The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse

Starring Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe

Directed by Robert Eggers

Sometimes I enjoy a movie that blatantly lays everything on the table and by the end we know exactly what happened and why it happened, because they're good escapist movies that don't require much cerebral thought.  Other times, however, I really enjoy a movie whose entire premise is ambiguous and multi-faceted, where after it ends I scratch my head in bewilderment at what I had just witnessed, because I want to be challenged in my thinking and see something completely original and spellbinding.  That was the case with 2017's "mother!" along with several others - now including "The Lighthouse," which is director Robert Eggers' sophomore effort and proves that not everyone suffers from the sophomore slump.  The film is a tour-de-force that is unrelenting and unyielding, offering no solace of peace or joy in its runtime, and serves as a car wreck - you know it's not going to end well.

The film centers around two lighthouse keepers who are tasked with maintaining an isolated lighthouse seemingly at the end of the world, and as their four-week stint progresses, both slowly become crazy.  The men both enjoy one another and loathe one another, and secrets begin to bubble to the surface that could be reality, or just their shared delusion.  You can never tell what's real and what's imagined, or even if both characters truly exist - and the film doesn't give you any subtle hints to a clear answer.

Robert Eggers and his brother Max wrote the script and Robert directed it, after directing his freshman debut "The Witch," which has been hailed as a modern day horror masterpiece, filled with terrific performances, unending dread, and a slow buildup to sheer insanity.  In many ways, "The Lighthouse" is a continuation of his previous work, but now instead of a 16th Century Puritan town it takes place in a 19th Century isolated lighthouse - but both include the same basic pieces that make both work tremendously: terrific performances, unending dread, and a slow buildup to sheer insanity.

The film rests solely on two acclaimed actors at the height of their careers.  Robert Pattinson has always gotten a bum rap in cinema since his biggest role was that of one Edward Cullen in the much (deserved) maligned "Twilight" series, a series that he himself has degraded and regretted.  Those teeny-bopper films cemented him in the eyes of every prepubescent girl as a sex symbol and nothing more, as he didn't really ooze talent due to the ill-written script and demand for him to remain stoic and monotone throughout.  Since then, Pattinson has gone on to do some tremendous independent work in films like "The Rover," "Good Time," and "High Life," but it's his performance as Ephraim Winslow here that has redeemed him from his earlier sins.  Here, he plays the younger lighthouse keeper who serves Thomas Wake in keeping the lighthouse maintained, and also seems to be running away from (or toward) something.  It's through his eyes that we see everything unfold in all its insane glory, and Pattinson truly sells the psychosis his character undergoes throughout.

As the elder statesman of the film, Willem Dafoe brings his traditional psychotic grace to the film as Thomas Wake, who's spent his whole life tending to lighthouses, but it's something about this one that truly captivates him.  He spends the film telling tall tales and warning younger Ephram of the curses of the sea (including not killing seagulls, and you can guess where that ends up), while he himself slowly delves into a world of insanity all his own - and wholly uniquely Dafoe.

The story itself is not easily compartmentalized, as it's not one clear, concise tale.  The simplest way of describing "The Lighthouse" is that it's a film about two lonely lighthouse keepers who slowly go insane due to their isolation, but that's barely scratching the surface of what the film offers.  There's hints to toxic masculinity, homoerotic nature, and even Greek myths paralleling the great Greek characters of Prometheus and Proteus - along with different sea allegories and tall tales.  No two people will walk away with the exact same view of what they'd just seen, and therein lies the sheer beauty of it. 

Apart from the performances, the entire setting is masked in symbolism, history, and mystery.  The lighthouse itself raises gracefully and serves as a symbol all its own, while the entire island itself is meant to provide a sense of claustrophobic rage that serves to add to the psychosis of the characters.  The set designs inside are pitch perfect, as something you'd likely experience in an old lighthouse during that time period, and Mother Nature herself added to the misery of the characters, as the set was inundated with storms that made the screen since Eggers didn't have to use any rain machines - and you see the true misery in Pattinson and Dafoe's faces.

The scoring and sound effects invite the viewers to share in the craziness of the characters as well, as the music ebbs and swells like the waves crashing the shore, and the sounds permeate your very soul, especially some cringe-inducing screams and the final denouement that threatens to blast your eardrums clear off.

The most genius thing Eggers did - besides writing the darn thing and casting Pattinson and Dafoe - is how he chose to film the movie.  Much like the classic era of cinema that the movie takes place in, it was filmed in totally black-and-white (or, technically, gray) on a 35mm negative that leaves the filming aspect ratio of 1.19:1, and the mono audio mix that fully immerses the audience in the experience by not allowing us to escape the terror that we're witnessing, due to the aspect ratio being that of basically a small box compared to the grand epics we're used to seeing on the big screen.

"The Lighthouse" proves that Robert Eggers is no one-hit-wonder, as he once again delivers an unrelenting spiraling descent into sheer madness and terror, delivered in the purest cinematic experience with awards-deserving performances by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe.

The Score: A+