The year is 2001.

I think Frank wants me to go talk to her, you know, because the last time I saw him, he asked me if I knew about time travel, and she wrote a book about it, so they can't be like a coincidence, right?

The movie, Donnie Dargo.

Ah, I'm a to OnSpool.

Yes, welcome to Unspool, the podcast about good movies, critical hits, fan favorites, must-sees, and in case you miss them.

We have covered the AFI top 100. Now, we are checking off movies from three major lists.

The Letterbox top 250 films with the most fans.

The IMDB top 250.

And the New York Times, 1,000 essential films.

Amy, is this movie on one of those lists?

It's very high on one of them. Ooh, interesting. Okay. But you know what?

We don't just, you know, serve the list. We also chase our own curiosity to every week. We are

exploring what we want to talk about and we continue the conversation on our substack. I'm Paul Shear.

I'm an actor, writer, and director who never has seen

Donnie Darko. I thought too many people were into it, and I was like, not for me. Whenever I see a

cultural trend, I move away from it, Game of Thrones, Sopranos. There are other ones that are not

HBO specific, but this is one of them. So I am a newbie. I'm a newbie here, Amy. Well, and I am Amy Nicholson. I'm the film critic for the Los Angeles Times. And I have a lot of childhood trauma about my pet bingo from when I was a kid. I have a dog named bingo. Mine was a black lop-eared rabbit, and so rabbits are very sensitive.

Got it, I understand.

I understand that.

Let's go back, Amy.

If you will, the year is 2001, and a strange young man from the suburbs is about to make a seismic impact.

See, Richard Kelly is 26 years old, and he's pulled off something very unusual.

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