Movie Review: The Shining
Today I’m just not feeling it. I can’t get excited or inspired about either of my writing projects. Other things in life with which I’d like to see progress seem to be stuck on pause and unable to gain momentum. I don’t want to vacuum dog hair off the couch or load the dishwasher. I’ve got a horrible case of the “Don’t Want-to’s.” But instead of retreating to my bed to stare at a wall (just yet), I guess I’ll write about the movie The Shining. I’ll be seeing the sequel in a theater this week with a friend as part of her birthday celebration, and I had yet to see the original (I’m not much into horror movies), so I rented it yesterday and watched it. The rest of this may be a SPOILER ALERT; although, seeing as the movie was released in 1980, I am likely one of the few who hadn’t seen it yet in the 39 years since.
Wow. Talk about great acting. I had to pause the movie to do an internet search to find out how old the child actor was when he did this. He was only 5. His acting was so believable—he was fabulous. So enjoyable to watch.
There are so many memorable scenes that I can easily see why this movie is a classic. Now when I get annoyed at interruptions while I’m writing, I see myself transported to a huge room where I’m seated in front of a manual typewriter and the sound of the striking of the keys billows to fill the entire room . I’m Jack Nicholson and I’m verbally shredding the lovely Shelley Duvall to pieces and asking the offending party, “Now, do you think you can handle that? … Good, now why don’t you start right now…?” You know how that scene went with all the f bombs. Great archetypal stuff.
The movie has made me laugh at myself and reinforced the idea not to take “my work,” as Nicholson refers to his writing, so seriously. Especially when in the end it’s all probably the same thing as the nonsense he was typing. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Over and over again. And then later when he rants about all his responsibilities. It makes one roll their eyes, and be like, “Oh, spare me. The guy really is deluded. He does nothing.”
Am I the only one who didn’t expect the old cook to get axed (literally and figuratively), or at least so soon as he did upon arriving? I mean the guy moved heaven and earth to get to the snowbound, isolated resort; as a viewer, I felt like the whole movie had been setting him up to be the hero. But I guess that’s where the writer was really employing his craft. You realize that the chef is a “device” to explain “the shine” and later to deliver the ultimate means of escape for the boy and the true hero of the movie—the boy’s mom.
In juxtaposition to the cook, there were so many times I expected the mom to meet her demise. The actress does a fantastic job in her role. You think she’s a floormat, simple-minded, weak—that she’s not going to pull off what she needs to do. Yet somehow, solely empowered by the love for her child, she is able to rise to meet what the circumstances asked of her, albeit shaking and confused. Without having read any commentary on the movie yet, I would hazard a guess that the main theme of the movie—shoot, let me rephrase this for I’m no movie critic— my take away from it is of the supernatural power of love and connection with one’s child.
Now there were several things about the story line I found unsatisfying/unexplained, but I will give it the benefit of the doubt that like most movies, if I were to read the book I would find the details/answers I had wanted spelled out for me.
Yesterday evening I heard my kiddo whispering (come to find out, she was whispering into a dead walkie talkie toy, placing a call to an imaginary secret service). I pulled her into a hug and laughed, “You have to understand that after having the watched the movie I did earlier today, a kid whispering is a scary thing. Especially if next thing I know you hold up a finger and introduce me to your new imaginary friend, T- Tabitha.”
Anyway, I haven’t touched on half of the good stuff in the movie, but I guess I really should get busy here around the house. Hey, there’s my free advice for the day for you and me both: tread water doing something that amuses you until you can find the motivation to move forward.
Much love,
April “Scheffy”