The next review I catch up on from Fantastic Fest will surely be Room 237, as it’s a doc that –despite its clunkiness– has definitely stuck with me. It’s really a testament to how terrifying and unique The Shining is that a collection of what amounts to nerds spinning their pet conspiracy theories beneath an elaborate Kubrick supercut is so interesting. You won’t see much of that in the trailer below, which is really just pull-quotes and reverby clips of the documentary contributors speaking. Still, it’s a doc that’s had a great festival life since Sundance, and should have a release date soon from distributor IFC Midnight. There are a ton of Kubrick fans out there, and every one of them will want to see this doc and, more importantly, have the conversations and debates that will follow.
In conjunction with Room 237 there’s a version of The Shining that has played at some art galleries and film festivals that overlays the film atop itself, backwards, at half opacity. There’s a segment of the doc that examines what you can see and interpret from such a viewing, and it’s one of the most compelling signifiers that Kubrick really was up to some next-level shit with The Shining. I wonder if IFC will be planning some cool paired screenings anywhere- I’ll be keeping an eye out for any such plans.
via Sound On Sight, thanks to Patrick Ripoll