The Lighthouse delivers indie-film strangeness
One of the drawbacks of reviewing film is that you see a lot of film. This seems counterintuitive, of course. I love movies. Still, when you watch a lot of them, you start to see the same ideas over and over. Repetition drives audiences to theaters and dollars into studio coffers. Filmmaking is a business after all.
This means, though, that it’s sometimes hard to find something interesting to say about a film. Whenever I’m asked in person if a movie is good or not, my response is almost always: “it’s fine.” That’s because, generally, this is true.
Most movies released by Hollywood are completely adequate. Large budgets are generally given to competent people who make watchable movies. But there’s a difference between something being watchable and something being great, in the same way there’s a difference between a microwave pizza and a large pepperoni from Lupi’s.
A microwave pizza technically does its job, but I can tell you which one I’d rather have. The problem is this: microwave pizza is easier to make and more likely to sell nationwide. We have a nation growing up on microwave pizza. And when tastes develop that way, something like Lupi’s is always going to seem foreign and weird. The Lighthouse is the film equivalent of Lupi’s pizza. I savored every minute of it.
The Lighthouse is directed by Robert Eggers, known for his previous film The VVitch. There aren’t many auteur filmmakers left in American cinema, but Eggers certainly fits the description. If you’ve seen The VVitch, you likely either loved it or hated it. It was a monumental film, slowly paced and period accurate, relying heavily on the technical aspects of the film, as well as the heavy dialect of the Puritan 1600’s, all of which can easily be off-putting for the modern film audience.
The Lighthouse is just as challenging, if not more so. The film is shot in black and white, with a 1.19:1 aspect ratio, making it reminiscent of German silent film, and highlighting the claustrophobic and isolated nature of the setting. Eggers was intentional here—he wants the audience to feel trapped by the sea, just like the characters.
On the surface, this film is about a pair of lighthouse keepers serving out a four-week term on a remote location. Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) is the elder of the pair, with Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) serving as his assistant. Winslow is new to the wickie life and Wake is more than aware of it.
Wake seems a stereotypical old salt, speaking in monologues filled with seafarer lingo and walking with a limp which keeps him from spending his remaining life on the sea. He’s a hard master, as well. Despite the guidelines outlined in the lighthouse keeper’s manual, Wake will not allow Winslow to tend the light.
Instead, Winslow hauls lantern oil, fixes leaky shingles, repaints the lighthouse, and empties their chamber pots. When the wind changes and a storm strands the pair on the rock, their rations soon run low, leaving them to drink away the time and hope for the best.
The Lighthouse features powerhouse performances by both Dafoe and Pattinson. At times, they border on overacting, but in the best, most fun ways imaginable. The film is both dark and hysterical—from wild-eyed madness to understandable frustration over flatulence.
But it’s more than just a couple of New Englanders getting drunk during a storm. There’s fantasy and horror, violence and tender moments, and often just outright strangeness. The film can be best summed up by the words of the director himself: “Nothing good can happen when two men are trapped alone in a giant phallus.”
True enough, as the film is saturated with themes of male sexuality and hubris. But most importantly, The Lighthouse is different. It’s not a film I could predict or pretend to understand at first viewing. It makes it as rare a film as any this year.
All I want is a film to surprise me, to entertain me, to make me wonder. Robert Eggers does this with his films and he does it in a precise, measured way that challenges the senses and pricks at the mind. I can’t say enough good things about the film. If you’re looking for something new, The Lighthouse is a film worth your time.