I watched Kubrick's THE SHINING on dvd tonight.
I'm still kinda speechless, but, I'll give it a go.
I completely darkened my room, turned the ringer off on the phone and settled onto my couch. I didn't budge for the following 143 minutes, except to cower and wince.
I have a history with Kubrick's THE SHINING. I saw it on its opening night here in Pittsburgh with a close friend, at the Fulton (now Byham) Theater. I drifted in and out of the film, nearly falling asleep several times. I was bored and unimpressed, as was my friend. I had read Stephen King's book and enjoyed it very much, still I knew that that particular novel could work as a film - hadn't Wise's THE HAUNTING shown one woman's descent into madness via a haunted house? - so I did have high expectations for Kubrick's film and was supremely let down by his achievement.
I tried to see THE SHINING again at several repertory house screenings over the years, but it still left me cold and detached and unimpressed.
I let those sentiments stick around for a long, long time. I never owned a copy of Kubrick's THE SHINING on any video format (nor do I own a copy of King's book), never watched a television showing of THE SHINING (including King's own adaptation for ABC and really had no desire to revisit Kubrick's vision of The Overlook UNTIL this past week's new video transfers of major Kubrick works. I even debated which one to purchase first, holding CLOCKWORK ORANGE, EYES WIDE SHUT and 2001 in my hands along with THE SHINING. I opted for the latter, if only because of Vivien Kubrick's "Making of THE SHINING" amongst the special features - and THAT was a fascinating feature I viewed Sunday night.
I can't remember the last time that I've had such a turnaround of feeling on a film. I was enthralled from start to finish tonight, impressed (not bored out of my head) by the amazing Steadicam work and blown away by the dvd's transfer. My opinion hasn't changed on the work done by Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd or Scatman Crothers - I appreciated their performances before - but my opinion on Jack Nicholson's performance has changed, I saw his modulation, in his characterization, I saw a selfish man, who put himself first in all things and who got what was coming to him. The final half-hour brings the supernatural elements to all of the characters, and that final shot is a doozy.
If it weren't such an ungodly length, I'd probably have spun that dvd again right now. . .