The Lighthouse (2019)

[Eric Prime]

Why'd ya spill yer beans? Discuss this movie now!

[nghtvsn]

THE LIGHTHOUSE

 

Watched this movie in one of the coldest theatres I've sat in. Must have been 65 degrees in there. It was immersive in a way because the characters looked to be quite cold in their living situation too. Anyway, I enjoyed the film. The black and white really is a unique movie going experience. It really helps some visuals pop. For example there was a shot where the camera is looking up at Dafoe and the shadows that were created made this almost picture frame look that I liked a lot. I also liked the interior design of the living quarters. It felt very authentic to me. I liked the slow build between the characters and their interaction. There's many scenery chewing moments for both actors. The last few ending scenes were also well done. I think I could watch this again and might buy this on blu. 

 

Grade - B 

[Rorschach]

God, I can’t wait to see this film again just so I can write a full-blown analysis of it. This is far and away the best film I’ve seen all year; it surpassed my high expectations and went even beyond those. It’s a complete 2 hour descent into pure madness and I was with it every second of the way. Pattinson is incredible but Dafoe’s performance is on a whole other god-tier level that no one else can reach. Eggers’ direction is masterful and the presentation just completely sucked me in from the first frame. Just.... gah, so fucking amazing. This was easily my most anticipated film of the second half of the year and it just triumphed all of my expectations. It is the best film I’ve seen so far this year and it might even rank among the absolute best of the decade for me. I haven’t been this ecstatic for a film in so long, and I hope to thoroughly soak it all in with all of the many rewatches to come.

 

10/10

Edited November 3, 2019 by Rorschach

[Fancyarcher]

My review.

 

https://herecast.us/984898

[Webslinger]

Like his previous period horror film, The Witch, writer-director Robert Eggers’s The Lighthouse is odd, unnerving, and captivating in its psychological terror. This film is even more phantasmagoric than Eggers’s previous outing, utilizing its isolated setting and surreal imagery to conjure terror in its viewers’ minds. Eggers advances the plot at a languid pace and with a great deal of emotional distance between the characters and the audience, but his decisions are executed well enough that it’s hard not to get caught up in the considerable onscreen hysteria. The black-and-white cinematography is gorgeous and blocked out cleverly within the cramped, almost-square-like aspect ratio, and the art direction evokes a distinct feeling of eerie isolation. The third act goes off the deep end with a deliberate blurring between what’s real and what’s in its characters’ heads, and it’s shot and performed with such conviction that it’s hard to look away despite the savagery of some of the imagery. The performances from both of the leads are terrific. If anyone still has lingering post-Twilight doubts about Robert Pattinson’s acting abilities, his fiercely committed work here should silence them once and for all. Pattinson is scarily convincing as an increasingly unhinged man in both the physicality of the performance and the shift of his dialogue delivery from a measured approach to a crazed one. However, as strong as Pattinson is, Willem Dafoe is even better as the veteran lighthouse keeper who inflicts psychological torture on him. Some viewers will undoubtedly compare Dafoe to the broad stereotype of the sea captain from The Simpsons (and, like, it’s not an entirely unfair comparison), but it’s so clear from everything to his vocal cadence to his scarily heightened facial gestures that he’s wholly immersed in the role, and it’s absolutely mesmerizing to watch from start to finish. (“Why’d ye spill yer beans?” is also likely to go down as the line of the year in my book.) Much like The Witch before it, I find that I’m not quite as fervent a fan of The Lighthouse as others, but I still have sizable admiration for the singular experience Eggers has crafted and I look forward to seeing what else he has up his sleeve. 

 

B+

 

Stray Thoughts:

- So... I get that these guys are losing their damn minds and alcohol certainly isn't going to help matters on that front, but really: would you do anything but get smashed if you were stranded on an island in a storm like that?

 

- I was glad that I saw this movie with a savvy audience. Otherwise, I would have spent a good chunk of the running time wondering whether I was a sociopath for laughing at so much of the pitch-dark humor. One lady a few seats down from me had particularly strong reactions, laughing heartily at much of the humor and gasping at the scene where Pattinson smashes a bird to death. (And you know some Rime of the Ancient Mariner-esque curse shit is bound to go down after that.)

Edited November 23, 2019 by Webslinger

[TMP]

Feels like the perfect crossroad between Lovecraftian horror and Greek myth, told through the lens of early 20th Century Lighthouse keepers. Like a 2 hour descent into madness, and the aspect ratio only helps to support the feeling of claustrophobia that only grows the further along it moves. Pattinson crushed, DaFoe's a beast, farts, cum, mermaid sex, what more could you ask for!

A+