Review of Room 237 (2012) by Glenn G — 27 Apr 2013

As far as cracked-out conspiracy docs go, this is the CITIZEN KANE of them. I see your House Of Numbers and raise you two Zapruder films. ROOM 237 is ostensibly about a collection of "experts" who read into what they believe to be hidden symbolism in the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film, THE SHINING. Presented as disembodied voices, a cinematic representation of anonymous internet trolls who plague the comments sections, there are allusions to everything from the plight of Native Americans to victims of the Holocaust, numerology taken to the extremes, and the most insane backwords/forwards analysis since THE BEATLES were rumored to have planted "I buried Paul" within the song, STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER.

As the riduculata start to pile up, the film takes on a different meaning. It's not about THE SHINING at all, but about the people with WAY too much time on their hands. I was brought back to my days at UCLA Film School. Friends would always tell me that it would ruin me as an audience member because I would, from that point forward, notice things the casual viewer wouldn't, thus deadening the entertainment value of any film. Instead, I would roll my eyes in certain classes, because I somehow knew that not every filmmaker would intentionally play with iconography, and that the "red wall" in a scene had nothing to do with blood and had everything to do with the fact that it was the only color the Production Designer could find on that particular day. Movies are often a series of happy accidents.

Of course, Stanley Kubrick was a notorious perfectionist who would ask for hundreds of takes from a performer, He was known to pore over every details, so who knows? Maybe these nutjobs are onto something. It really doesn't matter, since nobody from the Kubrick estate is endorsing ROOM 237. Better to just listen to the insane musings presented here and delight in their awkward"I know this sounds crazy" laughter.