search

Donnie Darko

New DCP Restoration

Donnie Darko

"In 2001, 27-year-old writer-director Richard Kelly created a pop classic of American suburban paranoia in Donnie Darko, now on rerelease – a movie with something of Back to the Future, Twin Peaks, American Beauty and of course Harvey. This film made Tears for Fears hip (kind of) and had a tremendous discovery in the young Jake Gyllenhaal, playing Donnie, a high-school kid on medication for the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. When a jet engine falls out of the sky one day on Donnie’s house, an event that would have killed Donnie had he not been sleepwalking around the local golf course, it creates an anxiety spasm that ruptures his already fragile wellbeing and he hallucinates a huge, scarily voiced rabbit that tells him to commit acts of violence.

I remember being a bit reserved about Donnie Darko the first time around, perhaps because we were suffering Gen X overload in those days. Watched again now, it is captivating. Donnie Darko has a political and satirical flavour that wasn’t as strong at the time: it is set in 1988, the chastened end of Ronald Reagan’s comforting reign. There are acid references to Michael Dukakis and Dan Quayle. As for Kelly himself, he made a flawed but interesting movie with Southland Tales in 2007 but a ropey Twilight Zoney film called The Box in 2009. Since then … not much. Maybe the rereleased Donnie Darko can help revive this talented director’s career."

-Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Donnie Darko

Sat October 21, 2017, 7:30 PM, Muenzinger Auditorium

USA, 2001, in English, Color, 133 min, Rated R, DCP

recommend

Tickets

10 films for $60 with punch card
$9 general admission. $7 w/UCB student ID, $7 for senior citizens
$1 discount to anyone with a bike helmet
Free on your birthday! CU Cinema Studies students get in free.

Parking

Pay lot 360 (now only $1/hour!), across from the buffalo statue and next to the Duane Physics tower, is closest to Muenzinger. Free parking can be found after 5pm at the meters along Colorado Ave east of Folsom stadium and along University Ave west of Macky.

RTD Bus

Park elsewhere and catch the HOP to campus

International Film Series

(Originally called The University Film Commission)
Established 1941 by James Sandoe.

First Person Cinema

(Originally called The Experimental Cinema Group)
Established 1955 by Carla Selby, Gladney Oakley, Bruce Conner and Stan Brakhage.

C.U. Film Program

(AKA The Rocky Mountain Film Center)
First offered degrees in filmmaking and critical studies in 1989 under the guidance of Virgil Grillo.

Celebrating Stan

Created by Suranjan Ganguly in 2003.

C.U. Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

Established 2017 by Chair Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz.

Thank you, sponsors!
Boulder International Film Festival
Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

Looking for a gift for a friend?
Buy a Frequent Patron Punch Card for $60 at any IFS show. With the punch card you can see ten films (a value of $90).

We Want Your Feedback

Cox & Kjølseth
: Filmmaker Alex Cox & Pablo Kjølseth discuss film topics from their own unique perspectives.

Z-briefs
: Pablo and Ana share Zoom-based briefs on what's currently playing at IFS

Search IFS schedules

Index of visiting artists

Mon Apr 1, 2024

Hot Shots! Part Deux

At Muenzinger Auditorium

Sat Apr 20, 2024

Super Mario Bros.

At Muenzinger Auditorium

more on 35mm...