By Joshua Cornelius

For The Shining, the notoriously reclusive Stanley Kubrick opened his set for this fly-on-the-wall behind the scenes documentary.  Who could float with impunity through the daily machinations of one of cinemas most fickle auteurs?  It’s none other than Vivian Kubrick, daughter of Stanley, who directed this documentary and years later scored his film Full Metal Jacket.

The result is unlike anything perhaps created in film history.  Because it’s Vivian behind the camera, actors and crew lift the veil of staged professionalism.  Jack Nicholson flirts with the camera as he might have flirted with Vivian herself.  Stanley blithely punches away at his typewriter, prepping new scenes for the days shooting.  Relationships on set are informed in short hand, and in a few brief moments, we get a sense of what it was like to be on a Kubrick set.

Unfortunately for us, Stanley and Vivian did not re-team for such an endeavor again.  In his later years, Vivian grew estranged from her father, eventually joining the church of scientology.  Her family claims to have had no contact with her for more than a decade.

If you have a few minutes, I promise this documentary offers more insight than most of the over-produced schlock crammed onto DVD’s over the last decade.  Like Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse, this unflinching glimpse at the production of a film could have only come from someone with the directors full trust, love and support.