Some excellent cinematography. Some great monologues by Dafoe. But mostly, I’m left with a feeling of “What did I just watch...? And why...?”
Watching The Lighthouse is like trying to tickle myself, I know what I'm supposed to be feeling but I know what's going on more than feel what's going on.
And I'm not sure why. The cinematography is breathtaking, the acting is above par (Willem Dafoe shattered my low expectations of him) and the sound scaping is aural sex, yet still the effect the film had on me was more cerebral than psychological, and that's not what I've come to expect from Robert Eggers and A24.
I absolutely loved "The Witch" and was excited to see what director Eggers could do with two great actors and his great attention to detail and obvious talent.
Well, turns out - not much.
"The lighthouse" has fantastic cinematography, set decorations, costumes, and Dafoe and Pattinson are really digging into the material with gusto. The problem is that there's no discernible plot, nothing that happens on screen is particularly interesting, and it builds up to nothing.
Probably the most disappointing movie of the year for me. I hope for his next movie, Eggers pays as much attention to the plot and story as he does to veracity of the setting and the characters.
I don't understand all the hype and rave reviews for this movie. Yes, it was visually stunning. Yes, Dafoe and Pattinson gave superb performances. But everything else...was pretty pointless, meaningless, boring. Watching paint dry would have been a more productive use of my time.
My Review of ‘The Lighthouse’ in 3 Sentences:
I feel like I just watched a two-hour bar fight.
Even great cinematography can’t save a movie.
The farting was absolutely unnecessary.
This was a violently disappointing film. After what I considered to be a horror masterpiece in The Witch, I was rather eagerly awaiting this period horror piece starring the unlikely duo of Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson, and a mermaid. Unfortunately, I found it interminable.
It’s a movie too obsessed with its own weirdness to provide any payoff worth the viewer’s time. I found the writing to be overwrought and often incomprehensible. On the positive side, the two lead performances are quite good. Still, this movie pales in comparison to its predecessor.
This movie is a journey into madness. Trapped on an island 2 lighthouse keepers try hard to maintain sanity while drinking, hallucinating and slipping further into the uncertainty of their existence. Beautiful cinematography. A great watch.
What the hell is this!?? Bullshit?? Full of nonsense
STUPID
Great performance from Willem Dafoe,
I don’t understand everybody commenting on the great cinematography. It’s just been done in the old style of a good black-and-white movie but this is not a good movie
This is what the hooch will do to you.
"The Lighthouse" was exhausting. The characters sink into total insanity or maybe salty ol' Tom Wake is an evil sea god or something. I really never knew what was going to happen next and that is a rare thing when I watch newer movies.
The grainy black and white look and strange aspect ratio made me feel a bit like I was watching an older film. It takes some patience early as the characters are hard to understand and it starts a bit slow but ends up clipping along perfectly. Most definitely not a boring art film.
The Lighthouse feels like it's somewhere between a weird dream and a bad trip.
Robert pattinson and Willem Dafoe nail their roles as two lighthouse keepers, and very much carry the film throughout. The acting was amazing and the whole story flowed very well.
Definitely a weird one, but would recommend to some people.
could this be the first porn ever to get nominated for oscars?
my fucking mind is blown for how they mixed so many porn categories in one movie AND also made it artsy. They even had one HENTAI scene at some point.
The Lighthouse has all the hallmarks of an Eggers movie in its first hour. Retro accents and dialogue, tight framing and cinematography and a plotline that oozes with mystery, horror and intrigue. Unfortunately, this is dropped shortly after those initial 60 minutes and is replaced with a scattershot, arthouse interpretation piece that seems to say everything all at once, while concluding with nothing at all. Sure, many will find enjoyment from pulling all of the possible interpretation threads this movie has to offer, ranging from Marxist analogies of society, homosexual oppression metaphors and Greek mythological pantomime, but what is left under all that feels like a waste of a build up, and a waste of Eggers clear talent for storytelling and film making.
That isn't to say that The Lighthouse is a bad movie, far from it, but those looking for something on the same page as The Witch should look elsewhere. Both leads give some cracking performances, especially Defoe with his two hearty speeches that left the room silent in awe during my two viewings. I just wish they'd had a better narrative structure to follow so said performances didn't feel so hollow by the end credits.
Eggers has a unique style that I adore, I just hope his next outing is against a more refined narrative, and doesn't fall back on throwing multiple ideas at the camera and asking the audience what they thought stuck. Personally a disappointment, but I still enjoyed the composition of the movie as a whole. Heres to the next one.
I dig the aesthetic and it is very well made with two great performances from Pattinson and Dafoe but it was so weird I'm not sure I liked it.
This is a pretty overrated movie in my opinion. While watching it I kept waiting to see what it was that people loved so much about this movie but I never figured it out. Not as interesting as it’s made out to be.
My 4 only for cinematography and sound. This is a bad movie not offering anything. Why should I care about an ex-criminal and a sea-dog dive into madness? And since when seagulls eat men alive?
I don't really know what to say. It was so fascinating. Normally when I watch movies my attention span is very short and I always check how much time is left, but when I watched this I just sat there with my eyes glued to the screen. A movie has to be very good for that to happen.
I tried so hard to enjoy this film, but I didn’t.
However, I loved the cinematography and the phenomenal performances from Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattison.
I loved what they were trying to achieve, but it didn’t work for me. There was too much noise, loud and maddening, which only induced a headache rather than any psychological effects.
It’s one of those films you will love or hate. Although, I didn’t enjoy it, my rating is given for the cinematography and brilliant performances.
Sorry to those who loved it.
The acting was phenomenal. The cinematography was phenomenal, very reminiscent of Orsen Welles. But the storyline sucked. I tried to find something useful in the tale, but it was simply the worst story, no real point. As another commenter said, watching paint dry would have been better use of my time.
What does this movie want to be? What? I watched it, but I don't know. And i think the filmmaker doesn't know it either.
Great acting from DaFoe and Pattinson and this 1890-Look is on point, but the story is confusing as hell.
Eggers is the Terrence Malick of horror. Like Malick, his movies get rave reviews. And I don’t get it. The movies are terrible. I’m missing something. I couldn’t get through first 30 mins of this movie. Unwatchable.
This movie boring as fuck!
People are saying such a stupid things here in the comments. There's no magic, chemistry, alchemy or any other dumb things. The film is kinda surrealistic with a great climate and really good actors but boring, stupid and pointless if you're not into this stuff. It's more like a weird dream than a story
In a lot of ways this movie reminded me of The Lobster. In that movie there was a ton to like - a fantastic cast, a unique plot and a willingness to do something outside of what we usually see in today's movies. I wanted to love that movie as I wanted to love this movie although if I am being honest I enjoyed this one a little bit more. Even though we all know where the story was going it was interesting to watch the tenuous friendship between the two works devolve. In the end the story felt a little bit trapped, not unlike the two men themselves.
The acting was fantastic and that boosted my rating of the film. In the first half Dafoe does the heavy lifting but in the second half Pattinson shows chops that I didn't know he had.
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I have not found a movie in a very long time that is capable of creating such a fleshed out atmosphere as The Shining. I am shocked to say that this movie takes that atmosphere and emotion seen in The Shining and amps it up to new levels not yet succeeded sense this movies debut. The score, the lighting and the actors performances are all spot on.
10/10
A slow movie, but very immersive and maddening.
This movie is perfect; it has everything one could look for: Lovecraftian horror, mystery, comedy, homoerotism, a bit of gore and roleplay.
Robert Eggers never gave the game away, and there are so many interpretations I can take away from this movie, and I can't land on a single one.
The acting was tremendous, and I loved the accent. Going in, I was scared I wouldn't understand since it stays true to the 1860s, but I was able to get through it with no problem.
I think this movie could've easily been one of the movies that got nominated, but there is so much stigma around horror movies. So many good horror movies have not been in consideration cause of this stigma. I hope horror movies get the light of day in the future.
Just don't watch it. Long, boring and nonsens.
My 4 only for cinematography and sound. This a bad movie not offering anything. Why should i care about an ex-criminal and a sea-dog dive into madness? And since when seagulls eat men alive?
Strange but thought-provoking at the same time. Highlights: cinematography and original score
'... refusal to commit to any revealing detail undoes the goodwill, leaving a thick atmosphere without tangible meaning while blaming madness for lacking cohesion."
Well, this was a weird movie, to say the least. I didn't necessarily like it or dislike it, but I'm a little baffled at how some reviews and comments that I've seen are so positive, not that they shouldn't be. I may rewatch it in the foreseeable future or the unseeable future and see it in a different light, who knows. The performances of both Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe were captivating, in a way, I guess, but the movie itself wasn't; the way I see it. I'm expecting people, maybe a lot of people, to strongly disagree, which is fine. I, myself, if I were a different person, would too, if that makes sense. I guess I was expecting to be more entertained in a way I'm familiar with, you know? Again, I'd probably see this movie in a different light if and when I rewatch it, whether it's in the foreseeable future or the unseeable future. A 7/10 rating may seem outrageous given how what I just said may come off as opposing to such a high rating, but at the same time, a rating any lower doesn't seem appropriate as weird as that may be.
tommys distorted laugh at the end is so haunting
Maybe it's that I don't understand cinema anymore or I don't look for what I was looking for before and I prefer a cinema that entertains me and that's why it seemed like a real shit movie and I don't care if I see these super moviegoers here saying that it's a masterpiece.
A superbly made film about madness, isolation, alcohol, a pissed off one-eyed seagull, and farts
A bizarre film in just about every way, from its glorious visual and aural design to its grandiose acting to its jet black humour to its wonderful ambiguity to its avenging angels/seagulls, if you thought The VVitch was somewhat inaccessible, then you'll most likely despise every second of The Lighthouse, insofar as its subtlety, slow pace, and narrative abstruseness will surely frustrate those who prefer their horror in the mould of jump-scares and chainsaw-wielding escaped mental patients. However, if you favour the cerebral, difficult-to-define, and always slightly off-camera terror that was the foundational principle of The VVitc, or if you enjoy the oppressive dread of classic German Expressionist films, then you'll find much here to appreciate.
For my complete review, please visit: https://boxd.it/ZvKIT
This was a movie about how some people just don't do well in solitary settings.
Okay, I jest, but not entirely. This movie felt like a stage play, with the limited environments and extremely limited cast, not to mention the language involved. Many people would probably consider this an art film, and a movie that's being strange on purpose, but I appreciate it for pushing several boundaries at once. I expected Willem Dafoe's performance - he seems to be drawn to super weird movies - but Robert Pattinson was also a landmark performance. The way the plot dove in and out of both realism and fantasy was superb, masterfully done. Are these two men going crazy, or are you the viewer going mad instead? Was it all imagined by Thomas the younger? The sound design and cinematography were also amazing, all the creaks and drips and the blaring of the foghorn, the shots that are either so close or so far that you're not sure what you're seeing.
It was an EXTREMELY weird movie, and while The Witch felt longer than its 1.5 hour runtime (in a good way), this felt like it went on forever (in a good way). Those who are into such things might find that watching it while high or drunk lends it a different feel altogether.
NOTE FOR MYSELF SO I REMEMBER SOMEDAY, ONLY REPRESENTS MY OPINION/THOUGHTS FOR MYSELF NOT A “REAL REVIEW“, SO YOU PROBABLY WONT AGREE WITH IT
(also its not my 1st language)
6.5
rough describes that movie pretty good I think
-incredible acting
-hard to understand accent but it belongs in the movie
-started slowly -but not boring- and then got pretty weird and confusing, but that’s prob intentional ; Tommy going insane
Well made movie but probably not for everyone
A sterile exercise in style. If it had lasted 15 minutes it would have been a great short film
Immersive and oppressive in equal measure, The Lighthouse is an experience that can't be missed. The atmosphere is suffocating, and every element contributes to that. The black and white visuals are stunning, with examples too many to name like the light off the ocean or the uncanny silhouettes of the leads at night. It lends the film a sense of surreality, hyperreality, or both, depending on the scene. There are so many breathtaking, instantly iconic moments in this film, and all bolstered by Dafoe's and Pattison's masterclasses in acting. The way Dafoe can shift from something ethereal, skeletal, and demonic to a pitiable sad old man to a hammy parody and back- or simultaneously!- is something to behold. And Pattison is his equal, slowly revealing more and more of his raw, hair trigger core.
And that's just the half of it. The homoeroticism. The black comedy. The droning of the lighthouse then incorporated and evoked into the score.The amount left to viewer interpretation, thus allowing the film to be so many things at once. These all make up a film that just envelopes you in it, and one that begs you to repeat it over and over again.
Unique film, about harrowing psychological affects of isolation. Perfectly made via hypnotic cinematography. Stellar performance from cast.
Honestly, what did I just watch? But okay.
'How long have we been on this rock? Five weeks? Two days? Where are we?' - Thomas Wake
What a unique experience. First of all, the landscape, cinematography, and sound design in this film were outstanding. The duo was also fantastic! It's like I could feel the depression they were experiencing and I loved the subtle homoeroticism going on there. My complain is it felt too slow and I kinda lost my interest in the middle. The story, the montage of creepy and strange imagery, I don't fully understand them. This is one of those movies that flow better on second watch.
"The Lighthouse" is shot on black and white 35mm film in 4:3 aspect ratio to evoke old expressionist cinema. There is a bunch of clunky closeups of horrified Pattinson that looked delightfully old-school, as well as a few moments that reminded me of Bergman's early films, but the general aesthetic approach and acting are extremely modern. It's an extremely slow and masturbatory film, but never to the point that you can't catch up with what you are being shown.
Just like in his previous film "The Witch", Rober Eggers uses the ambiguity of superstition as the primary source of horror. It's never clear if there was actually something supernatural in play, or if the characters simply lost their mind as they spent their days in isolation and alcoholism. Maybe it could be a little bit of both. Everything we witness could just be their own interpretations of the facts based on their limited knowledge and popular belief. Or it could all be just a huge allegory. Definitely, a film that raises many questions, but that does not need answers to be enjoyed.
The mythological and cultural references are rather explicit, sometimes even mentioned by the characters, but as they never get explained, it might be hard to understand if you are not familiar with western culture and mythology. The dialogues are also pretty hard to follow without subtitles if you are not a native speaker.
My favourite film of all times, its funny, its haunting, it looks beautiful, the score is fantastic, william dafoe and robert pattinson got snubbed. An incredibly entertaining film i cannot recommend enough.
It's not mad, it's not horror, it's... nothing. Just stupid. Why waste 2 great actors with this script?
The life of a lighthouse keeper is not a glamorous one! Let this movie be a lesson to you if u were thinking about a career change! A miserable, cold, and mad tale, and also a very good one! Catch it but be warned, u might go a little crazy while watching it!
At some points, I thought there was just one person and one of his imagination, but at the end it changed. I think they were in a circle. Keep dying and coming back. One broken leg againg and again. Looking to the light and buuum.
We as a society really just going to ignore the part where Winslow treated Thomas like a dog, huh?
I have one thing to say : TWAS YEEEE WHAT CHANGED THE WIND ON US!! TWAS YEEE!!
Great movie.
Pattinson and Dafoe's chemistry in this movie is good with Dafoe's performance in this film is superb while Pattinson matches that with his own.
Since the Witch film of Eggers, I always look forward to his future projects and hopefully he will get the best picture award someday in Oscar by using his strength as a horror director.
Even though i didn't understand it as much as i want i found it great with memorable perfomances from both actors and super cinematography..Super weird and for sure not for everyone but surely i have to see it at least one more time to understand it good.7.6/10
not my kind of movie but the performances are maybe my favourite of 2019
With more questions than answers this movie makes you want to know more and more with all that strange aura. Great acting, great way to film and great scenes. Robert Eggers is bringing back the great old horror essence.
I think it would work more as a short film instead of a full feature
Mesmerizing, spellbinding, and strange. Pattinson gives an absolutely breathtaking performance in a film so hazy and rich that I was on the edge of my seat. This is the type of film I can only hope to experience when I go to the theater. A journey into the psyche and into the weird.
I am on board with Eggers and wherever he wants to take us.
[8.3/10] A grim portrait of mutual madness. The Lighthouse pulls no punches in its devilish descent. Instead, it rubs our noses in the ruddy, bilge-ridden ugliness of it all. Two men, trapped on some godforsaken rock for days or weeks or months, grow bitter and affectionate and vulnerable and insane at once. There’s no respite from their sorry state, no sparing of muck or murder, just two near-feral souls torturing one another in isolation until their sad end finally meets them.
And I liked it.
The Lighthouse is challenging at times. It’s a slow movie, one that forces its audience to reckon with the passage of time and sense of inescapability at the same time its characters do. Its two leads speak in mumbles and old-timey slang that make subtitles a must for anyone who can manage them. There’s a maddening ambiguity to which of them is losing his marbles when and whether or not some damning supernatural forces are at work.
But therein also lies the film’s charm, if you can call it that, and certainly its uniqueness. The tale of loose screws while trapped in some remote locale is not a new one. Everything from The Shining to The Simpsons’ “Mountain of Madness” has played on similar ideas. What distinguishes The Lighthouse, though, is the way it crams the viewer into the cramped spaces the two main characters occupy, and with it, the equally cramped confines of their wicked minds.
The film sees sea-battered “wickie” Thomas Wake hire young and hungry Ephraim Winslow to join him as his second in the titular lighthouse. What starts as a rough four-week tour of duty turns into an endless joint imprisonment, as a storm stymies their way off and soaks their rations. Their tempers run short. Their grievances grow large. And their grasp on what’s real and what’s not starts to slip.
That’s all there is. I don’t mean that derisively. The strength of the film is how it feels almost claustrophobic in its single-minded pursuit of these two men’s deteriorating relationship whilst practically marooned together. Willem Dafoe gives a downright volcanic performance as Wake, rambling, coarse, entitled, prone to fantasy, and full of the salty seadog patois that his partner acknowledges as parody and yet feels plausible. Robert Pattinson recalls Bill the Butcher of Gangs of New York as Winslow, with a grumbly Nor'easter accent, nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic, and seething resentment and lingering guilt through it all. They are the film, and it’s to the film’s benefit.
That said, it’s a cliché to call a setting a character in the story, but hats are off to the production designers and cinematography team. The film’s creatives not only find and construct a structure and a setting that seems to lurch and lilt and respond to the goings on of its occupants, but they shoot it in such a fashion that it feels supernatural, bedeviled, or divine with enough subtlety to toe the line of realism. The spartan, crumbling, yet mechanically intricate environs serve the film’s purpose and mood.
The atmosphere may be the strongest point to recommend The Lighthouse. Even before things start unraveling, there’s a mordant, lugubrious tone to these two men marking their time in a wave-beaten shack. The deliberate pace, the mix between long takes and quick cuts, the sense of the entire enterprise as a doomed and haunted one, makes your skin crawl even before things get bloody awful.
Much of that owes to the brilliant cinematography. Like many modern (and classic) pictures in black and white, the lack of color adds greater emphasis to light and shadow. That’s particularly useful in a movie like this one, where the abstract concept of the light, who jealously guards it and who’s denied access, and the figurative fall into darkness of both characters, is so important and at times even made literal. In the same way, how the figures occupy the frame is vital to the sensibility of each scene as a whole. Who’s large and who’s small, who’s high and who’s low, matters both to the composition of a shot and to the slow-simmering tension between Wake and Winslow.
Their power struggle is also given form by the exquisite sound design. The purgatory of the place comes through in the loud foghorns that cut through the storm, the whirs and racket as the structure buckles under the wind, or the ear-piercing static of a laugh or a scream or both at once that defies sanity or sonic certitude. And as mumbly as the two souls at the center of the film can be, they speak in rock-ribbed poetry, often as beautiful and stirring as their itinerant curses are disturbing.
And those curses are hurled with abandon. At heart, The Lighthouse is a star-crossed power struggle. Wake must be in command, barking orders and demands at his lieutenant as the one scrap of authority he can cobble together in his sorry existence. Winslow grows in his hatred of being under another man’s bootheel, not free to make his own way for honest work. There’s hints that each has killed other men for failing to accede to or accommodate each’s gut-spilt preferences on this front, making the pair a tragedy waiting to happen.
Only sometimes, it’s a comedy waiting to happen. For such a deliberately ugly film, it can be strangely hilarious. The two get into a thunderous snit over who likes whose cooking. One gripes about the other’s farts. There’s half-winking acknowledgements of the ridiculousness of their situation and personas. Amid all the seriousness of it, sometimes The Lighthouse plays Winslow and Wake as the world’s most bizarre and unlikely old married couple, and it works for laughs in an off-kilter sort of way.
But they’re seemingly destined to tear into one another. There’s a worker’s polemic tone to this one. Winslow labors without appreciation. Wake bosses him around as though it’s his right. The sense of miserly callousness and put-upon resentment that roils between them speaks to broader imbalances and injustices. Those incongruities are given life by two people who seem made to hate one another.
So when they’re forced together without end, riddled with unsatisfied lust, unquenched anger, old lives lost amid waves and timber, the psychosis that’s tugged at the corners of both men’s minds comes out in full bloom. In the few moments where The Lighthouse becomes impressionsitic -- depicting mythical creatures of the sea, dead compatriots, and quasi-divine providence as the two men sink deeper -- it’s at its maximalist, gut-wrenching peak.
The steady escalation of their violent lunacy, with no escape for them or the viewer, is the thrust of The Lighthouse. The film is stark but gritty, fetid yet ornate, a vision of true psychological ugliness and horror rendered with striking cinematic beauty. With nothing more than two mortals extended dark night of the soul, it gives us a glimpse of their inevitable, rough-hewn ends at one another’s hand. As they drive each other mad, a force greater than either comes to wash them away, as each wrests for power and finds none but the brutal release of their empty ends.
What a delightful pretty sick movie. Even David Lynch would be jealous at the end.
In the 1890s, two lighthouse keepers are alone on an unnamed and mysterious island in New England. One of them (Willem Defoe) is a grizzled veteran 'wickie' who is joined for a month by someone new to the profession (Robert Pattinson). When a storm hits and they are stranded on the island, alcohol consumption increases, tempers fray, and the line between reality and fantasy becomes blurred.
I thought Robert Eggers had peaked with his audacious and brilliant debut, The Witch, but it seems he has hit pay dirt again with this compelling and disturbingly claustrophobic follow-up.
Willem Defoe delivers one of the best performances of his long and distinguished career while Robert Pattinson seems to be channelling Daniel Day Lewis for a powerhouse acting display which should silence his naysayers.
Shot in stark monochrome in the unusual 1.19:1 aspect ratio and with a complex and thoughtful screenplay, this delivers on aesthetic, emotional, and intellectual levels. As he showed with The Witch, Eggers again created a completely convincing period setting – the costumes, make-up, and production design are phenomenally good – and the dialogue between the two men could have been written by Edgar Allen Poe.
It's a film I intend to revisit soon (I streamed this on Now TV and ordered the Blu-ray the next day) and will watch many times to understand the sociological, mythological, and philosophical themes.
THE WACPINE OF 'THE LIGHTHOUSE'
WRITING: 8
ATMOSPHERE: 9
CHARACTERS: 10
PRODUCTION: 10
INTRIGUE: 8
NOVELTY: 7
ENJOYMENT: 8
The Good:
What Robert Eggers has done here is somehow magically marvellous. He's utilized classic filmmaking techniques of times gone past, including cinematography, editing and direction to craft a film that could have been made in the 1940s, but still feels refreshingly modern.
The haunting sound of the lighthouse foghorn, the sound coming from the lighthouse machinery and the natural sounds from the wind and the sea help bring this contained setting alive just as well as the many moments of pure silence. The sound design and editing have been carefully matched with the visual trickery to form a whole narrative of its own.
The music is probably the most haunting thing about this film. It's dark and ominous, and while it sounds like something out from a Hitchcock film it still feels more like something we've never heard before. It also complements the film and its psychologically demanding sequences well.
Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson both carry out career-defining roles. Willem Dafoe has never been scarier or more intense and Pattinson finally shows his dramatic acting skills - and trust me, he is better than what he receives credit for. Most importantly, though, these two actors manage to singlehandedly carry the weight of the entire film from start to finish by complementing and challenging each other. Dafoe has the best soliloquy sequences, while Pattinson has the best moments of expressive acting.
The contrast between the perfectly mundane scenes with the characters working or having a conversation and the intense sequences of psychological horror make this movie atmospheric and tense, as you never quite know what to expect behind the next turn.
Most importantly, you can almost feel the pain, agony and loneliness connected to the work and experiences these people go through. You don't know exactly who is going crazy or whether it's both of them, but you know that it’s not easy living and working on that godforsaken rock.
I love how the acting turns more intense and the dialogue more bizarre as the film moves on. Robert Pattinson turns better and better as we near the end.
The last act goes all out The Shining on the audience as our two protagonists descend into madness and turn against each other, finally turning the tables from the original set-up.
The Bad:
The basic premise of this film doesn't carry until the end. The final 40 minutes or so are out of juice resulting in a slightly overlong experience.
This might be one of those films that require multiple viewings to fully grasp. I don't know if there's supposed to be a deeper meaning to this film since the main plot is fairly thin and doesn't evolve a lot throughout the film.
The Ugly:
That night the Green Goblin and the Batman shared their life experiences.
WACPINE RATING: 8.57 / 10 = 4,5 stars
A really interesting, but not for everyone, genre mix thriller / horror / fantasy film with a grandiose harmonizing cast in the form of William Dafoe and Robert Pattinson.
The film was shot completely in 4: 3 black and white format, which corresponds to the earlier 1920s Hollywood films.
Because of this idiosyncratic format, the film appears very oppressive in its entirety, which captures the narrowness of the scene of a lighthouse island very well.
But even this format is not for everyone for almost two hours of film.
Furthermore, the dialogues, which deal a lot with the mythology of the seafarers, are not easy fare. Unfortunately, it is also one of those films that simply put the ending in a completely confused way and leaves the audience with many question marks.
But by and large, the film thrives on the two actors who stand out for their roles perform.
not a bad movie of course, but i guess for a specific taste. i didnt get it but it was really interesting to watch.
Damn ye! Let Neptune strike ye dead Winslow! HAAARK!
- Thomas Wake
The “Witch” the Robert Eggers maiden voyage was a dark twisted mind bender that had me intensely lock in on from start to finish. While “The Lighthouse” is cinematically beautiful, shot in 1.19:1 scale to give it the very claustrophobic look and feel. As well as in black and white to give it all the 1800s ambiance. The acting was superb. I just didn’t have the feel of dread and madness I believe was intended. It is a good follow up, but A little bit of a bummer. Can’t wait for his next project.
:ship::anchor::candle:
It's a difficult movie that perhaps warrants a rewatch to catch on on what one might have missed.
Incredible performances. Very unique experiences. I don't know if I'd rewatch it, though, just because it's so anxiety-inducing.
Fascinating, gothic, and dark. The performances of the two actors make it worth watching (especially Pattinson), but you have to be a fan of films that "reveal little" to fully appreciate it. In my opinion, it has been described a bit too enthusiastically as a masterpiece, but it's certainly an original film to be watched on a stormy winter night.
I loved dafoe farting. 10/10
Oh dear God! What the F*** did I just watch?? I honestly can't come to grip with what I just put myself through!
This is just a big ol' bag of turds!
And to everyone who tells me "this is pure art" and "you just don't get the symbolism".
No! This is just one big "weird for the sake of weird" super pretentious failing attempt to copy both Bergman and Von trier. :thumbsdown:
as f*cked up as this movie is, i gotta say, Willem Dafoe.
this man can ACT. and his single shot long ass lines scenes? god. DAMN.
Insanity, broken spirits, sailor cursing - pure madness. Pattinson’s and Dafoe’s nutty performances were brilliantly convincing.
this movie is absolutely gorgeous, it's pure visual poetry !
The Lighthouse is a film that has received great praise, but it may not be to everyone's taste. While the cinematography is decent, some viewers may find the plot too weird and difficult to follow. The slow pacing of the movie may also turn off some viewers, who may find the film overrated overall.
I respect it as an experience, but it’s lacking that deeper layer that I want out of a movie like this.
Also, for a movie this unconventional, I found it oddly predictable at points.
Still, this is too well crafted (terrific sound, great cinematography), acted and written to neglect.
It’s an effective nightmare of a film, one that’s also quite funny at points, but the subtext is too broad and unspecific for me.
6.5/10
The visual cinematography is absolutely amazing, but outside of the artistic perspective, it runs very slow and can definitely get pretty boring.
What a boring movie. I always know this when I start skipping parts just to finish it.
Willem Dafoe was splendid in this. Very good acting, probably the only good thing in this movie. Overall, pretty weak sauce.
guess my kind of movie hope it comes to my place in palakkad kerala else have to view it on mobile or some other way
haven't seen it but guess my kind of movie hope it comes to my place or will have to see it on mobile ect clips of it maybe.
I like the movie itself. Many nice shots and very good acting. I did had a issue with the 4:3 ratio. I get they want a classic movie look but for me it's just lost of screen space
It was like„meh"but sometimes is scary
It's good. Dafoe is brilliant and the cinematography is great. I just feel like it's seriously overhyped, sadly.
I didn't get it. I wasn't even paying that much attention.
Review by Matthew Luke BradyBlockedParent2019-11-19T19:44:56Z
LIFF33 2019 #2
Time to spill the beans…’The Lighthouse’ is a masterpiece! I loved loved loved loved it! I loved every minute of it. One of my favorite movies of 2019 and I honestly don’t think anything can top it. A slow descent into madness that creeps into your subconscious and won’t be leaving anytime soon.
From the very first frame, I immediately knew this was going to be special. I was hooked throughout until the end credits.
Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson both deliver career defining performances. They play off each others insanity beautifully. I could tell just from the accents and dialect that plenty of homework went into making an authentic portrayal of the time.
Robert Pattinson is fantastic as a quiet and private lighthouse keeper that witness the madness slowly unfolding, but also feeds the audiences curiosity on revealing the strange happenings on the island. Pattinson is a chameleon when it comes to portraying characters.
Willem Dafoe, on the other hand, was mesmerizing as the old sea dog captain with a love for farting. His long and insane monologues are the main highlights, because it was so electrifying to watch it was hard not be captivated. He’s strict and often unpredictable, but once you see it, you won’t forget it.
I hope Robert Eggers continues making horror movies in the future, because right now he’s one of the best living directors working today. The slow-burn tension and lack of conventional scares seems to be his trademark so far. Every choice he made was so carefully thought out and the results is masterful. According to Eggers, they actually built a lighthouse from scratch and everything we see, including the weather, is genuine. Even if some tricky was used, it was so seamless I couldn’t tell what was fake.
I loved how the movie was shot; the dim black-and-white with the claustrophobic aspect ratio, giving it the appearance of a silent film born like a German expressionism - something you would’ve mistaken for a 1920/30’s horror folklore. Perfectly captures the time period and the overall dread. You really do feel cut off from the outside world and abandoned on this spectral-like island, and this black sheet of cloud strongly looming over the two men. A dark force in all directions, unseen but very eerie. The cold and heartless weather is a character itself. A big bully with salty intentions.
I adored the use of lighting through out, as the only light source is either natural light during daytime or candle lit lanterns, which cast many shadows that adds to the unease. There’s some gorgeous looking cinematography on display here. Seriously, even as am writing this right now I can memorize every single frame of this strange nightmare of a film. Absolutely breathtaking.
While the movie is mainly horror, but there is comedy sprinkled throughout that was actually pretty hilarious. Everything from Dafoe farting and some creative insults the characters would often spit at each other, which would later expand into long monologues that I sat back and watch in awe with a stupid grin on my face, because how something so silly can be so poetic. Never have I seen a movie that perfectly balances more than one genre so fluently. You can laugh at the moments where it’s suppose to be funny, but also take it seriously whenever it’s suppose to be taken seriously, which is sometimes all in one scene. The writing from Eggers is so excellent.
After only one viewing there was a lot I could easily dissect in terms of interpretation. There's masculinity and Greek mythology imagery that demonstrates a striking sense of power. There’s also a certain idea of sexuality being a sacred thing and the frustration it may bring. Or maybe it’s just a simple story about two guys on a rock getting drunk and then getting even drunker while holding each other until they drift off to sleep.
Overall rating: One of the best looking horror comedies of 2019.