My take is that this isn’t just a movie set during Christmas, it’s a movie about Christmas. I knew Kubrick was up to something upon seeing the like 50th Christmas tree. Something about seeing them so consistently was almost unsettling, knowing how much intention Kubrick puts into everything. Maybe something about indulgence in the name of the sacred? Just like his other top-tier works, it’s cool that we’ll never know.
The way he packs so much fear into a single frame is remarkable, it’s something he’s always done but the way he does it here really justifies people calling this one of his best.
