Sunday, August 28, 2005

Commitment to SparkleMotion

Had the deep joy of watching the Special Edition of Donnie Darko. The film's still brilliant, and it's great seeing the deleted scenes in their original context.

But isn't it strange how much of a film you forget after only a couple of years? Suddenly remembering that this film has so much in it - Patrick Swayze, SparkleMotion, Drew Barrymore... and it's all so brilliant.

Even nicer was discovering that this edition has a commentary by creator Richard Kelly and fab indy director Kevin Smith. Yup, the Kevin Smith of Clerks.

It's an enormously funny, bitchy commentary ("So, Richard, which of the cast did you try to bone?"), but also contains a slight taint of jealousy ("I've never made a film like this...") that's balanced neatly by the way Kevin Smith sucks air through his teeth every time Richard Kelly says "And this bit's just like a comic, isn't it?"

Best of all is when Kelly's explaining how the townspeople are all subconsciously helping Donnie achieve his quest, and Smith flips - "Oh, come on!"

There's also the joy of their mutual loathing of the original DVD packaging: "In the tradition of Stir of Echoes and Final Destination..."

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