Room 237

Rodney Ascher’s documentary about the many interpretations of The Shining is a surprising film that explores far more than just the supposed hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's classic movie. Using only audio from Ascher's five different interview subjects, overlaid with images from The Shining and all of Kubrick’s other films, as well as many other movies (how can this be legal? Did Ascher obtain clearance to use all these clips?), Room 237 at first, appears to be nothing more than a cheap and chintzy YouTube deconstruction of a great film. However, before long, it becomes hilarious and fascinating: the former because the messages people extract from the movie are so ridiculous, and the latter because some of what they believe almost seems plausible.

It is well-known that Kubrick was a perfectionist who paid attention to every single detail of his films and never did anything for arbitrary reasons. This fuels the hardcore, this-must-be-true beliefs of the five people interviewed and also lends their varied and kooky theories some measure of credibility. Because of this, the film starts to become a deconstruction not only of The Shining but also of the type of mind that obsessively develops these kinds of theories, as well as other, more dangerous beliefs. Since Kubrick himself plays a role in one of the most prominent conspiracy theories ever—the faking of the moon landing—the movie clearly, but almost inadvertently, draws parallels between fan-boy obsession and the type of political paranoia that leads to things like the 911 Truth Movement, The Birthers, or those that believe mass school shootings are part of a government plot to take away guns.

I don’t know if Ascher is intentionally drawing these parallels, nor if he finds his interview subjects ridiculous or credible, and I don’t want to know. One of the big ideas of the film is that a filmmaker's intentions and an audience's perceptions are both valid, so I appreciate the fact that Ascher doesn’t tip his hand as to whether he thinks this is a big joke or a profound examination, or both. I do wish I had gotten to see this film with a larger audience than the six guys at the first-run screening I went to—I can only imagine that in a packed cinema of movie buffs at a film festival, Room 237 must get bigger laughs than Borat. One thing we can be sure of is that Stanley Kubrick would have HATED Room 237. But that's no reason for us not to enjoy it.