The Shining
Director: Stanley Kubrick
21 November 2023
See
Her: Stanley Kubrick’s The shining, 1980. Jack (Jack Nicholson) is a writer experiencing a creative block, takes on a job as an off-season caretaker at a secluded hotel in Colorado, despite being warned about the spooky events that took place a few years back, when one of the previous caretakers violently killed his wife and twin daughters and consequently took his own life. As soon as Jack, his wife Wendy and their son Danny arrive to the hotel, the ghosts of the perished family start bothering Jack and Danny while Wendy tries to stay calm until Jack’s behaviour gets too violent and unpredictable.
Him: Jack Torrance (Jak Nicolson) gets a caretaker job at a hotel in Colrado, where he intends to write over the winter off season. But the isolation and tragic history causes Jack to turn on his wife and son.
Think
Her: It’s impossible to imagine The Shining without Jack Nicholson. His performance is mesmerising and chilling at the same time. Same goes for Stanley Kubrick who directed it brilliantly from the extended opening sequence of the family driving to the Overlook hotel to the final maze chase. He invented his own suspense style which can only be compared to David Lynch in its transcendence. As a producer, I sometimes think about the money spent on a scene and in this case it all made sense. The setting wouldn’t be the same without the stunning helicopter shots. The sinister atmosphere had to be achieved through the long follow shot of Danny riding his tricycle around the hotel. It’s the little details. It’s the same as what His cousin-in-law, an interior designer, said yesterday about the fluff in interior costing the most - the movie magic wouldn’t happen without these sometimes very costly creative requirements.
Him: Is it madness or is the hotel haunted? The skill of Jack Nicolson as an actor makes you question whether he’s going insane or being possessed. Either way it was a steep descent. His son Danny possess abilities the chef Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) calls The Shining, they can communicate telepathically, and Danny sees the ghosts of people murdered there before, including two ,little girls who he encounters in the infamous corridor scene tracking him on his tricycle. The true artistry of Kubrick is how it’s intercut with what Danny sees, almost like intentional flash frames of their corpses and the tide of blood pouring from the elevator. Long languid aerial shots of the hotel in snow, the Rocky Mountains, the hedge maze with Wendy (Shellly Duvall) and Danny navigating it and the transition to the scale model of the maze in the hotel.
Feel
Her: The Shining was nothing like what I expected. I loved Kubricks style, in a way similar to Lynch but still his own. The way he directs the actors, music, sets and locations, dialogues - I loved everything. He Instantly took his place in my pantheon with this film. However, it’s not the first of his films that I’ve seen. Previously I didn’t manage to keep my full attention and interest during the space odyssey and Eyes wide shot. Maybe it wasn’t the time. Now I finally feel like getting familiar with all of his filmography.
Him: There isn’t a false not in this film, the narrative is straightforward with chapter markers, Kubrick’s direction is impeccable, with the film regarded as one of the greatest of all time. It’s a s good an adaptation of Stephen King as any. What makes one so? It needs as talented an artist to reinterpret the source material as created it. What stays with me, other than Jack’s procrastination writing, was the Overlook Hotel party scenes with Jack drinking, juxtaposed with him walking down corridors twitching and spasming. More terrifying than when he has the axe.
