene here. The driver steps out in a rabbit costume. It’s Frank, Elizabeth’s boyfriend. Now, you remember Donnie had his father’s gun. He pulls it out, shoots Frank through the right eye. And you remember in the cinema—

[00:49:01] Trevor Long: in the cinema, remember in the cinema, he never had his—

[00:49:03] Stephen Fenech: where his right eye was gone. Now Donnie is carrying Gretchen’s body up back to home and drives his car up to the ridge overlooking Middlesex, and he sees a massive swirling vortex forming in the clouds overhead. The passenger plane carrying Rose, Samantha, and the Sparkle Motion dance team gets caught in the vortex. Severe turbulence rips off one of its jet engines. So we’re hearing now what’s happening.

[00:49:40] Movie Audio: [Donnie, in a letter to Roberta Sparrow, says he has reached the end of her book with many questions, fears she’ll tell him it isn’t fiction, and hopes that when the world ends he can breathe a sigh of relief because there will be so much to look forward to.]

[00:50:19] Stephen Fenech: So here is where It gets weird. Donnie has somehow— well, weirder, I should say. Yeah, Donnie has somehow steered the engine through the dimensional rift back into the primary universe. So what happened before was like a worm, like a, and like an abnormality, and now this is restored, the real timeline. And so he’s in his bed. Did you notice he’s been bed smiling, happy?

[00:50:52] Stephen Fenech: it’s the night of October 2. He’s peaceful in bed, content the universe is restored and the people he loves will live. Seconds later, the jet engine crashes through the ceiling and kills him in his sleep. Now, this is also a great song here, Mad World. Uh, the top— the Gary Jules cover of Mad World plays across the top. And this kind of complete sort of looks at all the characters and what’s changed, what stayed the same, what, what’s happened to them, uh, including, you know, we see, uh, Jim Cunningham weeping in jail. Um, Frank, you see, notice he touches his, his intact right eye. And then you see his designs for the rabbit costume as well. Dr. Thurman awake at night as well. The following morning, we see Donnie’s body is carried away in a body bag. And then Gretchen rides past the Darko home on her bike and asks a neighborhood boy what happened.

[00:52:00] Trevor Long: Completely normal, just ask.

[00:52:01] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, well, the time— like, the timeline has been gone back to sort of gone backwards a month. To 28 days and started again, and she’s alive. And did you see where she sees Rose?

[00:52:14] Trevor Long: Old mate Pedo’s been caught in this part of the timelines. Yeah, makes sense.

[00:52:20] Stephen Fenech: Still, well, I think part of the timeline was exposing him as a pedophile, and that whether that’s restored— I don’t think that’s restored, that’s meant to happen. But The very last bit is where she, Gretchen, sees Rose, Donnie’s mum, and they sort of have sort of a wave, you know, connected to by memories of an alternate life that never actually happened. And that’s the end of the movie. Let’s go through some lines while you’re calculating that, mate. Here’s one very funny little conversation early on in the movie at the dinner table.

[00:52:59] Movie Audio: [At the dinner table Donnie and Elizabeth trade crude insults while their parents try to shut it down — and young Samantha asks what one of the words means.]

[00:53:22] Stephen Fenech: Here’s another.

[00:53:23] Stephen Fenech: This is one Remember when he was in therapy? He was in therapy and he was saying, you know, she was asking him about a few questions.

[00:53:32] Movie Audio: [Dr. Thurman asks what else Donnie thinks about during school. He says Married with Children — and, crudely, that he turns the volume down and thinks about Christina Applegate.]

[00:53:48] Stephen Fenech: What’s funny about that?

[00:53:49] Trevor Long: No, wait, what’s funny about that is I’m sitting with Harry watching this one. Oh, and, and he— she goes, what do you think about it? He goes, Married with Children. I went, oh, great TV show. And then he says that to a Christina Applegate and I go, makes sense. Harry has no idea what’s going on.

[00:54:04] Stephen Fenech: Oh mate, she was, uh, she was a big— I was a big fan of Married with Children. Um, the last one, this is a really sort of poignant little thing his dad says near the end of the movie.

[00:54:15] Movie Audio: [Donnie’s father tells him to always be honest and tell the truth even if people look at him funny, because most of those people are full of it, part of one big conspiracy, and scared of him because he’s smarter than all of them — and tells him exactly what to say to people like that.]

[00:55:00] Stephen Fenech: That was good. So there’s the simplest explanation I can offer you, okay, here, is that Because number one, at this point I got nothing, right? Well, here’s the, the really simple explanation. The jet engine’s appearance was the sign that an alternate universe had started, an alternate timeline. So the inexplicability of that was— meant there’s some sort of rift in time.

[00:55:30] Trevor Long: Okay.

[00:55:30] Stephen Fenech: Frank then guides Donnie. So he’s— Frank’s death in the alternate timeline connects him to Donnie’s journey. So they’re connected. Gretchen’s death then gives Donnie a reason to act. If he hadn’t have done what he did, if he had stayed out of his house, that timeline would have continued, right? So he, he, he says, well, he realizes that I’ve got to choose the outcome where I die to prevent the events of that— they’ve rifted a timeline. And that’s kind of the— it’s kind of also you can look at it as it like the movie’s told backwards as well. It’s like you can go backwards from that and that’s the movie plays out in the same way.

[00:56:11] Trevor Long: Okay, so I kind of get you on the, the engine coming from nowhere being through a rift. I’ll pay that. Yeah, but what I don’t understand is this correction of the timeline thing, right? At the end with old mate the pedo that comes from the alternate timeline, it stays in the final timeline. That Well, it doesn’t make sense.

[00:56:31] Stephen Fenech: It was probably going to happen in the alternate, the other timeline anyway.

[00:56:35] Trevor Long: Maybe.

[00:56:36] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I think it was sort of a, it’s like a form of, um, like ultimate justice no matter what.

[00:56:44] Trevor Long: I don’t think it helps that I don’t believe all this kind of rubbish, so the fact that you believe in Star Wars kind of helps you understand this one as well.

[00:56:49] Stephen Fenech: You know what, you go online and you can go, forgive the pun, down a real rabbit hole and discuss this, mate. There’s theories and made whole websites just dedicated to explaining people’s theories of this as well. To this day, people are still discussing it and debating it as well.

[00:57:07] Trevor Long: The writer explained it?

[00:57:09] Stephen Fenech: Uh, no, not that I’ve read. I think, well, what, what you just basically heard me say was sort of, I think, his basic explanation anyway. A couple of plot holes here. Do you remember when they were hauling the jet engine out from the house? There’s people standing right under it. They’re looking up at it. People are standing right under it. I don’t think they’d let you do that. The other little plot hole here was that, remember when Elizabeth gets admitted to Harvard? Now that she received that letter in October before Halloween, the Harvard, uh, acceptance or rejection letters are not mailed until April 15th. Yeah, so yeah, although, you know what, how you can explain it alternate timeline, different.

[00:57:53] Trevor Long: Just smart early acceptance.

[00:57:55] Stephen Fenech: The speaker workout, mate. How good was the music? Head Over Heels, Mad World. How good is the Mad World? Yeah, that’s a cracking song. Um, and the soundtrack in general I thought was, was excellent. There’s this— the, the sound and the effects of when he sees Frank. And do you remember the scene where he sees him in the mirror and he bangs the mirror with that too? Yes, yeah, remember he hits the mirror, boom, and just really eerie kind of soundtrack there. Uh, the jet engine that caused a bit of noise, it shook my theater when I watched it.

[00:58:27] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah.

[00:58:28] Stephen Fenech: Uh, thank God I got a big screen. I’d say there’s plenty here. The rabbit, the, the, the scenes when he just sees Frank in that sort of— you see his shadow in the darkness. There was one scene, remember, where Donnie had a, an axe over his shoulder, and I don’t know whether what you were thinking at this point is he going to go commit some murders here, or what is he going to do?

[00:58:46] Trevor Long: Did you think As a possibility as well, the cheap rabbit costume, to be honest.

[00:58:53] Stephen Fenech: Also the storm at the end, that was— that looked pretty good.

[00:58:56] Trevor Long: Storm’s excellent, that’s really well done.

[00:58:59] Stephen Fenech: Uh, if the movie was made today, I think there’d be a bigger social media element. So if it was set in— imagine, imagine that conversation at the start of the movie, they’d be talking about, you know, Donald Trump and the current political situation instead of what it was back then. And then remember that social media, there’d be a lot of that.

[00:59:16] Trevor Long: Remember the montage of all the school, the girls dancing out the front? You just put a phone in front of them and it’s a TikTok dance, you know what I mean? Like, a lot of it can still happen.

[00:59:24] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, that’s right. So there’s a lot of that, and I reckon that a lot of the calls to the— instead of the therapist sitting on the couch, it’d be a Zoom call over, over like we’re talking right now.

[00:59:35] Trevor Long: Yeah, yep, yep.

[00:59:36] Stephen Fenech: All righty, every day is a school day now. Can you, despite the weirdness and the— your confusion, is there a theme or a lesson that you’ve learned here?

[00:59:47] Trevor Long: Is it, is it the ultimate one of the great lessons is his old mate the pedo, you know? Not— yeah, everyone’s— Locky, a lot of people have got a, got a hidden past, you know what I’m saying?

[00:59:58] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah, everyone’s got a dark— reckon he’s— people got a dark secret. Yeah, the other one too is sort of— it’s the ultimate thread of the movie is, is love and sacrifice. Like, Donnie gave up his life so that others could live. You know, he sacrificed himself. Um, there’s obviously a whole thing around mental illness v. supernatural experience. Like, do you believe that he’s seeing these things, or do you think he’s crazy? Like, also fate versus free will. What’s the— is it, is it our fate that our lives are decided, or are we deciding every second what we’re, what we’re doing? That’s the other thing.

[01:00:36] Trevor Long: I don’t mind that one because it’s a solid point, right?

[01:00:39] Stephen Fenech: Now, uh, best use of the pause button. Now, if you watch the director’s cut, the director’s cut had little passages from the book printed like on the screen for you to read. One of them was— can maybe explain a little bit. It said, incidents when the fabric of the fourth dimension becomes corrupted are incredibly rare. If a tangent universe occurs, it will be highly unstable sustaining life for no longer than several weeks. Eventually it will collapse upon itself, forming a black hole with the primary universe capable of destroying all existence. So kind of sort of told you the rules about this tangent universe.

[01:01:19] Trevor Long: That does help.

[01:01:21] Stephen Fenech: Things you might not know. Um, did you notice— and he’s in my Did You Notice as well— Seth Rogen, in the—

[01:01:29] Stephen Fenech: this was his first film role. Seth Rogen, the comedian. You know, he was one of the bullies. He was the bloke who said, ‘I love your boobs,’ at this— when they were harassing Gretchen. That was Seth Rogen.

[01:01:42] Stephen Fenech: So him at the wrap party for the film, Seth Rogen and Jake Gyllenhaal agreed they had no idea what the movie was about. Jake Gyllenhaal was 19 years old playing a 16-year-old high school student. Maggie Gyllenhaal was 23 playing his older sister. The movie doesn’t give up her, her age. The shooting script specifies that Elizabeth Darko is supposed to be 19. Um, the original— I told you about the original advertising, they had to scrap it. The original poster art for the movie used a font that looked almost Arabic, so this was changed to more common, a more common typeface for the video release. Like after the terror attacks on 9/11, the font remains though in the movie itself. So you see it in the, in the credits and the title. That was the Arabic style font that they kept but changed on the poster and the advertising material.

[01:02:44] Trevor Long: Oh, okay.

[01:02:46] Stephen Fenech: Did you notice— this is a solid reason to re-watch the movie— there’s a lot of little callbacks through the movie. Okay, remember at the start when he’s riding his bike back into town? And you’ll notice, remember, he passes two women who are power walking. You notice in the background Frank drives by in his red Trans Am. You see it in the background driving at that point when he’s walking back home. Yeah. Um, and also Seth Rogen, um, his original— his, his first on-screen role, uh, was this film. And his first line as an actor was, “I love your boobs.” What’s the meme here? There’s plenty, I think, plenty of options. The rabbit, you could have the rabbit in every single meme, uh, for our man Frank.

[01:03:37] Trevor Long: I like when you say something about wearing that stupid mask coming into the bedroom. I feel like the jet engine coming to the bedroom has something, you know, just the destruction.

[01:03:45] Stephen Fenech: I do like the line, remember, he goes, “Why are you wearing that mask?” He goes, “Why are you wearing your stupid Human Mask, remember that one? That’s pretty cool. Uh, By Any Other Name, the Rabbit Run, Rabbit Run. I don’t know, Tangent, could you call it Timeline something? Would that give it away, you reckon?

[01:04:05] Trevor Long: Yeah, Frank.

[01:04:07] Stephen Fenech: No.

[01:04:08] Trevor Long: Yep.

[01:04:08] Stephen Fenech: Timeline was actually the name of a Michael Crichton novel that was made into a movie anyway, so that was taken. The one thing you want— I’ll take the rabbit suit.

[01:04:18] Trevor Long: You’re gonna take them, right?

[01:04:21] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, the whole suit and the mask. Yeah, I wouldn’t mind the red Trans Am either. Thanks for the Trans Am, would you be good? I’ll take the jet engine as well. I’ll have that.

[01:04:31] Trevor Long: Imagine having the— imagine having the whiteboard with the words in, in the correct movie style. Where did— where’s Donnie go? Or what are they— the first whiteboard on the fridge. Yes, something like, where does Donnie go? It’s pretty cool. Yeah, imagine that.

[01:04:44] Stephen Fenech: Also, I’d love a copy of the philosophy of time travel book, or the one they use in the movie. That’d be good.

[01:04:51] Stephen Fenech: All right, 3 questions for Trev. Question 1: do you have a greater appreciation for the movie now that it has been— well, I’ve tried to explain it to you.

[01:05:05] Trevor Long: Not really.

[01:05:08] Trevor Long: Okay.

[01:05:08] Stephen Fenech: Question 2: Are you likely to watch the movie again to get a better grasp of it?

[01:05:16] Trevor Long: I feel like what I need to do is watch this like on a plane where I’m just like, I gotta watch this. There’s nothing else to do. I can’t be distracted by anything. No escape. And it’s like no escape, but I worry that I’d fall asleep and never see it because I’m not that engaged by it. So I think I need to watch it again. You’re right. It’s just for Roger Ebert’s sake.

[01:05:35] Stephen Fenech: It’s a good watch, I’m telling you now. You watch it again, it’s— you’ll enjoy it better than the first time. Yeah, and you pick up stuff. Uh, question 3: too long, too short, or just right? So you watched the theatrical version, which was just under 2 hours, is that right?

[01:05:48] Trevor Long: Yeah, it was. I mean, it didn’t really drag on, if I’m honest. So yeah, it was a pretty pacey— there’s a lot packed in. So it was engaging. I’ll give them their 2 hours. I’ll give them their 2 hours.

[01:05:59] Stephen Fenech: I watched the director’s cut and it was great. Uh, righto, that is Donnie Darko. Give us your wrap-up and rating.

[01:06:07] Trevor Long: I mean, it’s a— it is a good cast. They did do a good job. You got to give them credit for what they packed into a low-budget movie. Yeah, but I did not enjoy the movie, um, mainly because I don’t understand it and it’s just loopy. But I’ve had to go through the archives here, Stephen, because if Leon: The Professionals are 4 4, if the Warriors is a 5, and Glengarry Glen Ross is a 6, right?

[01:06:30] Stephen Fenech: Mate, they’re aberrations, those scores. I don’t know what movie you were watching at those points.

[01:06:34] Trevor Long: Anyway, this is a 5.5.

[01:06:37] Stephen Fenech: 5.5? Wow, that’s mean. I give it an 8. I’m an 8. Wow, I love this movie. But yeah, think about it, right? It’s a great script, some great lines. Like, I love that he has, oh, my father’s got emotional problems. I’ve got emotional problems too. What kind has he got? It’s really good moments in it. Um, and I just love the fact that it’s, it’s kind of a universe unto itself. Like, there’s so many little Easter eggs in the movie and things that you look out for. Like, mate, I could have given you 50 other little things to notice in the background and little things that happened. But anyway, that’s your call. 5.5, I’m an 8.

[01:07:16] Trevor Long: It’s only a 2.5 gap between us, mate. That’s not entirely uncommon. 2 to 2.5, not the end of the world. Common.

[01:07:23] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, not the end of the world, but we can go back 28 days and do it all again if you want.

[01:07:28] Trevor Long: Please no.

[01:07:31] Stephen Fenech: Let’s talk about next week. Next week we are watching The Prestige starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, written and directed by Christopher Nolan.

[01:07:46] Trevor Long: Wow.

[01:07:47] Stephen Fenech: Now, uh, the two main characters—

[01:07:49] Trevor Long: is it in 1.1 format? Should I be watching it in Uh, maybe in IMAX format.

[01:07:55] Stephen Fenech: Uh, the two main characters, right? Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. The two main characters are: A, assassins; B, long-lost friends; C, sporting rivals; or D, magicians.

[01:08:13] Trevor Long: The Prestige. What are the options again?

[01:08:16] Stephen Fenech: Assassins. Long lost friends, sporting rivals, or magicians?

[01:08:24] Trevor Long: I feel like it’s either sporting rivals or magicians.

[01:08:28] Stephen Fenech: You’re on the right track. Magicians. Damn, the Prestige.

[01:08:33] Trevor Long: I should have guessed that with Hugh Jackman.

[01:08:36] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, the movie gets its title from, uh, Michael Caine is in it too, and he describes why magicians do what they do. He says because they do the trick and then they have them at that, and at the end is the prestige, is the, you know, the, the glow of that trick.

[01:08:51] Trevor Long: You had me at movie about magicians.

[01:08:52] Stephen Fenech: All right, it’s a cracking movie, it’s a good movie. And our man Hugh Jackman, and written and directed by Christopher Nolan.

[01:08:58] Trevor Long: Michael Caine as well.

[01:09:00] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, and Michael Caine. Michael Caine’s in every Christian— Christopher Nolan movie except for— I don’t think he was in The Odyssey. He was in all the Batmans and all that too. Like, he loves Michael Caine, he’s very loyal to his cast members. All right, well, I’m glad we got through Donnie Darko, mate. And then, you know, could have been worse. You could have given it a 5 instead of a 5.5, but that’s okay. Yeah, we’ll, uh, we’ll talk next week with The Prestige.

[01:09:22] Trevor Long: Let’s be honest. Oh, come on, let’s do some magic.

[01:09:26] Stephen Fenech: That’s a tragic score, that one. Anyway, I’m glad you sort of enjoyed Donnie Darko, but let’s, let’s get together for The Prestige next week.

[01:09:34] Trevor Long: Bye-bye. See you, mate.