We had heard through the grapevine that Room 237 was a must-see at the Palm Springs International Film festival. So we sent Chad out to investigate. Here is what he had to say….
ABOUT CHAD
My muses go by the names of Natalie Noel and Josephine Rose.
My influences come from my friends, family, heartache, life, Jim Morrison, Charlie Kaufman, and most of all Love.
Film is a place to get lost, for an average of two hours nothing matters but what is shining off a bright wall in a dark room.” – C.A.
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Room 237
a film review by Chad Austin
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“In all things that are mysterious—never explain”
- H.P. Lovecraft
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Stanley Kubrick who is well known for being meticulous, a perfectionist and a filmmaker with an unconventional style to his movies, he has left a legacy of films and production stories that critics and cinephiles have been analyzing and interpreting for decades. Rodney Ascher’s experimental documentary interviews people who not only analyze but obsess over one film in particular, The Shining.
The first wild theory that surfaces in the film is one about how the underlying message of ‘The Shining’ and the true meaning behind the film is a commentary on the slaughtering of the American-Indians. As the documentary progresses you slowly start to think, “Hmm maybe the Indian slaughter wasn’t so farfetched?” From a man convinced that The Shining is about the Holocaust and Nazi, Germany to a woman who made her own maps of the overlook to disprove the layout of the structure and “The big beautiful window” she obsesses over. The theories seem to become more and more obscure teetering on a fine line of conspiracy and intellectual, with some falling over the cliff instead of finding their footing. When one gentleman begins on his theory of Kubrick using The Shining to give hints and clues to the fact that he faked the Apollo moon landing, suddenly everyone else is so sane.
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The documentary in style, from the chapter format to the disorienting blend of theories to even the way the credits roll are an ode to the 1980 horror film that paved a new lane in what was once considered a one lane highway in formulaic horror. The interviewees do not get a second of face-time, their stories are told via tape recorder that is laid over found footage and stock from Kubrick films as well as Schindler’s List and All The President’s Men, edited in a way to give a more cinematic feel to the documentary using them as visual companions to the interviewees theories.
Room 237 is fascinating and a must see for Kubrick fans and especially those who adore The Shining. This film can also reach a broader audience of even those who do not know much about Stanley’s films. In true fashion of a Kubrick movie Ascher’s documentary while on the surface one could easily say the plot is the analysis of one of the greatest horror films of all time, the meaning and underlying tone when all is said and done is a film about obsession.
- Chad Austin, for The Coachella Valley Art Scene
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Next Screening of ROOM 237 at the #PSIFF13
Wednesday, January 9th @ 12:30pm
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Room 237 Official Website: http://room237movie.com
