Themes and Style
Although Richard Kelly's films differ considerably in setting and characters (Donnie Darko is about a suburban teenager, Southland Tales is an L.A. epic, and The Box is about a married couple in Richmond, Virginia), they share similar themes of time travel, existentialism, and spirituality.
Richard Kelly's style is composed of Steadicam based tracking shots and camera movement in general, satirical elements (as seen sparsely in Donnie Darko and much more prominently in Southland Tales), comedy, drama, and enigmatic plots. Music also plays a large role in Richard Kelly's films and one of his most famous scenes is in a closing segment of Donnie Darko where we are shown a montage of several characters awakening from their dreams to Gary Jules's version of the Tears for Fears song "Mad World".
Kelly's enthusiasm and direction can be traced back to his viewing of the film Brazil, as told to author Robert K. Elder in an interview for The Film That Changed My Life.
I think the greatest thing I learned from Terry is that every frame is worthy of attention to detail. Every frame is worthy of being frozen in time and then thrown on a wall like an oil painting, and if you work hard on every frame, the meaning of your film becomes deeper, more enhanced.
Read more about this topic: Richard Kelly (director)
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