Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd. Written by Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson. Directed by Stanley Kubrick.
When you can foresee a battered past of a family just by the delivery of one dialogue, you know you're watching great actors with immense control of the story. It wouldn't be incorrect to say that The Shining is Jack Nicholson. But it is definitely incomplete to say so. The Shining is a testament to the fact that one doesn't need a plethora of characters, a hullabaloo of dialogues and twists and turns to create a majestic piece of cinema. A demented human mind would suffice!
It took me a while to make up my mind to watch this film because I knew what the film was all about. And that's the beauty of it. Within fifteen to twenty minutes of this over two hour long film, one gets an idea of where this film is heading. But it's not the ending that matters here, it's how we get there.
So, Jack decides to move to Overlook Hotel with his family as a caretaker of the picturesque resort during the brutally cold off season. Right away, just by the shear chemistry between Jack and his wife, their son's sprouting psychosis and Jack's layered expressions (read, great acting), we realize that there is certain airlessness, a detachment between the characters, a charred relation. And that is what a horror movie should be about. Uncertainty of oneself, as when Jack says "I think I am losing my mind", just before one actually loses it, is the most horrific aura of experience, mush insidious than sudden jarring screams that are current trademarks for horror films.
The Shining begins, as a horror film should, with a surreal look at a sketchy back story of the leading characters. With each passing minute, right after a relationship is established between the characters, they begin to detach. The hotel which gets completely disconnected from civilization in winters due to yards of snowfall represents nothing but a cage for a family that actually needs open ground to expand. And then the isolation takes over.
If one thinks about it, The Shining is a simple film yet it possesses such brilliance in its subtleties that it would take a jeweler's eye and a handful of psychotic knowledge to make one. Moreover, from the technical point of view, it is one of the very few complete cinematic experiences I've ever had. From the breath taking bird's eye shots in the beginning portraying a journey to isolation that the audience will live in for the rest of the film to the surreal background score elevating with intensifying madness of the characters, the director uses every tool in its palate to enhance the experience of insanity in isolation.
Before I wrap up, I must say when the movie was released (in 80s), it's pace would've been considered optimum. But for today's audience, it's tempo is slightly slower. Having said that, The Shining is what a horror film should always be.
It took me a while to make up my mind to watch this film because I knew what the film was all about. And that's the beauty of it. Within fifteen to twenty minutes of this over two hour long film, one gets an idea of where this film is heading. But it's not the ending that matters here, it's how we get there.
So, Jack decides to move to Overlook Hotel with his family as a caretaker of the picturesque resort during the brutally cold off season. Right away, just by the shear chemistry between Jack and his wife, their son's sprouting psychosis and Jack's layered expressions (read, great acting), we realize that there is certain airlessness, a detachment between the characters, a charred relation. And that is what a horror movie should be about. Uncertainty of oneself, as when Jack says "I think I am losing my mind", just before one actually loses it, is the most horrific aura of experience, mush insidious than sudden jarring screams that are current trademarks for horror films.
The Shining begins, as a horror film should, with a surreal look at a sketchy back story of the leading characters. With each passing minute, right after a relationship is established between the characters, they begin to detach. The hotel which gets completely disconnected from civilization in winters due to yards of snowfall represents nothing but a cage for a family that actually needs open ground to expand. And then the isolation takes over.
If one thinks about it, The Shining is a simple film yet it possesses such brilliance in its subtleties that it would take a jeweler's eye and a handful of psychotic knowledge to make one. Moreover, from the technical point of view, it is one of the very few complete cinematic experiences I've ever had. From the breath taking bird's eye shots in the beginning portraying a journey to isolation that the audience will live in for the rest of the film to the surreal background score elevating with intensifying madness of the characters, the director uses every tool in its palate to enhance the experience of insanity in isolation.
Before I wrap up, I must say when the movie was released (in 80s), it's pace would've been considered optimum. But for today's audience, it's tempo is slightly slower. Having said that, The Shining is what a horror film should always be.
No comments:
Post a Comment