The Shining

My god Jack Nicholson is fucking brilliant in this film. Seriously, I think his performance here is one of the greatest of all time.  Up until this year I hadn’t seen any Kubrick films, so out of the ones I’ve watched so far, they’ve all been very recent watches and one thing I’ve noticed about his direction is that sense of unease he creates with the use of music, and that’s what I was getting from this big time. The first twenty or so minutes of this film are pretty chill, but the rest had me feeling so uncomfortable, it’s enough to drive you crazy just thinking about being alone in a big hotel like that for months. Of course, as always with Kubrick, the visuals are amassing, everything from the decor of the hotel, to the intense vision that young Danny has, crazy good and crazy haunting. But what really made this film standout for me was the performance. Shelly Duvall is stunning, her portrayal of sheer fear is one of the most realistic and captivating performances I’ve ever seen. But it’s Nicholson that steals the show. He’s funny and intense at the same time, creating this disturbing showcase of his characters downward spiral into madness. I think it would have been easy for this role to be very over acted, but Nicholson plays this perfectly and really shows why he is one of the greatest actors of all time.