User Reviews

Bleak and brooding, "The Lighthouse" is a study of the descent into madness of two lighthouse keepers, stranded beyond their original four week assignment, and despairing in the fate of their existence together. Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) and Tom Howard (Robert Pattinson) are alternately at each others' throats or gleefully imbibing their way into a state of stupor, at one point suggesting a homoerotic encounter, but quickly devolving into yet another fit of pique. Of the two, it's Pattinson's character who eventually experiences visions and nightmares as he goes about his daily chores, subservient to the demands of his nominal supervisor Wake. Cinematically, the picture reminded me of all those great black and white films of the Thirties and Forties emanating from the silent era. It even has a 'B' quality look, though the subject matter goes beyond the simplistic efforts of early film, and challenges the viewer with a myriad of interpretations one could assign to the story. That the fate of the two men ends so tragically is no wonder given the exposition, and you'll come away convinced that it's bad luck to kill a seabird.

I can't necessarily say this was a bad movie but I can say I have no idea what I just watched. The movie was shot beautifully and visually appealing in most scenes. The acting was a 10/10 for both Defoe and Patterson as they both had outstanding performances. This was a very strange film. A lot of random stuff goes on at that light house that makes you wonder if it's happening or if it's one of Patterson's delusions. This was a very different movie considering the strange aspect ratio and the old school black and white look coming back. I enjoyed The Witch which is what lead me to see this film and they were two very different movies. This was a very strange film.

Greetings again from the darkness. The opening sequence plays like something from 1920's era cinema. The chug-chug-chug of a boat slamming against the waves of an angry sea while birds flap and chirp alongside. We hear the wind and "feel" the severe ocean spray. Several minutes elapse before any word is spoken. Immediately noticeable is the nearly square aspect ratio ... the rarely (these days) seen 1.19:1 frame, making the black and white images appear both surreal and ominous.

All of the above makes perfect sense when we realize this is writer-director Robert Eggers' first feature film since his 2015 indie horror gem THE WITCH won dozens of festival awards. Mr. Eggers obviously has his own vision for projects, and his approach borders on experimental, eschewing conventional. He co-wrote this script with his brother Max, and evidently much was drawn from the actual journals of lighthouse keepers ... something that is evident in the vocabulary and the effects of solitude.

4-time Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe stars alongside Robert Pattison as the two men charged with a 4 week assignment of tending to a lighthouse. The film is set in 1890, and Dafoe plays Thomas Wake, the epitome of a salty old sea dog, replete with bad leg, hardcore Atlantic accent, and upside down pipe. Pattinson is Ephraim Winslow, the assistant Wickie, who faces non-stop demands from Wake, and initially maintains a quietness as he goes about his duties ... what Wake calls the 'doldrums.' We learn little about either man's past. For Wake, other than knowing his previous assistant went mad, the clue is when he mentions "13 Christmases spent at sea" costing him a family. For Ephraim, when Wake asks, "Tell me what's a timberman want with being a Wickie?" we get some insight into Ephraim's desired future.

Eggers has delivered the anti-buddy movie. It's a bleak, slow-motion race to insanity caused by being isolated with only one other person ... a person you aren't fond of. Only this is not a director or a film content with showing two men stuck on a storm-battered rock, as they slip towards insanity. No, we viewers are forced to experience some of these same feelings - how much of what we see is actually happening? It's mesmerizing and hypnotic, and the above-mentioned narrow screen aspect purposefully emphasizes the sense of confinement and claustrophobia.

With no color and only a couple of characters ... OK, 3 if you count the mermaid ...OK, 4 if you count the seagull ... the film still manages to pound us with sensory overload. We can barely process all we are seeing, despite relatively minimal 'typical' action. The black and white images are mostly just various shades of gray, and sunshine is non-existent. Cinematographer Jarin Blaschke (THE WITCH) embraces the dreariness by allowing the fog, lanterns, candles, wind, rain, and harsh elements to become characters unto themselves. However, nothing is in sync with our two leads. Composer Mark Korven fills the many lapses in dialogue with sounds and tones we haven't heard before, yet they fit perfectly here. This is also quite likely the first film to utilize farts and foghorns in harmony.

Director Eggers filmed this on Cape Forchu in Nova Scotia, and the extreme weather and less-than-welcoming terrain create quite the visuals - as do the faces of our two lead actors. Dafoe may never have chewed scenery so delightfully as he does here, and Pattinson starts slowly before delivering his best work - including a ferocious rant that is fascinating to watch and contrast to his character's first meal with Dafoe. Is this a horror film? A fantasy? Macabre comedy? There is simply no way to describe this other than bizarre. It's truly miserable cinema, and I loved every minute of it.

You may read among these opinions terribly miscast as "reviews" how "boring" this film is, or how "silly things" happen that "confused" the writer, or how "nothing happens". I'm here to tell you that those are wrong. Period.

Look; just because one doesn't understand the actions before them, or the meaning and cadence of 19th century English, or cannot fathom the consequences befalling characters or their predicaments, does not mean that such complaints are justifiable when clearly the issue is the inability to comprehend the material. I'm sure, for instance, that some would look on the Mona Lisa and pronounce the piece amateurish and without much to merit it's fame. This is the case regarding these misrepresentations of The Lighthouse. Every detail of this story is supported by either dialogue, action or imagery, the plot has no ambiguity, and all contrivances are derived from the environment the characters inhabit or the history they have brought with them.

*** Spoilers ***

Simply explained, this is a Promethean tale: Dafoe is the Zeusian taskmaster under the influence of the worldly and otherworldly, while Pattinson, haunted by his conscience, covets what is forbidden. However, it is much, much more than that.

Pattinson plays convincingly a godforsaken Maine transient, a timberman of late, looking for anonymity in becoming a wickie, a lighthouse keeper, and Willem Dafoe will most certainly receive the Oscar for Best Actor (if there remains any integrity in the Academy's process of selection) for his salty portrayal of the current keeper of the flame, a Protean Old Man of the Sea. While none of the sub-themes are particularly original (solitude and madness, heavy consciences), it is the telling of them that impresses viewers (after all, there are only 7 archetypal storylines, the themes of which have been visited and revisited endlessly) and Eggers proves masterful at his craft yet again.

Besides the outstanding performances from both actors, the incredible sound design fosters the idea that the lighthouse itself is alive, an unmoving, evil kaiju, not unlike Ishiro Honda's Godzilla in some regards and, coupled with another excellent unsettling Michael Korven soundtrack, gives an overwhelming sense of dread at times. The gorgeous black and white photography, filmed in Movietone ratio (1.19:1, popular in the 1920's, it was 1.33:1 that lost ratio due to a synchronized soundtrack) at once recollects German expressionism (as does the set design), and hints at the foreboding and murderousness of Fritz Lang's "M".

The film is as simple as it is complex, imaginative as it is familiar, psychological as it is physical, and every bit as entertaining as it is horrifying. I'm thrilled as can be by Mr. Eggers' storytelling and anticipate further greatness from him.