Stanley Kubrick was my first Favorite Filmmaker, having discovered 2001: A Space Odyssey
in middle school, a film which I still consider to be the greatest science fiction movie ever made. His body of work is impressive in its span of genres, covering war (
Paths of Glory, Full Metal Jacket
), heist (
The Killing
), period drama (
Barry Lyndon
), dystopia (
A Clockwork Orange
), and sexual cultism (
Eyes Wide Shut
) to name just a very few. Kubrick is a master filmmaker, a brilliant visual artist whose movies are deep and rife with meaning, both overt and hidden – some to the point where something approaching conspiracy theories spring up.
In 1980, Kubrick directed
The Shining
, an adaptation of the Stephen King novel in which a man and his wife and son spend the winter in a vacant snowbound mountain hotel where the man is serving as caretaker for the season. Evil lives in the hotel, however, and it begins to affect Jack Torrance, with frightening results. It is an intense and surreal film, a perfect horror movie – but it may be much more than just that.
Over the years, film enthusiasts have looked at
The Shining
in particular, along with many of Kubrick's other films, and noticed certain possible themes or messages hidden in the woodwork. The new documentary
explores these ideas, looking at nine possible interpretations, including viewing the film as a metaphor for the Holocaust, or the genocide of the Native Americans, or accusing the Apollo 11 moon landing of being a fake.
Village 8 presents
Room 237
as the newest installment in its Louisville Exclusives series. The film will run for a week, ending on Thursday, May 16. Village 8 is located at 4014 Dutchmans Lane. Further theater information and showtimes can be found at the Village 8 website.
Image: Internet Movie Database
