THE SHINING is one of my favorite Kubrick movies and one of my favorite Stephen King novels, despite the two being completely distinct creations. One of the great things about Kubrick’s movie is the little hidden meanings the director put throughout the film. For instance, if you subscribe to the theory that the movie is a veiled metaphor for the American persecution of Native Americans, you will see the numerous references to Indians in almost every key scene of the movie.
The documentary ROOM 237 takes theories like this and explores them along with the lasting impact THE SHINING made on a generation of film fans. This nice trailer takes the iconic elevator scene from the movie and recreates it. The result is just as interesting as the movie it is examining.
Synopsis: After the box office failure of Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick decided to embark on a project that might have more commercial appeal. The Shining, Stephen King’s biggest critical and commercial success yet, seemed like a perfect vehicle. After an arduous production, Kubrick’s film received a wide release in the summer of 1980; the reviews were mixed, but the box office, after a slow start, eventually picked up. End of story? Hardly. In the 30 years since the film’s release, a considerable cult of Shining devotees has emerged, fans who claim to have decoded the film’s secret messages addressing everything from the genocide of Native Americans to a range of government conspiracies. Rodney Ascher’s wry and provocative Room 237 fuses fact and fiction through interviews with cultists and scholars, creating a kaleidoscopic deconstruction of Kubrick’s still-controversial classic.
ROOM 237 will have a limited release courtesy of IFC Midnight on March 29th.
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