Doctor Sleep (2019)

Decades after escaping the Overlook Hotel, Danny Torrence is still haunted by the memories, and spirits, of that evil place. To suppress them, and his psychic abilities, Danny has followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming an alcoholic. When he hits rock bottom, however, and is given the chance to redeem himself by working at a hospice, Danny takes it, using his “shine” to comfort dying patients in their last moments, earning the nickname, “Doctor Sleep.” He also begins communicating with Abra Stone, a young girl with abilities even stronger than his. Their joy won’t last long, however, since the True Knot, a group of people who eat those with the shining, have become aware of their presence, and are hunting them down. So now, to save Abra, Danny will have to lure the True Knot to the Overlook Hotel, and awaken it, and his own, suppressed demons. Will this desperate plan work? Watch the movie and find out.

This statement may earn me the ire of film buffs everywhere, but I’m not actually a fan of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. I know. Blasphemy! But hear me out. I was born in 1995, fifteen years after the movie first premiered, and didn’t see it until fifteen years after that. So by the time I finally sat down and watched it, I’d seen 30 years worth of parodies, homages and analyses. Everyone had built it up to such an insane level that there really wasn’t room for me to be anything but disappointed by what proved to be an incredibly long, boring, and in some cases, bizarrely funny, movie. I didn’t find it scary. I didn’t like the changes Kubrick made to the source material, such as removing Jack Torrence’s redeeming qualities, and killing Dick Hallorann. And I found some of the performances, particularly the one Jack Nicholson gave, to be hilariously over-the-top. And in case you think I’m being unfair, need I remind you of these moments: “DARLING! LIGHT of my LIFE. I’m not gonna hurt ya. I’m just gonna BASH YOUR BRAINS the FUCK in!” “HEEEEEEEERE’S JOHNNY!” Yeah. A lot sillier then you remember, right? At the same time, however, I did like Stephen King’s novel, with its themes of alcoholism and redemption, two topics that I could personally relate to very well, coming from a family of alcoholics. And I absolutely loved King’s sequel, Doctor Sleep, which did what I think all good sequels should do, take the story in a new direction, with new stakes, new rules and new goals. So imagine my excitement when I found out Mike Flanagan, director of Hush, would be collaborating with King to adapt Doctor Sleep, and that it would be starring Christopher Robin himself, Ewan McGregor, as Danny. Very, let me tell you. And having seen the film, I wasn’t disappointed.

What this film does best, and what it has over Kubrick’s movie, is empathy for its characters, even the villains. Despite the fact that you see the True Knot torture and kill children, you also get plenty of scenes where you watch them take care of each other, and where you learn what drove them to do what they do. The film has a ton of quiet, intimate moments, like when Danny is comforting the patients in the hospice, or interacting with the other members of AA, that really ground the story. In fact, since so much time and care is dedicated to all the major players in the film, I would hesitate to say that it even has a single protagonist. For the first hour or so, the film shifts between Danny, Abra and the True Knot fairly evenly. Which I loved. Something else that I loved is the acting. Every single person brings their A-game here. Alexandra Essoe and Carl Lumbly are scarily good as Wendy Torrence and Dick Halloran, respectively. So good, in fact, that it took me a minute to realize that they weren’t Shelley Duvall and Scatman Crothers. It’s almost offensive that Rebecca Ferguson, who doesn’t even speak English as a first language, can do such a good Irish accent. And Ewan McGregor is simply fantastic as Danny. Then again, he’s just about perfect in everything. Whether he’s swinging lightsabers as Obi-Wan Kenobi, telling stories as Edward Bloom, or having fun with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, he’s always giving an animated, likable performance in movies, and this film is no exception. But performances and writing are only part of what makes a movie. What about the craft on display; the cinematography, the editing, etc? All are fantastic. The shots are clear and well composed. The use of colder tones is very effective. And the editing is superb. The way shots transition into one another, how the film moves back and forth between the three storylines, it’s fantastic. And I would be remiss if I failed to mention the production design. The third act, where we watch Danny go back to the Overlook, is gorgeous. Every detail of the old set, from the wallpaper, to the position of lights, has been meticulously recreated. They even go so far as to frame shots in the same way Kubrick did, and use the old score. Purely as a work of visual art, this film is worth watching. But, thankfully, as I stated earlier, Doctor Sleep has a lot more going for it than just that.

Now, if I have one big problem with the picture, it’s the fact that it tries to be faithful to both King’s novel, and Kubrick’s film, and never quite manages to. Since this is a sequel to Kubrick’s movie, which was drastically different from King’s text, certain details had to be changed. And the film Doctor Sleep does differ greatly from the book on which it is based. Without getting into spoilers, the ending is different, certain characters who lived in the novel don’t live in the film, and particular revelations concerning one of our heroes’ pasts is omitted. I understand why Flanagan made those changes, they would have contradicted the tone and choices made in Kubrick’s movie, but I personally feel that they are a bit at odds with the message of the source novel. Two big themes in the text are redemption, and the sins of the father becoming the sins of the son, both of which are touched upon in the film, but since the flick ends so differently, I don’t think it gives Danny Torrance the arc he had in the novel. Granted, this is just me being a book purist, so it’s perfectly possible that you all would have no problem with the changes. And other than them, I really have no issues with the movie. This is a superbly shot, edited and acted horror film, with far more empathy and nuance than Kubrick’s picture, and I truly hope that it finds its audience.