Ep 53 - Donnie Darko

This week we turn Raquel goth with DONNIE DARKO. First though we talk about updates to movies we previously covered. But it looks like Raquel has a new Halloween movie to add to her favorites list. She loves Jake Gyllenhall’s humane portrayal of a teen with mental health issues, especially from perspective of a former professional child psychologist. She also sees the portrayal of high school life incredibly realistic from an educator’s standpoint – possibly the best ever in a teen movie. Though the ugly school uniforms give her flashbacks to Catholic school. Raphael has Catholic school visions as well to the point that he sees Donnie as a Christ figure. Mom says pump the breaks. This is movie of moral dilemmas, twists of fate, and is a teen movie that, despite being weird sci-fi, actually tackles real teen issues in an honest and thoughtful way. Patrick Swayze is a powerhouse in his completely cast against type role. Sadly this film has current relevance with the rash of school book bans and curriculum control and Raphael confuses the ban of Maus in Kentucky with Indiana’s push to pass HB 1134 which would ban teachers from touching certain topics of race in the classroom. But same difference, really. Listen to Raquel really identify with this film on a structural level and dig on the soundtrack. A kid turns their mom goth! A great episode! The Generation Splice is film podcast where retired psychologist Dr. Raquel Martinez, a Baby Boomer through & through, & her son Raphael Jose Martinez, a cranky millennial punk rocker/film writer, discuss various films through the lens of their generation & personal experiences. Every week one host picks a movie to dissect & see if they can splice together the generation gap via their love of film. Feel free to write to us! Give us some film suggestions at [email protected] or @gensplicepod on Twitter. Raphael is on Twitter at @citycelluloid. You can find his film writing at cinefile.info and film-cred.com