Doctor Sleep Film Review - Kubrick's Movie Memories, King's Novel Deeper

Doctor Sleep (IMDB)

JAKARTA - Mike Flanagan really fulfilled his mission in the Doctor Sleep project: to 'cure' the eternal feud between Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick. Doctor Sleep is a generator of the most beautiful memories of Kubrick's films as well as an answer for lovers of the King novel. Any deepening that Kubrick ignored is redeemed in Doctor Sleep.

Doctor Sleep's story focuses on Danny Torrance, the boy who survived the Hotel Overlook disaster. Free from winter terror at Hotel Overlook, little Danny (Roger Dale Floyd) lives with his mother, Wendy (Alexandra Essoe). The first credit is immediately recorded in this phase.

Flanagan manages to bridge the stories of Danny and Wendy's past in Kubrick's The Shining with the world he created in Doctor Sleep. Scenes of The Shining are recreated, interleaved between the images that advance to build Doctor Sleep's story. Including Danny cycling the hexagonal patterned carpet around the Overlook Hotel and finding the twins.

Flanagan chose to re-engineer the iconic scenes of The Shining instead of restoring Kubrick's footage. Another credit deserves to be pinned by the successor actors. Apart from Dale Floyd and Essoe, Carl Lumbly has also been very successful in playing the wise chef, Dick Halloran.

All of these characterizations, however, are quite identical to Kubrick's three iconic figures: Shelley Duval, Danny Lloyd, and Scatman Crothers. The way Wendy called Danny, the way Wendy ran, the tone of Dick's voice, were all almost identical.

Especially for the character of Dick, it is difficult to compete with the beautiful dialogues that Crothers says in the film. Remember the scene where Wendy, Danny and Dick went around the kitchen? Can you still feel that Dick was not just talking, but speaking a songful tone? An extremely difficult performance to match.

After all, Flanagan's successors are almost as beautiful as Kubrick's. And the appearance of the players is absolutely a factor that strengthens the common thread that Flanagan has built

Another spotlight is on the sound department. Doctor Sleep makes excellent use of the spatial sound feature. So intense and immersive. Flanagan knows very well that the films he presents need nuances that are built nicely. Just try, how does Flanagan with his cleverness place voices as a sign of the emergence of various terrors.

And it worked. Doctor Sleep has successfully carried the audience into a delicious horror style without jumpscare. Apart from the sound system, Flanagan's background music also succeeded in bringing the audience to Kubrick's world of The Shining. A laudable seriousness from a Flanagan in building the bridge between Doctor Sleep and The Shining.

Flanagan's new world

The whole new world that Flanagan built began when Danny Torrance grew up. Ewan McGregor took on this role. Danny grows up with an all-out escape from his destiny as someone blessed with supernatural abilities, which in Dick's language is called "shining".

Danny spent day after day drunkenly chasing away the whispers that filled his head. Bad habits for normal humans, which turned out to be for Danny, helped save him from being hunted by The True Knot sect. The group is filled with people with the same supernatural abilities as Danny.

In his life, The True Knot hunted people who had shining abilities. All of The True Knot's prey was killed. The supernatural steam of those who died was then sucked by the members of The True Knot to increase their strength and prolong their life.

The hunt for The True Knot lasted until the mid-2000s. In those years, a number of people disappeared - mostly children. In the midst of this precarious situation, Danny suddenly connects with a child with extraordinary strength named Abra Stone (Kyliegh Curran).

The boy gave a message to Danny via telepathy about the dangers that threaten them and all other people capable of shining. There was turmoil inside Danny. He is faced with a past fear and a moral debt that he must pay by saving other talented shining people.

A conversation with Dick's spirit prompts Danny to fight back. Together with Abra, Danny decides to hunt down The True Knot. The two devised a number of tricks, including mutually sabotaging the magical interactions between Abby and Rose The Hat, one of the leaders of The True Knot, played by Rebecca Ferguson.

All of these stories were told by Flanagan in a very slow flow. Like The Shining, horror in Doctor Sleep is packaged in a thick drama. The story builds slowly. All conclusions were conveyed in the 3/4 part of the film with a significant increase in pace. Very neat. However, this kind of narrative risks causing boredom for some viewers.

Explore Stephen King's novel

In an interview, Stephen King applauded Flanagan's work on his novel adaptation. King even said that Flanagan had succeeded in making up for the things he hated in Kubrick's The Shining, which was also adapted from his novel.

According to King, in The Shining, Kubrick has betrayed his writing in the novel. King said Kubrick had stripped away the main goals he wanted to convey through The Shining novel. Although he admits it is very aesthetically pleasing, Kubrick's The Shining has left many important elements in deepening the problems in the novel.

"Kubrick knew what he wanted to do with the story. He hired novelist Diane Johnson to write a screenplay based on what he wanted to emphasize, then he (Kubrick) tidied it up himself. I am truly disappointed ... The film has been stripped of its purpose. primarily, which is to tell a story, "said King.

In an interview with the BBC in 2013, King actually had time to convey his dissatisfaction with Kubrick's cold approach in The Shining. According to King, Kubrick made The Shining too difficult. In fact, The Shining for King is a work that is intended for everyone.

"I'm not a cold person. I think about one thing that relates to many people in this book. I even want you (readers) to be a part of this (The Shining)," said King.

At least two of Kubrick's decisions disturbed King in the execution of the film The Shining. The first is how Kubrick starts the story in the film. According to King, Kubrick neglected to convey to the audience the background of Jack Torrance, the main character played by the character actor, Jack Nicholson.

This is actually very important for King. Describing Jack's madness without giving any background was very strange to King. According to King, the tragic side of The Shining novel can actually be built through the deepening of the characters in the story.

"Jack Torrance was a crazy person from the start. Kubrick didn't seem to know that. Imagine, how could a tragedy wake up only with Jack appearing in a job interview and suddenly going crazy," said King.

Another decision that is very disappointing for King is how Kubrick ends the story in the film. In the novel, Jack escapes from a 'trance' which drives him crazy to warn Danny and Wendy to run away from Hotel Overlook. After the warning, Jack dies from the explosion of a damaged hotel boiler.

However, in the film, Jack freezes to death after failing to catch up with Danny who escapes from the hedge maze. This is very disappointing for King. According to King, Kubrick arrogantly removes the dramatic element when Jack's human side - engulfed in insanity - tries to save his son and wife.

Now, all of King's hatred for Kubrick's The Shining has begun to heal. Flanagan managed to tell the wider world that King built in the Torrance universe. Presenting a deep dialogue between adult Danny and Jack Torrance, played by Henry Thomas, for example?