Room 237
Repeat looks at a favorite film are no big whoop. But the five fans of The Shining in Rodney Ascher's mesmerizing Room 237 are obsessed to near psychosis with Stanley Kubrick's 1980 thriller. ABC journalist Bill Blakemore, college professor Geoffrey Cocks, playwright Juli Kearns, author Jay Weidner and musician John Fell Ryan are heard but unseen. The visuals are all from the film, based on Stephen King's novel, with Jack Nicholson as a caretaker haunted by the Overlook Hotel, deserted save for him, his wife (Shelley Duvall) and son (Danny Lloyd). Arrows point to symbols that could indicate the Holocaust, Native American genocide and even a faked U.S. moon landing. Ascher's unique and unforgettable film is a tribute to movie love. I couldn't have liked it more.