The Lighthouse review
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. For those who know me you know about my love for horror films so once a month I’m going to review and discuss a scary flick. We’ll look at the classics, some new films, and I want your suggestions on what I should review. I’ll do my best to cover all the different genres within the genre – slashers, ghosts, monsters, etc.
SPOILER ALERT! – These will be reviews so if you haven’t seen the movie you’ll want to watch it first before you read this. Let’s do this.
THE LIGHTHOUSE
Robert Eggers made a film in 2015 called The Witch. I love it. It’s beautiful. It’s scary. It’s period accurate. So now I need to see his next film The Lighthouse. Not a big tagline on this one – Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890’s.Essentially that is the plot but there sure is a lot more to the film.
Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson star as Wake and Winslow respectively. The film opens with Winslow showing up on this island to work with the grizzled sea captain type Wake. It’s dark and gloomy and is pretty much that way for the rest of the film. The two men eat together every night by candlelight and handle different duties during different shifts and lots of strange things happen throughout the 100+ minutes of runtime. I think it’s too easy to give a synopsis of this film because it’s more important to talk about what this movie is. Or isn’t?..
It's shot in 4:3 black and white which is always a nice touch in any film but it’s the first indicator that this movie is different. The first scene immediately lets you know the mood and tone for the film. I really love the sound of the horn blowing for what seems like the whole movie. These men don’t necessarily care for each other’s company and Wake certainly lets it be known he’s the boss. Winslow wants to work the light itself, but Wake is very clear that is his duty. Which as we see entails getting naked while he’s there and we see it’s full power and the end of the film.
Dafoe and Pattinson are excellent. Dafoe’s character Wake is the perfect weather and time hardened old bastard who has been doing this forever and will put you in your place. Winslow seems to be the young, eager man who wants to learn but has little patience for Wake. As time goes on the two do become closer while simultaneously growing angrier toward one another.
My best description of this film is that is really a compilation of filmmaking techniques. We mentioned the aspect ratio and black and white aspect already but much more. Character study for sure. Jerry Seinfeld might say this is a movie about nothing, so our two keepers – or wickies as they refer to themselves – are the whole thing. Just seeing two men taking care of a lighthouse is boring. I don’t want to watch that. I do want to see two men unravel as they spend every second with each other though. Where they are at scene 1 until end credits. Watching Wake berate Winslow and Winslow’s frustration and anger grow are expected but enjoyable to see. Watching them slip away from everyday life especially after they find a crate full of booze. After awhile you know things are going to end terribly wrong and you can’t wait to see how exactly.
It's about mood and atmosphere. Beautiful gloomy days with outstanding candle lit dinner scenes (Wake really wants Winslow to like his lobster by the way) Fabulous New England storms. Lovely to watch the raging sea and the sets with pounding wind and rain. It’s about period films. It’s about an unfinished story by Poe. It’s about psychology and male sexuality. About wonderful sound design. It has very disturbing scenes involving mermaids, tentacles, and a very intense scene of a man beating a seagull to death. Men drinking themselves stupid then singing and holding each other.
Robert Eggers went SO deep into the intricacies of The Witch and that’s what made it so wonderful to me. The Lighthouse is a representation of what ideas he has and what he can do. I love pure or non-narrative cinema and this film does that well too. One of my favorite TV shows is Life Below Zero which chronicles people living remote lifestyles in Alaska. One of the characters mentions she always wanted the job of lighthouse keeper. Not on this island you don’t.
Enjoy the trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyag7lR8CPA