ROOM 237: Final Screening!

If you weren't able to make it to the earlier screenings of Room 237, there's one more left. And what better way to spend lunch time than by delving into the manic conspiracy theories based on Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. This documentary is truly compelling and will have you shaking your head at some of the more "out there" ideas. Our personal favourite is The Window. (The window! The window! It's practically a character in itself! The windowwwww!) And don't worry if you haven't seen The Shining in a while--this author still hasn't seen it at all (ugh, totally unacceptable, right?), but she's seen Room 237 twice now and has enjoyed every crazed moment of it.

ROOM 237  Sun., Sept. 16th, 12:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 3

Another Look In ROOM 237

Named after the mysterious room in The Shining's Overlook Hotel, Room 237 is constructed out of fragments of film, Kubrick's and others, as interviewees seemingly haunted by the film share analyses of The Shining.

What struck me most watching this documentary is how well it represents the reinvention of film criticism on the internet, a sort of popular criticism as people on the internet look for more in the discussion of movies than whether or not they should see it, ratings on a scale, the avoidance of discussing any elements of a movie, and the film's awesomeness.

The other thing that I thought about for the first half of the movie was how in internet culture, in a world where any kind of analysis of a film is often dismissed as “reading too deeply” into a work, film criticism itself starts to resemble that other great internet past time: conspiracy theories.

In many ways, conspiracy theories are about looking at life as if it were a film or a book—finding order, structure and meaning in it, analysis in the context of an overarching theory, becoming a protagonist. And conspiracy theories aren't just a way of telling a coherent narrative about life and the world, they are also intensely analytical. They are a kind of hermeneutics, where people carefully look for signs and significance.

And it is easy enough to go back track from that kind of understanding of analysis and theory and watch Room 237 as if the interviewees were conspiracy theorists or, on the other side, watch  The Shining like the Zapruder film, footage of Big Foot or even the Dog Man. What is the significance of the numbers 237 and 42—of the Calumet baking powder tins or the jars of Tang? Are the changing patterns on a man's trousers or a disappearing chair continuity errors? And, again, I see some of the spirit of internet fan culture with a concern with continuity errors and the search for the creator and the creator's intention. (For my part, I think there aren't continuity errors in The Shining. Kubrick wasn't necessarily great with people, but he would notice a missing chair).

Room 237 shows how murky the space between film criticism and conspiracy theory--and possibly even fiction and hoax--can be.And it's intriguing that somehow the documentary parallels the film as it traces Danny's journey through the impossible space of the Overlook Hotel and then, at the film's halfway point, reveals the most unusual reading of The Shining, It's a reading that breaks through this theoretical border between more classical critical and conspiracy theory.

And, goddamn, if I don't want those maps of the The Shining's spaces shown in the documentary.

ROOM 237 Screening Times:
Thurs., Sept. 13th, 6:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sat., Sept. 15th, 5:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 2
Sun., Sept. 16th, 12:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 3

ROOM 237: Decrypting The Shining

Those bookshelves are filled with theories about The Shining. Okay, not really.

You were probably scared the first time you watched Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. (If not, then what's wrong with you?) Or maybe, like me, you read Stephen King's book first, couldn't sleep with the lights off for weeks, and THEN watched the movie, but you were still scared.

But how many times have you watched The Shining? Enough to think that it is a parable for Nazi Germany? Native genocide? Kubrick's admission that he helped fake the moon landing? (That last one kills me.)

The Associated Press has a nice article on Room 237, the documentary which exposes the various conspiracy theories about The Shining. And whaddya know, Room 237 is playing at the Toronto International Film Festival!

As for all the theories about The Shining, Room 237 producer Tim Kirk says, "I'm really confused about it at this point."

Luckily, you don't have to be confused. Check out one of the screenings of Room 237 at the Festival. Feel free to share your own theories in the comments. Or share Calumet recipes (you'll have to read the AP article to understand that reference, though).

In the meantime, f you want to see even more artistic interpretations of The Shining, check out The Overlook Hotel. You know they say all work and no play. . . oh, you know.

ROOM 237 Screening Times:
Thurs., Sept. 13th, 6:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sat., Sept. 15th, 5:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 2
Sun., Sept. 16th, 12:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 3

ROOM 237 Premieres Tonight!

Rodney Ascher's Room 237 premieres tonight at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema at 6:00 PM. Head over to our previous post to see the film's trailer and poster.

Tickets can be purchased:

• ONLINE: TIFF.net/thefestival
• BY PHONE: 416.599.TIFF or 1.888.599.8433 (Toll-free) 
• IN PERSON
• Festival Box Office; 225 King St. West
• Bloor Hot Docs Cinema Box Office; 506 Bloor Street West

Further information about Rodney Ascher's Room 237 can be found on the Festival website, as well as on the Room 237 website, Twitter account, and IMDB page.

ROOM 237 screening times:

• Thurs., Sept. 13, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema 6:00 PM 
• Sat., Sept. 15, Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 2 5:45 PM 
• Sun., Sept. 16, TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 12:00 PM

Vanguard Film Picks from Critics

Happy Toronto International Film Festival, fellow Vanguarders! (Yes, it's a word now; embrace it, love it; monogram a pillow with it.) We hope you've all enjoyed the first few days of the festival. Are you sleeping at all? If the answer is no, don't worry about it. Sleeping is what you do after the festival is over.

Now, we all know that the Vanguard programme is one of the best programmes in the festival, because duh. We've talked with some of our favourite critics and they've given us some of their Vanguard picks for this years festival. 

Jason Gorber of FilmFest.ca wrote an amazing preview review of the Vanguard films just before the festival. BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO was one of the films he was most looking forward to due to "the fact that a bunch of crazy people have made films about madcap sound designers … speaks directly to my cinemanerdy heart." 

Gorber was also excited about the documentary ROOM 237, as was Adam Nayman, an associate editor for Cinema Scope. Of the documentary he says, "[Room 237] is a remarkable commentary on the subjective nature of art and the technologically motivated evolution of film scholarship, and confirms that The Shining is a movie by an obsessive, about an obsessive, and for obsessives."

Ben Wheatley's SIGHTSEERS also made Gorber's list as one of his most anticipated films of the programme. Nayman also cited the film as one of his picks, saying "[Sightseers] consolidates the reputation of Ben Wheatley, who is now 3 for 3; if Kill List was a home run, this is more like a solid base hit up the middle but it's not always about hitting it out of the park. It's nasty, brutish and short--a slapstick variation on the thrill killer genre where the badlands are merely mediocre and there are no perfect getaways.

Kurt Halfyard of Row Three reviewed I DECLARE WAR at ActionFest earlier this year and puts it at the top of his picks for the Vanguard programme: "I Declare War delights in juxtaposing war-film cliches with a real ear for 12 year old banter. Its war sequences are a combination of thrilling battles and humorous knowing nods; certainly for those who grew up in the 1970s, but probably anyone who grew up with a creek behind their house."

Links to these film's info pages (as well as links to the ticketing website) are below along with the screening times.

BERBIAN SOUND STUDIO Screening Times:
Mon., Sept. 10th, 6:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Tue., Sept. 11th, 2:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 3


I DECLARE WAR Screening Times:
Sun., Sept. 9th, 4:15 PM SCOTIABANK 4
Tue., Sept. 11th, 2:00 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 10
Fri., Sept. 14th, 9:45 PM SCOTIABANK 4

ROOM 237 Screening Times:
Thurs., Sept. 13th, 6:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sat., Sept. 15th, 5:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 2
Sun., Sept. 16th, 12:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 3

SIGHTSEERS Screening Times:
Tue., Sept. 11th, 9:00 PM RYERSON
Thurs., Sept. 13th, 12:00 PM RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 16th, 7:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

All Play At THE SHINING Party!

 

This Friday there's a Shining-themed party in Toronto--just in time for Room 237. a film that documents conspiracy theories based on Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. More details at the Midnight Madness blog.


 ROOM 237 screening times:
Thursday September 13
The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
6:00 PM

Saturday September 15
Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 2
5:45 PM

Sunday September 16
TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
12:00 PM

Food Trucks At The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

Imagine this: It's Wednesday September 12th. You have tickets to the 9:00PM screening of Soi Cheang's Motorway at The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, but you're starving. What are you possibly going to eat!? Luckily The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema is located right in the middle of the Annex, so the food options are plentiful.

This year your options are even broader as the Toronto International Film Festival is teaming up with Toronto Food Trucks to bring the food to you. A rotating selection of food trucks will be located outside of The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema September 7th to 16th from 7PM to midnight.

http://torontofoodtrucks.ca/photos

Toronto food truck locations and schedule during the festival can be found on the Toronto Food Trucks website, Twitter and Facebook pages.

The following Vanguard films will be playing at The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema:

PUSHER
Fri., Sept. 7, 9:00 PM, THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

PAINLESS
Sat., Sept. 8, 6:00 PM, THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

ILL MANORS
Sun., Sept. 9, 9:00 PM, THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO
Mon., Sept. 10, 6:00 PM, THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

BEIJING FLICKERS
Mon., Sept. 10, 9:00 PM, THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

HERE COMES THE DEVIL
Tues., Sept. 11, 6: 00PM, THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

BLONDIE
Wed., Sept. 12, 12:00 PM, THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

THALE
Wed., Sept. 12, 6:00 PM, THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

MOTORWAY
Wed., Sept. 12, 9:00 PM, THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

ROOM 237
Thurs., Sept. 13, 6:00 PM, THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

PEACHES DOES HERSELF
Thurs., Sept. 13, 9:00 PM, THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

SIGHTSEERS
Sun., Sept. 16, 7:00 PM, THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

ROOM 237: Review

I'll start with a confession. I hadn't actually watched Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film The Shining until about two years ago. There were lots of reasons, the main of which was that I was never a real fan of "horror" films. After seeing it, of course, I discovered that The Shining is not the slasher film that I'd anticipated (and feared). Instead, it's a dense and moody psychological thriller, and the type of film that I actually love. That being said, I may have only seen the film twice in my life.

Which makes me completely different from the motley band of nutjobs and conspiracy theorists who populate Rodney Ascher's creepy Room 237, each of whom has probably watched the film on slo-mo dozens of times. From the man with the relatively mild theory that the film is really all about the extermination of America's indigenous population to the guy who's convinced that The Shining is Kubrick's cryptic confession to filming the faked Apollo moon landings in a studio, Ascher's "subjective documentary" turns out be at least as scary as watching Kubrick's film itself.

Ascher wisely chooses to allow his "theorists" to only be heard in voiceover and never seen. Instead, he uses visuals from The Shining and many other films, including almost all of Kubrick's other work. The result is deeply unsettling, especially when combined with a rather sinister score. While the various theories can often provoke guffaws of disbelief, the relentless accounting of the film's eccentricities has an alienating effect that reinforces how weird The Shining really is.

For instance, while not convinced by one of the commentator's convoluted geography of the hotel's floor plan, I did become convinced that Kubrick may have purposely messed with the audience's spatial awareness simply to heighten our sense of unease.

What Ascher's film demonstrates most ably is the limits of auteur theory when taken to its absolute irrational end. Each of these people is convinced that not only was Kubrick aware of every tiny detail they tease out of the film, but that he alone was the visionary behind each choice. I'm aware that Kubrick may have been a bit of a control freak, but I'd be very surprised if every decision of the cinematographer, editor, production designer and even the actors sprung from the mind of the director.

In the end, while we may come out of Room 237 laughing at these "crackpots," I'm convinced that for many of us, our next viewing of The Shining will be a lot more terrifying.

ROOM 237 screening times:

• Thurs., Sept. 13, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema 6:00 PM
• Sat., Sept. 15, Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 2 5:45 PM
• Sun., Sept. 16, TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 12:00 PM

TWITCH Previews Vanguard

TWITCH's Jason Gorber, in a preview of this year's Vanguard program, writes:

TIFF's Vanguard has always kind of been the bastard step-child of the Toronto festival, something previously had never really found a clear and definitive voice for the general festival patron.  With Midnight Madness guru Colin Geddes bringing a stronger sense of unity to the program, we can now, in 2012, better see just what this little group of odd films share with one another.

Essentially, as Colin put it, these are the "cool older sister" films of the fest. What he means, if I may be so bold, is two-fold: first, these are films that may thematically share characteristics with the more bombastic or brutal flicks that play for the mad crowds that gather at the Ryerson after the witching hour. Secondly, his tacit point is that these films would not work as Midnight films, conceding that they're often too mature, too slow (relatively) compared to the younger, rangy, hyperactive younger sibling that lives only after the clock has struck 12am.

Along with putting a single voice in charge of the assemblage of films (several programmers were responsible for locating the films, but Colin's essentially curating the list), TIFF has wisely set a single venue for these films. The Bloor Cinema, recently renovated at part of the Hot Docs group, sees a return of sorts - Midnight Madness started here, after all, by Noah Cowan way back in the early 90s.

He continues, citing ROOM 237 and BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO as his personal picks of the programme, and finishes with:

This, then, is hopefully what Vanguard will moving forward prove to be - an extension of Colin's late night festivities, eating further away at some of the more staid and predictable offerings elsewhere at the festival. These films will work best for those that have braved the late night insanity, but also a gateway for those that, god forbid, have to actually go to work the next morning.

We're now at the vanguard for what the Vanguard programme hopes to be, extending by another dozen or so films the reach of works that challenge, provoke, intrigue and sometimes startle. Freed from the necessities of keeping us awake, but providing a unified environment where thematically related films can be showcased effectively, 2012 sees the real birth of what will hopefully prove to be a vital part of the Toronto International Film Festival, a sister programme just as cool, but in different ways, as its bratty and precocious sibling.

You can read the whole preview at TWITCH on their website, and follow @TWITCHfilm and Jason Gorber, @FilmFest_Ca, on Twitter for their updates during the Toronto International Film Festival.

ROOM 237 screening times:

• Thurs., Sept. 13, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema 6:00 PM 
• Sat., Sept. 15, Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 2 5:45 PM 
• Sun., Sept. 16, TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 12:00 PM

BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO screening times:

• Mon., Sept. 10, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema 6:00 PM
• Tues., Sept. 11, Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 3 2:45 PM

Top image courtesy of TWITCH.

ROOM 237 Poster

Room 237 is a "strange, gripping and enchanting" film, says New York Magazine; "A documentary that’s not so much about the theories themselves but about the way we like to obsess over great films." Following its world and European premieres in Sundance and Cannes, respectively, Rodney Ascher's Room 237 will bring some of the most obsessive cinephiles to the Festival as they detail their conspiracy theories about the hidden messages within Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.

Below is the poster for Room 237, which plays this year's Toronto International Film Festival within the Vanguard programme.

Further information about Rodney Ascher's Room 237 can be found on the Festival website, as well as on the Room 237 website, Twitter account, and IMDB page.

ROOM 237 screening times:

• Thurs., Sept. 13, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema 6:00 PM 
• Sat., Sept. 15, Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 2 5:45 PM 
• Sun., Sept. 16, TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 12:00 PM