Interpretations.

Rating: 10/10 (15 August 2002)

The obligatory stuff: This movie was fantastic -- the screenplay, the cinematography, the acting, the use of FX, the absolutely chilling and beautiful score by a first time movie composer, and an altogether great job put together by first time writer/director Kelly. The fact that this movie was made for about 4.5 Million is amazing enough -- it looks like it cost ten times that much, and many of the older and more "experienced" directors could learn a thing or two.
Now to the interpretations: I've seen this movie 7 times -- twice in theatres, three times at home (both commentaries and the movie itself) and twice at two different friends' house.
The first time I'd seen it, I immediately thought I had "gotten it." This was with a small group of friends, which was stumped but not unimpressed by the film. My first interpretation was a bit more elaborate and complex; to me it was a story about possibility, two different time lines and two different outcomes -- both in which the main character was doomed (this I picked up from a conversation between two characters early in the movie) and about learning to accept fate -- a fatalistic outlook, if you will. This would seem a bit downbeat and overcomplicated, not to mention confusing, but I didn't feel that way at all -- instead, there was a glimmer of hope at the end, Donnie laughing in bed, the little wave, the general tone of the whole movie, and especially the score -- which sounded intensely religious and fatalistic, but is not without that important flit of hope. That was just the first viewing.
The second viewing was different, because this time I went in much more alert to the subtle hints dropped. My second interpretation: two possibilities -- one in which the protagonist lives his life as a normal member of society and dies at the end, and one in which he sleepwalks and escapes certain doom at the cost of endangering everyone around him. This time, the time travelling seemed like a conscious decision made by Donnie. Hints I picked up: Mention of Deus Ex Machina, "They are in great danger" says Frank, "I have the power to build a time machine", and again, the laughing in bed at the end.
Then I didn't see it for another five months, until it came out on dvd. I watched it again, and pretty much got a combination of the first two interpretations -- although I didn't so much focus on the plot as I did the subtle details -- Frank driving off in the morning -- and the overall atmosphere of the whole thing. I probably liked it the most this viewing.

Then, inevitably, I listened to the commentary, both of them, and scoured the website for more evidence. As clearly as I can piece it together the movie is about changing the past to put right the future -- the movie takes place primarily in a parallel universe that has been thrown off course and will ultimately collapse if Donnie does not die -- something he is destined to do. Frank the Bunny is a vessel used by some greater power (aliens? god?) to guide Donnie so that everything is set up just right for him to fix the fluke. If you have a chance, take a look at the "Philosophy of Time Travel" piece. The other charcters are also guides, being manipulated so as to help Donnie fix the world. The ending, according to Kelly, has two possibilities -- that Donnie is laughing because he REMEMBERS everything and thinks it was just a bad dream, or Donnie understands and accepts his fate. The jet engine, as Kelly explains, is an artifact, and the only remnants of a collapsed universe -- something, explained in "The Philosophy of Time Travel", happens every time a human being is called upon to fix a fluke that involves that very person. There is so much more, that I won't go into, that is available on the website, the dvd and the commentaries.

Don't be pompous and assume you know exactly what happened, like Lynch, Kelly is masterful at creating a very involving tale whose denouement is as open as it is compelling and beautiful. People who think the ending is muddled or founders should be shot -- speilburg makes movies that overexplain, you won't find that here, and that is simply Kelly's way of saying he respects you.
By the way, one of my favorite lines in the movie is when Jim Cunningham is being arrested and he exclaims "you are a product of fear!" which is a bit difficult to hear in the theatres and on Dvd if you don't crank up the volume.