The Shining

96/100 Another beautiful Kubrick movie both visually and thematically. From a technical point of view, it's simply perfect: Jack Nicholson delivers the performance of his life accompanied by the marvellous Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd; the direction is intense; the score is haunting; and the use of colour is clever. Overall, all these aspects amplify the horror nature of the movie, creating a wonderful and terrifying work of art. From a thematic point of view on the other hand the film depicts a magnificent portrait of the evil and mad nature of man (perfectly aligned with the rest of Kubrick's filmography) revisiting many myths such as Oedipus and Theseus and the Minotaur through a different perspective: the youth and innocence of the child manage to defeat the power of the father and his cold rationality. Kubrick's pessimistic vision of humanity however finds a worthy opponent in the child who through his "shining" can escape from the evil nature of men giving the finale a touch of hopefulness. The plot is quite complicated, and the hotel is represented as a dark entity filled with mysterious and probably forever undiscovered secrets; not everything is clear, and reading the book (which I haven't done) could help me understand some aspects better. My Favourite Movies Stanley Kubrick ranked