What secrets will be revealed in the director's cut of "Donnie Darko", which is expected to be a "legitimate sequel"? ? ※note! Contains spoilers.

"less is more" or "more is less"

As we have seen, many elements that were left mysterious in the original version are accompanied by the text "The Philosophy of Time Travel" in the Director's Cut, which helps us to interpret them. However, the question remains as to whether it is a good thing for "Donnie Darko" to be an easy-to-understand movie.

In an interview for The Donnie Darko Book, director Kelly spoke about the mystery of the original version:

"We followed the old adage 'less is more' and tried to maintain mystery. We were very careful about what we revealed and what we left hidden, although in many cases this was driven by budgetary considerations."

The original version of Donnie Darko left many mysteries unsolved, allowing audiences to use their imaginations and enjoy various interpretations, which led to its cult popularity. However, due to strong DVD sales, a director's cut was produced, which added explanations and reduced the mystery, narrowing the room for interpretation (you could even say "more is less"). What an irony.

Text: Ikuya Takamori

Freelance writer, English-Japanese translator. Mainly contributes movie reviews and columns to web media, and translates news articles. The translated book is ``Science of Star Wars--Thorough verification! From the true nature of the Force to intergalactic travel” (written by Mark Blake and John Chase, published by Kagaku Doujin) and others.

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Donnie Darko

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