The Lighthouse
Driven by its stars' maniacal performances, The Lighthouse makes for an impeccably crafted, though thematically uneven, blend of horror and humor.
There are moments throughout Robert Eggers ' feature take debut , The Witch , where it feel like the film is on the verge of metamorphose from a tense horror dramatic event into a full - blown dark comedy . Eggers eventually lease the dive with his soph project , The Lighthouse , delivering a movie that ’s as much a twisted satire of machismo as it is another gothic period psychodrama in the mineral vein ofThe Witch . And though the film is shamed of being a littletooin lovemaking with its own stylized weirdness , it ’s an operatic work of lyssa that rivals ( and perhaps surpasses ) Ari Aster’sMidsommaras 2019 ’s most WTF title . drive by its stars ' maniacal performances , The Lighthousemakes for an impeccably craft , though thematically spotty , blend of revulsion and humor .
countersink on a secluded island off the New England seashore in the nineties , The Lighthouserevolves around an senior pharos custodian ( William Dafoe ) and the mysterious younger humans ( Robert Pattinson ) hired to assist him for the next month . Despite their difference , the pair manage to get along well enough for the majority of their designated sentence together . However , just before the latter is due to ship off , the two are trap by a trigger-happy sea storm and forced to wait it out with one another . face with their purdah and dwindle ration , the men struggle to maintain a grip on their sanity , even as the line between reality and hallucination farm ever blurrier .
Much likeThe Witch , the craftsmanship inThe Lighthouseis second to none . With its industrial phone effects ( let in , Mark Korven ’s menacingly booming score ) , suffocate black and white photography , and dreamlike story logic , The Lighthouseevokes David Lynch ’s monochrome nightmareEraserhead , as well as the cosmic scourge of H.P. Lovecraft and the silent expressionist cinema of F.W. Murnau ( egger is an admittedNosferatufanboy , after all ) , mightily down to its vintage square box aspect proportion . It ’s also extravagantly furnished by yield designer Craig Lathrop , who fills the titular set piece and the type ' living quarters with all manner of interesting props and nicknack . As was true of Eggers ' first film as director , The Lighthouseexcels at immersing audiences in its diachronic background and isolated setting , from the costumes and scenery to the common yet unquestionable dialogue ( which , as the credits reveal , egger and his cowriter / blood brother Max based on the piece of writing of real - life story lighthouse keeper and , naturally , Herman Melville ) .
Dafoe , in particular , relishes every one of his lines inThe Lighthouse , and he and Pattinson seem to have a blast losing their minds here . This was clear a physically heavy shoot ( the two actors get souse to the bone , wrestle each other , crawl through the dirt - and that ’s not touch on the NSFW stuff ) , but it pays off and really inform the warped dynamic between the film ’s characters . Their family relationship is fascinating and funny in near - equal measure ; as with so many roommates , their disagreements range from fairish - Pattinson has to do all the back - breaking job while Dafoe stare fondly at " the light " - to petty , like Pattinson ’s rage over Dafoe ’s , well , flatulence ( yes , The Lighthouseincludes an amusive hunt fart laugh ) . They ’re like a cross between rivals and chums see in a multi - generational bromance - one that involves its parcel of intoxicated soul - bearing , and possibly gaslighting . As a result , The Lighthousemakes for a captivating treatise on masculinity whenever their interactions are at the forefront .
It ’s the story where thing start to get messy , though . There ’s just not a whole lot toThe Lighthouse ’s plot of ground , and the moving picture ’s tempo suffer for it as it progresses further and further along . finally , Dafoe and Pattinson ’s interplay is simply more engaging thanThe Lighthouse ’s endeavor to jab viewers into wondering what ’s envisage or genuine , and if the picture ’s lineament might be trapped in a genuine purgatory ( not only one of their own devising ) . The trouble is that the movie pass too much crusade on the latter and progressively neglects its themes about male identity as its second half spiel out , in favour of indulging in one sequence after another of its leads becoming unhinged . So , when it finally does come back to the idea that Dafoe and Pattinson ’s seafarer have been locked in a power struggle this whole time , it comes across more as a secondary thought and not a grand finish .
For these reason , The Lighthousewill probably be more dissentious and recess in its collection thanThe Witch(which , true , is saying something ) . Far from being a tension - fueled and creepy folk tale in the vein of Eggers ' debut , The Lighthouseis more of a revulsion - clowning by way of a silent film homage - not to mention , yet another addition to Pattinson and Dafoe ’s corporate body of just plain weird movies . egger still has an effect with favour dash over clarity in his work , but it ’s overnice to see him grow a distinct representative after only two picture show and observe ways to search theme about grammatical gender ( maleness especially ) that , while flawed , are oblige all the same . And once again , it conduct reprize : you ’re unbelievable to see a flick this fall that leaves you wonder what , exactly , just happenedquitelike this strange and moody tale of cabin fever , life at sea , and men with rattling facial hair does .
TRAILER
The Lighthouseis now playing in semi - circumscribed release . It is 109 minutes long and is denounce R for intimate content , nakedness , violence , shake up range of a function , and some voice communication .
The Lighthouse is a psychological thriller directed by Robert Eggers . Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson adept as Thomas Wake and Ephraim Winslow , two lighthouse keepers who begin to have strange and supernatural phenomena after they get stranded on a removed island in the 1890s .
The Lighthouse is a psychological thriller directed by Robert Eggers. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson star as Thomas Wake and Ephraim Winslow, two lighthouse keepers who begin to experience strange and supernatural phenomena after they get stranded on a remote island in the 1890s.
