Good concept, poorly executed.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

What an incredibly insightful and interesting behind-the-scenes look at the film making process. The best way I could describe this film, is exactly how it describes itself. Imagine Stanley Kubrick's daughter capturing footage on the set of "The Shining", and you'll probably have an idea of this short documentary.She follows the actors, the crew, director, and even some visitors that come in between shots and are flustered to meet "Jack Nicholson" and "Stanley Kubrick". I put their name in quotes because, like those visitors, many people are quick to put Jack, and even more so, Stanley Kubrick on a pedestal. This is probably deserved, but what makes this documentary so great, is that, perhaps due to Vivian's closeness to the set, the feel remains intimate without being reverent. There's an easiness and honesty to it.You can kind of tell she's her father's daughter, because the shots on set are handled so languidly. One of the best parts of the movie is just watching as the camera smoothly just follows an actor through elaborately constructed halls passing by various crew members, or just watches Stanley Kubrick, a figure some people hold as a sort of enigma, nonchalantly talking while all these other things are happening in the background.As clichéd as it sounds, the first thing you learn in screen writing is to "show more than tell". I think it's ironic that some people are disappointed that the film does just that. We see Stanley Kubrick working, but we never see him sitting down explaining his decisions. Which is kind of just right.Also, an electronically remixed classical track that didn't make it into "The Shining" closes out this film, and I think it's just the perfect touch.*I titled this Vivian Kubrick's Masterpiece, not only because it's perfect in its own way, but also because it's her ONLY film to date. She made this when she was 17, and it already has the marks of a skillful director and cinematographer. Most feedback on this documentary cites that it's about a great film maker, what they sadly usually don't say is that it's also BY one. I really hope she finds her way back into making movies.

Stanley Kubrick, usually known as a nearly dictatorial perfectionist, comes across as pretty low-key in his daughter Vivian's documentary "Making 'The Shining'". Focusing on the production of Kubrick's movie version of Stephen King's novel, this isn't much different from the average documentary (although it was the first time that I had ever heard Kubrick speak).Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd all get instructed by the famous director, while Leon Vitali (Lord Bullingdon in "Barry Lyndon") assists in the production. Meanwhile, James Mason and Kubrick's mother visit the set. It looked like quite an experience. Probably the most fascinating scene in the documentary is when they sweep the blood. Not a great piece of work, but OK.

In maybe one of a few rare glimpses on screen (or even off), Stanley Kubrick is on film, behind the scenes, making a movie. It is one of the shames of cinema that there isn't more footage of him, or even in this half hour documentary he isn't interviewed. But his presence is fascinating all the same, and when he is shown directing he is what has been perceived as for decades- creative, different, controlling, authoritative, and somehow generous as a director. There's one scene that's rather interesting where Kubrick's mother is sitting with his son and Jack Nicholson having a small conversation; it's admitted that there isn't a finished script, that new pages come every day for the actors. The interaction between the people in this scene, and others, makes this worthwhile. I've yet to see the DVD version so I can't comment on Vivian Kubrick's commentary track (the director's daughter, who was perfectly 'cute as Heywood Floyd's daughter in 2001). But what she presents for us is candid, and usually very insightful. An interview with Nicholson, who's sound-bites are choice, and wise as well when he says, "I want to be out of control as an actor...otherwise it will predictably be MY work, and that's no fun." But there is also a heartfelt interview with Scatman Crothers, who came out of filming in the arduous conditions of Kubrick's perfectionism (there were dozens and dozens of takes that Crothers had to give, according to trivia). There is a not too shabby interview with Danny Lloyd, who played the boy in the film. And Shelly Duvall, who does lay it as straight as possible about what it was like to work with the director; the scene that is captured over Kubrick's shoulder (of an argument between actor and director) is a little uncomfortable, but in the end one can see why Kubrick wanted it the way he did for the finished film. Usually 'making-of' documentaries are hit or miss, depending on the films of course; one would prefer an audio commentary, or a long interview with the filmmaker about the making of the film. But as the Shining has neither of these - and is the only place to fins unadulterated footage of the iconoclast and his cast at work on screen and off (if you discount the Criterion DVD release of Spartacus and a recent release of Dr. Strangelove) - it's well worth the half hour; the added music by Carlos is a nice touch.

I can't seem to stop watching or thinking about this little documentary and it really makes me want to view the rest of the footage. How can one be so obsessed with a Making of film? I often find them more interesting than the films themselves. Jack Nicholson's camera charm antics, "beautiful! finish the assignment!" Vivien's ultra-cute sounding voice "Thats not true it's 8 o'clock." I was a bit disappointed in the new "A Life in Pictures" documentary from Jan Harlan, mostly banal interviews and film clips, where's all the behind the scenes footage from his various films? That's what I want to see, more footage of Stanley having a fit and getting frustrated. Thank god for Vivian's Making the Shining, she is a prodigy. To think she photographed that at age 17, with a large heavy Aaton 16mm (I'm assuming) and did a magnificent job of filming. A truly amazing job, absolutely astounding, incredible, precocious. I often wonder what line of work she went into later in life, she probably could have been an amazing cinematographer, which is a field somewhat lacking the female gender. Vivien, if your out there, contact me, I'd like to hire you to shoot my next film!