The Lighthouse
Directed By: Robert Eggers
The Lighthouse stars Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as two lighthouse keepers who take a four-week shift on a small island far out into the ocean. They spend four weeks pretty much driving each other crazy only for a storm to impede the much needed shift changeover.
Then the real fun starts.
Okay The Lighthouse is such a strange movie. It’s one of those definitely not for everyone. I liked it but didn’t love it. Truthfully I didn’t even like it as much as Egger’s first film, The Witch.
But the performances really are excellent. Which is something that always attracted me to the Witch. Eggers seems a really good bet for actors and great performances. In The Lighthouse- to me the best part story wise was as time and inhibitions slip away we start to see true identities reveal themselves in more ways than one.
Don’t spill your beans is always a solid argument in these situations. The film also definitely plays with time and narration.
Going into the Lighthouse I thought the black and white would be what threw me off the most. But actually it worked. The film is beautiful and it creates this sense of gloom on the island. The story invokes from myth and legends of the sea as well as Prometheus and that really helped make it look like I was watching a play.
But I didn’t really like the way some of the scenes (specifically the more questionable is this real or not scenes) were shot however so that’s a mixed bag.
Along with the identity and madness themes Dafoe’s old timer character tells Pattinson’s first-time out newbie that his previous second went mad and thought there was enchantment in the light. Which is also a really great and interesting idea. But for me the ending particularly the last five or so minutes it just felt like it didn’t entirely click together.
Recommend: Well… The Lighthouse is one of those movies where I think people should go with their gut. If you were interested in it- go for it. But if you are on the fence wait to rent it.