Room 237
Directed by Rodney Ascher
Five fans of THE SHINING explain their bizarre theories about the film's true meaning in this must-see doc about the passion Stanley Kubrick's classic horror film inspires in viewers. One fan thinks the film is about the slaughter of Native Americans, while another thinks it's about the supposedly faked Apollo 11 moon landing. But whether you agree with their outlandish conjectures (and no contradictory historical evidence is included) or not is less the point than the power cinematic creations have to lodge themselves in our brain and never let go. Contains violence and gore.
Five fans of THE SHINING explain their bizarre theories about the film's true meaning.
Cast: Bill Blakemore, Geoffrey Cocks, Juli Kearns
Member Reviews
What is art? First, art is an aesthetic form and the complexity of aesthetic is worth appreciating in its own right. Art is also not just the explicit intent of the artist -- there is the unconscious artist and the projection of meaning onto the art from the consumer of the art. Art is a process that we take part in, not a static phenomena. This points to another metaphysical phenomena -- history. Art is interdependent with history. There is a consciousness of the process of history in The Shining. Keep in mind that the phenomena of the shining in the King novel is a supernatural connection to not only history, but what could be. In other words, time is an important concept to keep at the forefront of your thinking when watching The Shining. This study of The Shining was engaging for me in that (1) it shows how history plays a crucial role in our perception and (2) it provides empirical evidence of incredibly thoughtful cinematography from Kubrick that produces meaning regardless of intent. This film study is a testament to the potential power that artistic genius has on the individual.
Meh
meh. Some stories were okay/fair. But somethings ain't that deep. like the guy questioning the guys carrying tables and chairs from outside "why are they carrying light loads?" dude give me a break, they background characters and it's closing day. .
I want whatever these people are on.
If you go into it as a way to see how nuts the Kubrick fandom can get, it's interesting. As an analysis of the imagery Kubrick used in The Shining, you are shit out of luck. Maybe one or two interesting ideas in an overall laughable documentary.