Director's Cut: Disappointment

Rating: Null/10 (4 October 2004)

My comments here pertain only to the recently-released Director's Cut of this film. I am among those who found the original release to be an amazing film, one that was original, beautiful and thought-provoking. I am sorry to say that the new version falls well short of the original.
Most of the deleted scenes that are available on the original DVD have been added into the new version. One of these-Donnie's last scene with his father-works very well, but others fall flat and are not well-integrated into the narrative. While these additions are minor missteps, the addition of a repeated close up of an eye with computer data scrolling by and superimposed on the image is a major error. The images add nothing except cheese and are an anachronistic design element for a movie set in 1988. The movie has nothing to do with computers; computers don't even appear as props, except possibly in the background of a scene in the school office. These images have no place in the film's visual grammar.
Kelly has also added in shots of pages from the Philosophy of Time Travel, the book that guides Donnie through his journey. The audience is invited to read about 'the manipulated dead,' 'the living receiver' and the like. Presumably the intent in adding these was to explain more of the theory of the events of the film. Some things, though, are better left unexplained. Putting in the equivalent of Cliff Notes deprives the moviegoer of the joy of trying to figure out the movie.
The Director's Cut also shuffles the movie's great 80's soundtrack. Most of the time, these changes are innocuous.
*SPOILER ALERT*
However, by removing Under the Milky Way from the scene where, on his last night on earth, Donnie descends the stairs with Gretchen after they have make love for the first and last time, Kelly has marred one of the most beautiful moments in the film.
I maintain that the original version of this movie is one of the two or three best movies of the last five years. The Director's Cut, however, is proof that sometimes stuff is left on the cutting-room floor for good reason.