Film Review: The Shining (1980)

(source: tmdb.org)

Films that age like wine and get better with each subsequent viewing are rare. It is even rarer for films to be panned by critics after the premiere and later become almost universally hailed by masterpieces, undisputed genre classics and easily recognisable pop culture references. Such rare achievements require someone with rare talents, and that person was Stanley Kubrick when directing his 1980 horror film The Shining.

The plot, based on the novel by Stephen King, is set in Overlook, luxurious hotel situated in Colorado Rockies. Protagonist, played by Jack Nicholson, is Jack Torrance, former teacher and aspiring writer who agrees to work as caretaker during winter, when the hotel is closed. He is to spend few months there together with wife Wendy (played by Shelly Duvall) and young son Danny (played by Danny Lloyd) and hopes that the isolation from outside world will help him to focus on his literary work. Danny, unbeknownst to his parents, possesses psychic abilities which are recognised by Dick Halloran (played by Scatman Crothers), departing hotel’s chef who is telepath himself. He befriends the boy and explains the his skill known as “shining” and warns him about disturbing phenomena in the hotel. Those first appear as Danny’s visions, related to the fate of previous winter caretaker who took his life after butchering his family. As weeks and months go by, Jack too begins to experience visions and they begin to take terrible toll on his grip on reality and sanity, and becomes increasingly likely that the bloody history of the Overlook might repeat itself.

Kubrick is known as one of the great masters of world’s cinema and his perfectionist touch is evident from the beginning to the end. Every shot is meticulously composed and perfectly framed with utmost care for every single detail. Perfect cinematography by John Alcott is complemented with great production design, especially in the London studio sets which were used for interior shots of hotel, portrayed as stylish, luxurious but also menacing place with wide spaces that make characters feel claustrophobia and agoraphobia at the same time. Strong emphasis on style serves this film very well when it creates sense of horror by having scenes featuring opulence, luxury and beauty (like in the Jack’s encounter with naked bathtub lady) made in a way to explicitly or implicitly suggest sinister, evil and supernatural forces at work. Kubrick works very hard to create unease among the audience with clever musical choices that sound more like a background noise than conventional soundtrack. He deliberately evades usual horror film techniques like jump scares or use of dark spaces. The goriest and the most disturbing scenes are displayed in broad daylight. The editing is also superb – pace is deliberately slow, but it allows audience to soak up the atmosphere of Overlook and get to know characters very well and become emotionally invested in their fate.

Kubrick’s skill alone, however, couldn’t turn The Shining into extraordinary film. For that he needed extraordinary cast and he got it, although the casting of Nicholson and Duvall is still the cause of debate among cinephiles. It is without the doubt that those two are great actors and they played their respective roles in this film very well. On the other hand, it could be argued that they weren’t perfect casting choices. By the time of The Shining Jack Nicholson has already built reputation of New Hollywood’s superstar and the audience was expecting another scenery-chewing performance. They got it, but although Nicholson had justification for his over the top acting in his character being a madman, he failed to initially establish Jack Torrance as “normal” character. Instead, he is initially subtly, but unmistakably menacing and the transformation of loving father and husband into axe murderer isn’t as shocking or disturbing as in the case of character being played by more restrained actor. Same thing, to a degree, can be said about Shelley Duvall who for the most part plays constantly intimidated, fearful and overemotional character who almost falls apart at the end of film, almost compromising her function of Final Girl (although it can be said that such trope is shared with Danny’s character). Less problematic are supporting actors, like Joe Turkel who plays polite by sinister-looking bartender Lloyd and Philip Stone who plays waiter Dilbert Grady. The most impressive and memorable performance belongs to Scatman Crothers who appears briefly as Halloran, but nevertheless brings warm breath of humanity into film which some might call cold and misanthropic.

While many critics, the author of this review included, changed their opinion of The Shining for the better, Stephen King, the author of original novel, remains an important exception. Despite the film representing another relatively successful high budget adaptation of his work, he still considers it a failure and claims that Kubrick missed its point while adapting it. While the original novel clearly belonged to the genre of supernatural horror and represented conventional ghost story, Kubrick muddled the water and allowed possibility that the events in Overlook are nothing more than simple story about an ordinary man becoming homicidal maniac and that supernatural content in the film represents nothing more than reflection of his sick psyche. King believes that such interpretation oversimplified his story and characters, but, on the other hand, somewhat abrupt ending leaves doors open not for one, but many other interpretations including those used by King is his novel Doctor Sleep and its 2019 adaptation. Other explanations, offered by film’s fans through the decades, viewed The Shining as an allegory for Holocaust, treatment of American Indians and even Kubrick’s implicit confession of his alleged role in faking of Moon landing. A single source that spawns such diversity of views must be an extraordinary piece of art, and The Shining fits that description perfectly.

RATING: 8/10 (+++)