Sunday, November 10, 2019

Doctor Sleep

Movie Name: Doctor Sleep
Year of Release: 2019
Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Cliff Curtis, Bruce Greenwood, Emily Alyn Lind, Zahn McClarnon, Selena Anduze, Carel Struycken, Catherine Parker, Zachary Momoh, Jocelyn Donahue, Robert Longstreet, Carl Lumbly, Thomas Downing, Roger Dale Floyd, Alex Essoe, Michael Monks, Henry Thomas
Genre: Drama, Horror
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
View Trailer

Synopsis and Review:
Director Mike Flanagan continues his winning streak of adapting/directing interesting material. After his successful show "The Haunting of Hill House" and the Stephen King adaptation, "Gerald's Game", his most recent project is another Stephen King adaptation, in this case the direct sequel to "The Shining". The film focuses on the life of Danny Torrance, now an adult, dealing with ghosts of the past, which he tries to numb using alcohol. Trying to escape a series of bad decisions, Danny finds himself in a small town in New Hampshire, where with the help of new friends he starts putting his life back together. He starts utilizing his powers to help those in hospice, transitioning into death in a more peaceful manner (therefore his nickname, "Doctor Sleep"). He suddenly also gets acquainted with a young girl by the name of Abra, who is possessed of the "Shine", much like him, only far stronger. She has become aware of a group of supernatural creatures, under the guise of "The True Knot", who roam America, and have done so for centuries, consuming the shine from children (and killing them in the process). Danny is thrown into this situation where he has to help Abra escape the dangerous focus of this group, lead by the menacing Rose the Hat.
Mike Flanagan has made a career by smartly defying the conventions of what horror films are about: he privileges context definition, character building, over gratuitous gore and the habitual horror films trappings. In "Doctor Sleep" however, he has the huge legacy from Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" to tackle, which is coincidentally where this film loses some of its momentum. The film is a solid yarn, where we progressively learn about Danny, his life choices, and how the burden of carrying the ghosts from the past has alienated him and led on to a life of drinking. This universe is deftly explained, as is the introduction of the creatures who feed off from those who have the Shining. It's a film that could have easily lived on its own, but it opts to weave in the mythology of the Stanley Kubrick adaptation, veering off the original book. In trying to build these bridges with the previous film, there's a definite sense of trying to recapture what Stanley Kubrick did, so iconically, and those parts are simply not as effective as they were in the 1980 film. It's nonetheless a smartly written, acted and well realized adaptation of the book. Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson and Carl Lumbly all have an opportunity to create compelling characters and deliver solid performances. It's a film that while it doesn't soar as the original "The Shining" did, it's a solid endeavor from a very good director. Worth watching.

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