The Shining review

Jack Torrance: Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just going to bash your brains in. Gonna bash 'em right the fuck in! Hahaha!

Director: Stanley Kubrick
(1980)

Even though this is now my second viewing, I can’t say that I’ve grown particularly warm to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Sure, it possesses clean lines and stunning camerawork, a great performance from Jack Nicholson and at times is can be a very unsettling film. But like some of his other work (2001 namely) the shining is an acquired taste, a craving that I, as a Kubrick fan, haven’t yet developed.

Those that don’t know the story of the shining will know its infamous ‘heeeeerrreeeessss Johnny’ scene, were deranged family man Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) cleaves his way through a bathroom door with an axe. The story, like many horror films, is relatively straightforward, at least upon first glance. Jack and his family, wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall in an annoying role) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) spend the winter at the Overlook hotel as Jack has landed a job as caretaker over the brutally cold months. Obviously, things start to go south, as the Overlook hotel is one very special type of haunted house.

What is most striking (to me at least) is the fabulous cinematography. From the gorgeous helicopter shots of the surrounding countryside to the sublime tracking shots throughout the hotels atmospheric corridors, the shining is a visually strong film. The aforementioned tracking shots are used excellently as we follow Danny riding his tricycle around corners. We follow him in such a manner when he reencounters the twins, 2 apparitions that roam the halls. He has an ability called ’the shining’ which lets him communicate with others, as well as see into the past. It’s integral to the story, and also reveals the depth and complexity that Kubrick has embedded into the film only perceivable through various visual clues and symbolism. It’s this that makes the shining such a confounding and well loved film.

Jacks typewriter refills its own paper, then changes colour, paintings on the wall rearrange and hang upside down, the position of doors change in seconds and giant food cans embellished with the face of an Indian appear and reappear in the storeroom. Is the film a metaphor of the slaughtering of the Native Americans? The hotel is after all; build on an Indian burial ground. What about Danny’s vision of the elevator spewing blood, is this a vision of the past, or the future? Theories about the meaning of this film are as sane or crazy as you could imagine, from faking the lunar landings to symbolism for the holocaust (the number 42 creeps up a lot, the year of the final solution). Are all of these continuity errors a sign of poor filmmaking, or is Kubrick reaffirming everyone's belief that he is, indeed, a genius of the highest calibre. The answer is surely hidden in The Shining; it’s just a shame that I haven't been able to find it. Those that have unravelled this conundrum will undoubtedly speak of The Shining in a high regard, whereas my love is a restrained one.

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