My reading has been terrible lately, just to not being willing to sit for a few hours at a time, but I am trying to tell myself that 2 hours spent watching a movie is time I could spend in a book.
I just went through the DC again for "Doctor Sleep" and I would really like to read this book. I am pretty sure the ending has some differences because Flanagan keys off the film version of "The Shining" in terms of where this second story picks up and how it ends (with the hotel still standing when Danny and Abra arrive), so my feeling is that he has done a brilliant job of bringing everything full circle and might in fact be better in some ways from what King wrote, based on constraints he imposed on himself narratively when he completed "The Shining." You can see him in the script actively trying to pull Danny's, Jack's, and the Hotel's arcs all together to provide a similar resolution to King's altogether, it's just that the films and the books took their own separate routes.
Rebecca Ferguson just owns this film, as Rose the Hat. I need to really experience the book version, but I can't imagine her being more perfectly cast or written/acted. Also, Zach McClarnon brings a sensitivity to his portrait of Crow Daddy here that really brings nuance to the film. One thing I really love is how The True Knot is both sympathetic and just god-awful, all at the same time. Like, the writing and the cast make them accessible, and you can see their perspective, and how they ARE a family and committed to each other's well-being, and you can tell how much Rose and Crow mean to each other -- and yet then there are moments in the film where they are both totally awful people, and at core what they are are predators and scavengers, buying extra life and time at the expense of innocent people who are like them. They are the worst of the worst, big-picture, while still possessing traits that would otherwise be good. Even Snake Bite Andy, who is less likable, is understandable as a young girl preying off men who would prey off children -- you can get behind her mission, even if not where she ends up.
I think Abra's parents are the least defined characters, which is disappointing. Abra herself is kind of interesting but a bit flat -- her primary situation of interest is that she (like others with the shine) has felt the need to hide themselves in order to keep their parents' love. (This film feels so much like a queer experience in some aspects.) Which only aligns further with the RWBY posters and stuff around Abra's room. Now that I have been heavily into RWBY for nine months (that's it??), there are two large wall posters (the quadriptych of the four RWBY mains, from Season 1 cover, is one of them), and she literally has the Todd McFarlene of Emerald on her night stand, which when she wakes up one morning the camera shoots through in order to show her face. (Emerald's semblance is illusions.)
This film also can be credited as having one of the most agonizing drama/horror/crime scenes in existence, when the True Knot feeds off the Baseball Boy (Jacob Tremblay). Tremblay's responses are so real that I am sure people have had nightmares about it, after viewing this film. I think it is an important scene BECAUSE the True Knot can sometimes seem likable and even admirable in their connection to each other, but this scene really reveals how awful they are. There's other feeding sequences, but typically they cut out early or the emotional dynamics are different.
I really like Danny's arc, which I assume is emulated in the book. It's not a happy ending at first. He might have survived The Shining, but it scarred him and made him hide who he was -- become less than who he was -- far into his adult years. He finally finds a way to use his gifts, after he hits rock bottom and decides he needs to get better, to help guide those nearing the line between line and death, and he does good here in bringing comfort and wisdom to the needy. THis happens so much IRL, people are strong enough to survive but it still drags them down into adulthood and they feel like they are not achieving what they might have, but if they are fortunate and strong, they manage to find some way to channel who they are into something helpful to others based on their experiences. But you can tell they are still wounded in some ways. (I am still working through stuff myself.)
This is like Danny's chance to really work through his own shit and regain some healthy pride in himself. Life taught him to lay low, hide himself, and his initial advice to Abra is to protect herself and do the same. And he's not wrong in some ways. But Abra is too young to be willing to accommodate that, she is going to use her ability to make changes and strive for good, and Danny eventually realizes that even though he is no longer a kid, he now is the adult in the room who needs to essentially mentor Abra and help her achieve her goals and not diminish her with his own fears. In the process, he ends up having to work through his own shit, his own unresolved feelings with both of his parents, and the looming shadow of the Overlook.
I just was so delighted to watch that play out, I knew it was coming and it was glorious. (A few of you might recall my very first username on this and other typology sites was Fortunato.)
