#Dr. Monnitoff

[closetofcuriosities]

Donnie Darko - Tapestry Sweater

[noahwhyle]

NOAH WYLE as DR. KENNETH MONNITOFF in DONNIE DARKO (2001) dir. Richard Kelly (requested by anonymous)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Donnie Darko (2001)

Donnie Darko is a distinct blend of different tones. It’s tender and earnest but also terrifying and unsettling. It’s a cold dose of reality blended with warm memories. The odds were against this movie – director Richard Kelly’s career never took off, it didn’t make a lot of money at the box office and this story isn’t mainstream – so I’m thankful it’s found a cult following.

In early October 1988, Donald “Donnie” Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a troubled teen who evades disaster when he sleepwalks outside of his home one night. Had he stayed in bed, he would’ve been flattened by the jet engine that fell out of the sky and into his bedroom. After the incident, Donnie begins to see visions of Frank (James Duval), a mysterious man in a rabbit costume, who informs him that the world will end on Halloween morning.

That weird outline is only the beginning and at first, it seems at odds with what follows. Writer/director Richard Kelly was born in 1975. The film is set in 1988, when he would’ve been around the same age as Donnie’s younger sister, Samantha (Daveigh Chase). There’s a nostalgic comfort to many of the film’s scenes. When Gretchen (Jena Malone) walks into Mrs. Pomeroy’s English class (Drew Barrymore plays the teacher), she’s told to sit next to the boy she thinks is the cutest. She chooses Donnie and a romance between them soon develops. It’s cute but there’s also this anti-nostalgic shot of vinegar to cut the sweetness. Gretchen’s mother moved them to this new town so they could escape her abusive and violent husband. The bullies at the school range from “normal” cruel teenagers to borderline psychopathic. Donnie and his older sister, Elizabeth (Maggie Gyllenhaal) get along, but a tragedy later in the film is sure to split them forever. The most vocal teacher at the school isn’t Mrs. Pomeroy or the sensitive physics teacher, Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff (Noah Wyles). It’s the gym teacher, Kitty Farmer (Beth Grant), a woman who's eager to ban books, not particularly bright, snub her nose at anyone who doesn’t perfectly match her standards and yet somehow manages to rally others behind her. There’s something almost comical about the way she idolizes this bullshit-spewing local motivational speaker (Jim Cunningham, perfectly portrayed as both sleazy and moronic by Patrick Swayze) but something prevents you from laughing. The sinister feelings that trickle in from time to time make her more dangerous than hilarious.

The thing that makes Donnie Darko almost feel like a horror movie – on top of the fact that the entire plot is leading towards Halloween – are Donnie’s creepy hallucinations. Even if he stayed silent, you’d label Frank as a doomsday prophet. The jet engine suddenly and inexplicably falling from the sky, the nasty people around town and Donnie’s paranoid schizophrenia make you wonder which three possible endings we're headed toward. Maybe it’ll be romantic, with Donnie and Gretchen finding a way to escape their ugly realities together. Maybe horrifying - a school shooting or prank gone horribly wrong would fit right in. Maybe it’s all just a backdrop to a bigger plot related to that inexplicable jet engine; something out of the Twilight Zone. Maybe it’ll be a combination. There’s no way to know for sure.

Several aspects of Donnie Darko make it memorable. The dialogue, for instance, is occasionally profound and in other scenes, filled with the kind of inane, brain-dead conversations that make you realize teenagers are nothing but children with raging hormones – even if you're a teenager yourself. The visuals of Donnie’s hallucinations are another. More than anything, however, it’s the strange plot and the performances. Jake Gyllenhaal is exceptional here. You like him. You’re also worried about what he’s going to do. Then, we get to the end. A more conventional film would tie up all of its threads neatly. Donnie Darko leaves many questions unanswered. You won’t care. It’s just an invitation to watch the film again to see what clues you missed, or perhaps to check out the director’s cut.

The last time I "saw" Donnie Darko was early one morning in the video rental store. I had to shut it off when I remembered how crass some of the dialogue can get. That was what? At least 15 years ago? I was surprised by how well I remembered the picture and also by the details that had slipped my mind. Though it is unusual and the ending may leave you saying "wha?", teens/young adults will eat it up. Older audiences will appreciate its unique qualities.(November 21, 2024)

[embracing-the-ineffable]

That's interesting and possibly helpful! You might mean Donnie Darko? I haven't seen it, but:

Donnie "meets a figure in a monstrous rabbit costume named Frank who tells Donnie that the world will end in precisely 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds"

"Frank asks Donnie if he believes in time travel, who, in turn, asks his science teacher Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff. Monnitoff gives Donnie The Philosophy of Time Travel (a fictional book with pages you can read online), a book written by Roberta Sparrow, a former science teacher at the school who is now a seemingly senile old woman living outside of town"

Then a lot of complicated plot points and character development happen, leading to a huge disaster (a plane is sucked into a vortex and then crashes into Donnie's house), the events of the movie rewind back to the beginning, and an altered timeline begins in the old timeline's place.

So... It sounds like you're on to something @politeanarchy!

Good Omens season 2 opening sequence

I've been studying the gos2 opening credits/title sequence. Is there a place where people are dissecting it? If you know, please share, because I can't find it! And the sequence is a rabbit hole. Seriously, WHY all the rabbits??!? In space, in the audience, raining down on Jesus(?) and someone wearing a traffic cone hat(?), like you do. And who's the dancing person with blue hair and jacket? And the Aziraphale lookalike with headphones(?) over his hair? Plus so many more not in these particular rabbit photos. I have SO MANY QUESTIONS.

I do know about the s1 bunnies - both in the theater and in Aziraphale's magic show - but this is a lot of rabbit references for a season without any rabbits onscreen, even just to imply the magic tricks going on where we can't see them.

[nihilistvet]

Donnie Darko Plot

On October 2, 1988, troubled teenager Donald "Donnie" Darko sleepwalks outside, led by a mysterious voice. Once outside, he meets a figure in a monstrous rabbit costume named Frank who tells Donnie that the world will end in precisely 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. Donnie wakes up the next morning on the green of a local golf course and returns home to discover a jet engine has crashed into his bedroom. His older sister Elizabeth tells him the FAA investigators do not know its origin.

Over the next several days, Donnie continues to have visions of Frank, and his parents Eddie and Rose send him to psychotherapist Dr. Thurman. Thurman believes Donnie is detached from reality, and that his visions of Frank are "daylight hallucinations," symptomatic of paranoid schizophrenia. Frank asks Donnie if he believes in time travel, who, in turn, asks his science teacher Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff. Monnitoff gives Donnie The Philosophy of Time Travel, a book written by Roberta Sparrow, a former science teacher at the school who is now a seemingly senile old woman living outside of town, known to the local teenagers as Grandma Death. Donnie also starts seeing Gretchen Ross, who has recently moved into town with her mother under a new identity to escape her violent stepfather.

Frank begins to influence Donnie's actions through his sleepwalking episodes, including causing him to flood his high school by breaking a water main. Gym teacher Kitty Farmer attributes the act of vandalism to the influence of the short story "The Destructors", assigned by dedicated English teacher Karen Pomeroy. Kitty begins teaching “attitude lessons” taken from local motivational speaker Jim Cunningham, but Donnie rebels against these, leading to friction between Kitty and Rose. Kitty arranges for Cunningham to speak at a school assembly, where Donnie insults him. He later finds Cunningham's wallet and address, and Frank suggests setting his house on fire. Firefighters discover a hoard of child pornography there. Cunningham is arrested, and Kitty, who wishes to testify in his defense, asks Rose to chaperone their daughters' dance troupe on its trip to Los Angeles.

With Rose in Los Angeles and Eddie away for business, Donnie and Elizabeth hold a Halloween costume party to celebrate Elizabeth's acceptance to Harvard. At the party, Gretchen arrives distraught as her mother has gone missing, and she and Donnie make love for the first time. When Donnie realizes that Frank's prophesied end of the world is only hours away, he takes Gretchen and two other friends to see Sparrow. Instead of Sparrow, they find two high school bullies, Seth and Ricky, who were trying to rob Sparrow's home. Donnie, Seth, and Ricky get into a fight in the road in front of her house, just as Sparrow was returning home. An oncoming car swerves to avoid Sparrow and runs over Gretchen, killing her. The driver turns out to be Elizabeth's boyfriend, Frank Anderson, wearing the same rabbit costume from Donnie's visions. Donnie shoots Frank in the eye with his father's gun, and walks home carrying Gretchen's body.

Donnie returns home as a vortex forms over his house. He borrows one of his parents' cars, loads Gretchen's body into it, and drives to a nearby ridge that overlooks town. There, he watches as the plane carrying Rose and the dance troupe home from Los Angeles gets caught in the vortex's wake, which violently rips off one of its engines, and sends it back in time. Events of the previous 28 days unwind. Donnie wakes up in his bedroom, recognizes the date is October 2, and laughs as the jet engine falls into his bedroom, crushing him. Around town, those whose lives Donnie would have touched wake up from troubled dreams. Gretchen rides by the Darko home the next morning, and learns of Donnie's death. Gretchen and Rose exchange glances and wave as if they know each other, but cannot remember from where.

[clairenan]

With numbers now:

1 - Lust in the Dust

2 - Blind Faith

3 - Crooked Hearts (Ask Warren)

4 - A Few Good Men (Cpl. Jeffrey Barnes)

5 - Swing Kids (Emil Lutz)

6 - Guinevere (Lancelot)

7 - There Goes my Baby (Finnegan)

8 - ER Pilot (John Truman Carter, III)

9 - Friends (Dr. Jeffrey Rosen)

10 - ER season 3

11 - The Myth of Fingerprints (Warren)

12 - Can’t Stop Dancing (Poe?)

13 - ER season 5

14 - Pirates of Silicon Valley (Steve Jobs)

15 - Failsafe (Buck)

16 - Beggars and Choosers (Davis Green)

17 - Donnie Darko (Pr. Kenneth Monnitoff)

18 - ER season 7

19 - Scenes of the Crime (Seth)

20 - Enough (Robbie)

21 - White Oleander (Mark Richards)

22 - The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (Flynn Carson/Carsen)

23 - ER season 10 

24 - The Californians (Gavin Ransom)

25 - The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines

26 - Nothing but the Truth (Avril Aaronson)

27 - ER season 12

28 - An American Affair (Mike Stafford)

29 - W. (Don Evans)

30 - The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice

31 - ER season 15

32 - Below the Beltway (Hunter Patrick)

33 - Queen of the Lot (Aaron Lambert)

34 - Falling Skies season 1 (Tom Mason)

35 - Funny or Die - Blu-nies (Noah Wyle)

36 - Snake & Mongoose (Arthur Spear)

37 - Lab Rats (Dr. Evans)

38 - The Librarians season 1

39 - Falling Skies season 3 

40 - The World Made Straight (Leonard Shuler)

41 - Drunk History (Thomas Nast)

42 - Falling Skies season 5

43 - Angie Tribeca 

44 - Adoptable (Noah Wyle)

45 - Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (Stan Pottinger)

46 - The Librarians season 4

47 - Shot (Mark Newman)

48 - The Romanoffs (Ivan Novak)

49 - The Red Line (Daniel Calder)

50 - Leverage: Redemption (Harry Sullivan (or Wilson?))

[doomonfilm]

Screenings : Donnie Darko (2001) [Theatrical Cut]

I remember one night, after band practice or a show, me and my usual group of film-loving friends sat down to hang out, and someone suggested that we watch Donnie Darko, the film they’d just rented.  Assuming it was some weird, silly teenage superhero movie, we threw it on.  About 2 hours later, we were all forever changed.  I thought that, due to it’s limited initial run and its cult status on DVD, I’d never get the chance to see Donnie Darko on the big screen, but when it comes to Alamo Drafthouse screenings, anything is possible.

Teenager Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal), a young man with a history of anxiety and issues, is awakened by a mysterious voice one night.  Upon following the voice, he meets Frank (James Duval), a mysterious man in a disturbing rabbit outfit and mask who tells Donnie that the world will end soon... in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds, to be exact.  Donnie immediately blacks out, and is woken up on a local golf course.  Upon returning home, Donnie is shocked to discover that a jet engine of unknown origin, according to his sister Elizabeth (Maggie Gyllenhall), crashed through the Darko roof, directly where Donnie would have been sleeping.  As Donnie attempts to move forward with this information, his visions become more vivid and disturbing, leading to a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia by therapist Dr. Thurman (Katharine Ross).  As Donnie’s visions of Frank increase, he is given information that seemingly connects to his real life, including a discussion with Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff (Noah Wyle) about time travel and predetermination that almost crosses lines, a friendship with schoolmate Gretchen Ross (Jena Malone) that buds into a relationship, and encounters with motivational speaker Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze) that lead to news nobody could possibly prepare for.  As the countdown that Donnie was given approaches its end, the frequency, urgency and importance of events that take place pull Donnie and everyone around him into a paradoxical climax of circumstances and happenings that skew existence beyond normal understanding.

As mentioned in the opening, Donnie Darko holds court with films like Requiem for a Dream (or mother!, for that matter), Dancer in the Dark, and a handful of others as wholly immersive film experiences of the 2000s.  It is extremely hard to view Donnie Darko without some period of deep reflection or realization, sometimes one that lasts for days.  Despite having such a complex narrative, the outer framework of the film is completely engaging and accessible.  The 1980s period touches provided are subtle, but authentic, on both a visual and a soundtrack level.  Within that combination of complex narrative and period look are tons of easter eggs for viewers to find, some that will only be recognized or make sense upon repeat viewings, and many that you may not spot until providing time between viewings.

The circular nature of the narrative is extremely interesting... the combination of time travel and a countdown to the supposed ‘end of the world’ puts me in the mind of someone stuck in a time loop that resembles a prison, with certain actions having to take place in order to fulfill their role in the loop (the ‘traveling within God’s channel’ that Donnie speaks of).  With that in mind, the logical dilemma that is presented in the film’s closing moments is that much harder to piece together, as the characters now regret/reflect on a past that is technically an alternate version of their future.  You’re very much left to feel like Samantha trying to piece together where the jet engine came from, or who Donnie was talking to when she walked by the bathroom.  That deep path is also paralleled with the equally complex narratives of a love story between Donnie and Gretchen, and a coming of age story for the troubled Donnie as he goes through his own skewed version of the hero’s journey.

On a technical level, this film stands up to the immense writing and acting talent.  There are plenty of traditional camera set-ups, but for a few scenes, some expressive camerawork is employed : long tracking shots, speed ramps and rigs that raise or rotate the camera are all used to punctuate key moments.  Most of the special effects are subtle enough to feel real and blend into the world, with my only objection being the slightly cartoonish nature of Donnie’s chest spear morphing into a finger and beckoning him to follow.  The soundtrack on both the theatrical version and the Director’s cut fit quite well, a strange anomaly considering that drastically different song choices are made in a few scenes, and both choices tend to work well across the board.  As mentioned before, the film is set in the 1980s, and the pop culture references integrated into the film work quite well.  

The cast is deep, and the chemistry runs strong across the board between characters.  This was my true introduction to Jake Gyllenhaal, and his performance made me a fan for life (as well as putting Maggie on my radar, with her brief but charming appearance).  Mary McDonnell and her strain in trying to present a perfect household balances well against Holmes Osborne and his laissez faire attitude.  Katharine Ross brings genuine concern with her role, and plays with fire once or twice via hypnosis.  James Duval gives a hauntingly still performance as Frank, making his human reveal that much more heartbreaking.  Jena Malone is stellar as usual, with that trademark smirk she carries around like she knows secrets we have no clue of.  Drew Barrymore and Noah Wyle turn in memorable performances as beacons of hope in a bleak situation.  Patrick Swayze provides a character with a tremendous fall from grace, giving us the stuff we love with a depth that crushes in one of his final performances.  This cast, in all honesty, is DEEP, but performances by Beth Grant, Jolene Purdy, Patience Cleveland, Alex Greenwald, Seth Rogen and more keep this world rich and engaging. 

Truth be told, Donnie Darko is one of the best films to come out in my lifetime.  It’s one of those gifts that keeps on giving... creates more questions than answers... and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

[bunchoffaceclaims]

Noah Wyle

Gender: Male

DOB: 4 June 1971

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish-German-English-Irish-Scottish-Welsh-Dutch-French

Gif Hunt tag RP Icons tag

Noah Strausser Speer Wyle is an American film, television, and theatre actor. He is best known for his roles as Dr. John Carter in ERand as Tom Mason in Falling Skies. He has also played Steve Jobs in the docudrama Pirates of Silicon Valley, Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff in Donnie Darko, and Flynn Carsen in The Librarian franchise. Wyle was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People magazine in 2001.

[lostitmilliebrinkmann]

Donnie Darko.

Donnie Darko is a science fiction, psychological thriller about a troubled teenager, Donnie Darko sleepwalks outside led by a mysterious voice, he meets a figure in a monstrous rabbit costume who introduces himself as Frank and tells Donnie that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. Donnie wakes up the next morning on the green of a local golf course and returns home to discover a jet engine has crashed into his bedroom.

Over the next several days, Donnie continues to have visions of Frank, and his parents send him to psychiatrist, she believes he is detached from reality and that his visions of Frank are "daylight hallucinations", symptomatic of paranoid schizophrenia. Frank asks Donnie, who in turn asks his science teacher, Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff, if he believes in time travel. Monnitoff gives Donnie The Philosophy of Time Travel, a book written by Roberta Sparrow, a former science teacher, living outside of town. Donnie also starts seeing Gretchen Ross.

Frank begins to influence Donnie's actions through his sleepwalking episodes, including causing him to flood his high school by breaking a water main. Gym teacher Kitty begins teaching "attitude lessons" taken from local motivational speaker Jim Cunningham, but Donnie rebels against these, Kitty arranges for Cunningham to speak at a school assembly, where Donnie insults him. He later finds Cunningham's wallet and address, and Frank suggests setting his house on fire. Firefighters discover a hoard of child pornography there. Cunningham is arrested, and Kitty asks Rose to take her place as chaperone for their daughters' dance troupe on its trip to Los Angeles.

With Rose and little sister Samantha in Los Angeles, and Eddie away for business, Donnie and Elizabeth have a Halloween costume party to celebrate Elizabeth's acceptance to Harvard. When Donnie realizes that Frank's prophesied end of the world is only hours away, he takes Gretchen and two other friends to find Sparrow. Instead, they find two high school bullies, Seth and Ricky, trying to rob Sparrow's home. Donnie, Seth, and Ricky fight just as she returns home. Ricky and Seth flee when an oncoming car swerves to avoid her and runs over Gretchen, killing her. The driver is Elizabeth's boyfriend, Frank Anderson, wearing the same rabbit costume from Donnie's visions. A second Frank can also be seen standing in the bushes in the same scene. Donnie shoots him in the eye with his father's gun, and walks home carrying Gretchen's body.

Donnie returns home as a vortex forms over his house. He takes his parents' car, loads Gretchen's body into it. He watches as the plane carrying Rose and the dance troupe home from Los Angeles gets caught in the vortex's wake, which rips off and catches one of its engines. Events of the previous 28 days rewind. Donnie wakes up in his bedroom, recognizes the date is October 2, and laughs as the jet engine falls into his bedroom, crushing him. Around town, those whose lives Donnie would have touched wake up from troubled dreams. Gretchen, who in this timeline had never met Donnie, rides by the Darko home the next morning, and learns of his death. She and Rose exchange glances and wave, as if they know each other, but cannot remember from where, in a moment of déjà vu.

[takineko]

Kitty Farmer: “I’ll tell you what he said. He asked me to forcibly insert the lifeline exercise card into my anus.”

----

Donnie Darko: “Destruction is a form of creation.”

----

Donnie Darko: “Tell me, Elizabeth, how exactly does one suck a f*ck?”

----

Donnie Darko: “Why are you wearing that stupid bunny suit?”

Frank: “Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?”

----

Kitty Farmer: “Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!”

----

Gretchen Ross: “You’re weird … that was a compliment …”

----

Donnie Darko: “Dear Roberta Sparrow, I have reached the end of your book and … there are so many things that I need to ask you … I’m afraid that you’ll tell me that this is not a work of fiction … I hope that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to.”

----

Gretchen Ross: “Donnie Darko? What the hell kind of name is that? It’s like some sort of superhero or something?”

Donnie Darko: “What makes you think I’m not?"

----

Gretchen Ross: “What if you could go back in time, and take all those hours of pain and darkness and replace them with something better?”

----

Roberta Sparrow: “Every living creature on Earth dies alone.”

----

Mr Monnitoff: “Did you stop and think that maybe infants need darkness?”

----

Karen Pomeroy: “This famous linguist once said, of all the phrases in the English language, of all the endless combinations of words in all of history, that ‘cellar door’ is the most beautiful.”

----

Donnie Darko: “Life isn’t that simple. You can’t just lump everything into these two categories, and then deny everything else.”

----

Donnie Darko: “I made a new friend.”

Dr. Thurman: “Real or imaginary?”

Donnie Darko: “Imaginary.”

‐---

Donnie Darko: “How can you do that?”

Frank: “I can do anything I want. You can, too.”

[donniedarkoassesment-blog]

During the presidential election of 1988, a teenager named Donnie Darko sleepwalks out of his house one night and sees a giant, demonic-looking rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world will end in 28 days. When Donnie returns home, he finds that a jet engine has crashed into his bedroom. Is Donnie living in a parallel universe, is he suffering from mental illness - or will the world really end?

the film was released to the public in 2001 at the Sundance festival. 

it was directed by Richard Kelly 

The cast:

Jake Gyllenhaal as Donald "Donnie" Darko

Jena Malone as Gretchen Ross

Mary McDonnell as Rose Darko

Holmes Osborne as Eddie Darko

Katharine Ross as Dr. Lilian Thurman

Maggie Gyllenhaal as Elizabeth Darko

Daveigh Chase as Samantha Darko

James Duval as Frank Anderson

Drew Barrymore as Karen Pomeroy

Patrick Swayze as Jim Cunningham

Noah Wyle as Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff

Beth Grant as Kitty Farmer