Doctor Sleep (Mike Flanagan, 2019)

Like the book, Doctor Sleep, which is very different in tone and atmosphere from the previous novel The Shining, the film "Doctor Sleep" is also very different in tone and atmosphere from the Kubrick film "The Shining." The film "Doctor Sleep" does it's due diligence in trying to tie together the differences between Stephen King's novel The Shining and Kubrick's film, and it does so subtly and without attempting to be flashy. Mike Flanagan deserves credit for having been able to come up with a screenplay which pulls this off. 

Flanagan is obviously not trying to recreate the Kubrickian magic of a master's seminal film, and more power to him for it. He's making a Mike Flanagan film. He's proven himself adept at giving the horror genre some heart, and does so to the advantage of "Doctor Sleep." In many ways, if "The Shining" is a documentation of the disease, "Doctor Sleep" is the documentation of the treatment. There are subtexts and tone in this film which make it very much akin to the best parts of "House on Haunted Hill," the series Flanagan did for Netflix. 

Danny Torrance is a very different man than his father was, purposefully, and that purpose is part of this story, and make no mistake, this is Danny's story. Ewan McGregor imbues Danny with a quiet, unassuming charm, and the warmth he's able to summon for others in need gives the film it's center. The title, "Doctor Sleep," is a direct reference to his ability to do so. Where "The Shining" was about Jack Torrance coming apart, "Doctor Sleep" is about Danny Torrance becoming the version of himself which he's been too afraid to be, because of the events he experienced as a child in "The Shining." Ewan McGregor pulls it all off, and he plays the kind of adult everyone has ever wished they had in their lives when they were children. 

It's because of a child character, Abra Stone, played by Kyliegh Curran, that Danny makes the final turn to become this best version of himself. Kyleigh Curran is very good as Abra. There are moments when her 13 year old character has to portray a kind of centered, almost overpowering confidence, in situations where virtually no child would be confident, and she genuinely comes across like she would win a battle of wills with anyone who made the mistake of attempting to engage in one with her. She is not a helpless, wilting flower. I almost wonder if King was making things a little too overt by giving her the last name stone, because she comes across as a character who has fire, steel and stone in her, and those moments are really enjoyable. 

There are bound to be some criticisms that Abra's character seems a little too adult for her age, but given she "shines" and that her power makes Danny's look like a candle compared to her 1,000 watt spotlight, it makes sense for the character. The demonstrations of her power in the film give some of the best beats of action in the film as well. Her power being as considerable as it is leads to the central conflict. 

Rose The Hat, played by Rebecca Ferguson, and her merry band of weird vampiric creatures can live for thousands of years on the "steam" which people that shine have. Once Rose gets a whiff of the delicacy that is Abra, she will stop at nothing get her. Rebecca Ferguson manages to take what are some of the sillier aspects of King's novel, and make them work. She is magnetic, charismatic, and intimidating. She sells the confidence of a hundreds or thousands of years old being. Until she comes across Abra, Rose is the most impressively powerful being around. She's beautiful, confident, and intelligent, mixed together with a sense of that she deeply enjoys being alive and having the power she does. Ferguson makes it seem like you might just be able to get past the whole "kill children and suck out their souls" thing if you got to be Rose The Hat as a result. She makes for a really phenomenal villain, and a great counter weight to McGregor's much more subtle Danny. 

This is a very good cast, all around. Carl Lumbly takes over the role of Dick Halloran, which had been so beautifully portrayed by Scatman Crothers. He and Cliff Curtis both deserve shoutouts for their supporting work, most especially because they're playing men who are kind in a very straightforward, simple way, and not something they're hiding behind anything else. "Doctor Sleep" is notable for that, it is a film full of genuinely warm, kind male characters. 

All in all, it's a satisfying experience. It's a good movie, not great, but well made and solid through and through. I'd recommend it, and will watch it again for both Rebecca Ferguson's performance, and the relationship between Danny and Abra. Everything works about the film, and Flanagan has written the screenplay, directed and edited a solid narrative with a satisfying emotional resonance.