This week in movies you missed: When Cinephiles Go Too Far, the movie.
What You Missed
So you consider yourself a fan of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Maybe you watch the 1980 flick every Halloween and croak “redrum” every chance you get. But do you really know what The Shining is about, or what makes it a masterpiece? According to the five film critics who narrate this documentary from director Rodney Ascher, you don’t know jack (or Jack).
You see, The Shining isn’t actually about a haunted hotel, a psychotic writer or the dangers of cabin fever. It’s about the genocide of the Native Americans. No, wait, it’s about the Holocaust. No, wait, actually, The Shining is Kubrick’s way of confessing that he participated in faking the Apollo moon landings on a soundstage. That’s just so obvious when we see little Danny wearing his Apollo 11 sweater.
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The data points are far more interesting than the “theories” – although the Kubrick / Moon Landing stuff is a fascinating rabbit hole. There are many dozens of details illustrated in Room 237 that make it clear Kubrick was up to something far stranger than adapting a horror novel. As to what that really was? Probably died with him.