The Lighthouse (2019)
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The Lighthouse Movie Review
The Lighthouse is a 2019 horror film directed by Robert Eggers and starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. It’s one of the year’s greatest pictures.
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“Why’d ya spill yer beans?“
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It follows two lighthouse keepers who start to lose their sanity when a storm strands them on the remote island where they are stationed. I expected amazing things from this movie judging by the premise, the posters and the trailer, and I am glad to say that I wasn’t disappointed by the end product in the slightest. It managed to meet even my wildest expectations.
This is along with ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ the best and most artistic film of the year. It is the type of artistic picture that is never too showy or pretentious, but artistic in the truest sense as every scene matters, and every sequence is gorgeously composed in its entirety. Every aspect in the film is amazing, but let’s first analyze the plot.
It’s the kind of story that leaves many unanswered questions, and is possible to analyze and give your own meanings to it. I love that ambiguous nature to it as it made the film more unique. It can mean that most of it is imagined by a protagonist who lost his mind or, more probably, that he was insane to begin with. I also really found its homoerotic imagery intriguing as that also led to a complex picture, especially in the power dynamic between the two.
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I had a problem with the animal cruelty, but still those seagulls were suitably very creepy, and they reminded me of ‘The Birds’ a lot. The seagulls in particular clearly stand for the theme of man versus nature, and how imposing nature can truly be. The animal imagery in the film is fantastic, and the same goes for the mermaids and the tentacles. Speaking of Hitchcock, there is another reference later on in the movie, that time to ‘Psycho’, and I absolutely ate that up. It was a perfect homage in my opinion.
In its approach, The Lighthouse is both silent and talkative, and to me that was a perfect mix as it worked tremendously in both areas. The film works so amazingly as a silent feature that its dialogue could have been overwhelming, or even ill-fitting. However, that is not the case at all. The conversations that they share reveal a lot about their characters and backstory while leaving some parts a mystery suitably so.
But some lines of dialogue are downright funny how well performed and realistic they are in the time reference. This is how people talked in the 1890s, and the film got that beautifully and meticulously through a plethora of antiquated expressions, and sailor slang. And the arguments that they have are fantastic, and they make the film very intense. Those arguments also showcase how isolation and loneliness can make a person go insane, and especially how putting two people who do not get along in one small place can make both lose their mind.
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As for the silent approach, it worked out like a charm. The film did remind me of Hitchcock films in some areas, but most of all its influences lie in the 1920s silent cinema, especially in the actors’ very expressive facial features, eyes that tell many words and overall a highly artistic usage of its setting and imagery. It literally reminded me at times of the best silent films such as ‘Sunrise’ in its incredible atmosphere, and that is some high praise indeed.
So yes, the cinematography is the year’s best along with ‘Portrait’. The film is truly artistic thanks in large part to its very crazy, weird imagery that for me worked entirely as it made sense given the context of the story. Again, the seagulls were among the standouts, but the titular lighthouse itself too, and of course that entire ending is mesmerizing with the lights, and the final moment is both disgusting and horrifying.
The film was shot in the oldest possible form of black-and-white photography, and I adored it to pieces. That’s because I always found the horror genre most fitting with this type of photography, and this is a glorious example of that. It felt pleasantly old-fashioned, and thus timeless in my opinion. And the format is sweetly old-fashioned.
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I also have to commend the film’s score which is very creepy, accompanying its disturbing imagery superbly and featuring some brilliant, intense sound effects. The film may be seen as a thriller, but it surely is an atmospheric, old-fashioned and still very creepy horror feature with its best asset being the psychological side of things.
The Lighthouse is a chamber drama with just two actors, and both delivered the year’s greatest male performances. I personally wasn’t the biggest fan of Pattinson before this movie, but here he proved me wrong. His face is incredibly impressive, and thus he was perfectly cast for this movie. He also sold the emotional scenes, but simply his madman character felt real how well he portrayed him.
Even better is Willem Dafoe. ‘The Florida Project’ was great for him, but then he had an amazing turn last year with ‘At Eternity’s Gate’ where he delivered the year’s greatest actor performance. This continues his string of terrific projects, and amazing performances. He made this character so real and so truthful to the setting and time period both. He is also very expressive, but even better at emoting, and selling the argument scenes. He is brilliant.
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The two characters share great interactions because the actors are both terrific at what they did. The editing is also impressive, the pacing fantastic and the film is riveting from beginning to end. The direction from Robert Eggers is phenomenal, and this is such an improvement over his previous feature ‘The Witch’. He is a very promising talent indeed.
Whereas The Lighthouse is brilliant in its meticulously crafted, often funny and frequently intense dialogue, it’s also accomplished in its silent-film approach thanks to the actors’ very expressive faces, a lot of memorable, weird imagery and absolutely brilliant, gorgeous and highly artistic black-and-white photography. Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe delivered two outstanding performances with the former being immensely expressive in his eyes alone while the latter is reliably amazing, raw and simply perfect in every moment. As a result, The Lighthouse presents a rare example of a modern American picture that is an undeniable work of art, and a timeless genre masterpiece.
