Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 33 wins & 138 nominations total
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWillem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson stated that they barely spoke a word to each other on set and were too exhausted to hang out together after a day of shooting because filming was so physically demanding due to the miserable weather conditions. While Pattinson stayed at a normal hotel with the rest of the film crew during the shoot, Dafoe lived in a little fisherman's cottage in solitude. On set, on the other hand, Pattinson would tend to eat and stay by himself during filming breaks, while Dafoe stayed with the crew. Both stated that they liked each other very much as soon as they had their first real conversation a few months later.
- GoofsOne of the folk songs used during one of the drunken sessions in the film is 'On a Monday Morning', written by Cyril Tawney in about 1966 - but the film is supposedly set in the C19th.
- Quotes
Thomas Wake: Yer fond of me lobster aint' ye? I seen it - yer fond of me lobster! Say it! Say it. Say it!
Ephraim Winslow: I don't have to say nothin'.
Thomas Wake: Damn ye! Let Neptune strike ye dead Winslow! HAAARK!
Thomas Wake: Hark Triton, hark! Bellow, bid our father the Sea King rise from the depths full foul in his fury! Black waves teeming with salt foam to smother this young mouth with pungent slime, to choke ye, engorging your organs til' ye turn blue and bloated with bilge and brine and can scream no more - only when he, crowned in cockle shells with slitherin' tentacle tail and steaming beard take up his fell be-finned arm, his coral-tine trident screeches banshee-like in the tempest and plunges right through yer gullet, bursting ye - a bulging bladder no more, but a blasted bloody film now and nothing for the harpies and the souls of dead sailors to peck and claw and feed upon only to be lapped up and swallowed by the infinite waters of the Dread Emperor himself - forgotten to any man, to any time, forgotten to any god or devil, forgotten even to the sea, for any stuff for part of Winslow, even any scantling of your soul is Winslow no more, but is now itself the sea!
Ephraim Winslow: Alright, have it your way. I like your cookin'.
- SoundtracksTis Brasswork
Based on the Poem: "Brasswork: The Light-Keepers Lament" by Frederic W. Morong, Jr.
Melody by Mark Korven
Performed by Willem Dafoe
The decision to film in black and white is a stroke of genius. Every scene is filled with ominous portent and obscuring shadows. The film plays with our perceptions and moods throughout. There are moments of comedy amongst the gloom, the two men stranded on the rock endure a tumultuous relationship, by turns suspicious, angry and even savage, then there are unexpected moments of comradeship fuelled by alcohol. We are forced to question constantly who is mad, or perhaps madder? Are they in the grip of a storm, or are they in Hell?
And the soundtrack! No one I can think of uses sound to create atmosphere quite like Eggers. Foghorns, the relentlessly howling wind, the seagulls; is it any wonder if they were as mad as a box of frogs?
Willem Dafoe is absolutely fantastic in The Lighthouse. He really should be considered for an Oscar for his turn as the saltiest of old seadogs, spouting rage-filled Melville-esque invective straight from Davey Jones' locker, at sporadic intervals. I don't think there are many actors who could've pulled off that performance with such aplomb. He chews the scenery mercilessly, but it is exactly what the role requires; his Thomas Wake is a force of nature in human form.
The Lighthouse won't be to everyone's taste, and it would be a mistake to view it as a moody twin sister of The Witch (which was a genuine horror); but I found it to be mesmerising and intriguing, and a fabulously well-crafted psychological drama with trimmings of horror.
- c-kelsall
- Mar 2, 2020
Every A24 Horror Movie, Ranked by IMDb Rating
Every A24 Horror Movie, Ranked by IMDb Rating
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Ánh Sáng Tăm Tối
- Filming locations
- Cape Forchu, Nova Scotia, Canada(Lighthouse and buildings exterior movie set)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $11,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $10,867,104
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $427,797
- Oct 20, 2019
- Gross worldwide
- $18,129,854
- Runtime1 hour 49 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.19 : 1