THE LIGHTHOUSE
****
Director: Robert Eggers
Screenwriters: Robert Eggers and Max Eggers
Principal cast:
Willem Dafoe
Robert Pattinson
Country: Canada/USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 109 mins.
Australian release date: 6 February 2020.
The new film by Robert Eggers, whose first feature was the strange and creepy The Witch in 2015, has done it again with his sophomore effort, The Lighthouse. Done it again in the strange and creepy department, that is. Yes, it’s only February but this is probably one of the weirdest and most original films that will be released all year. Like his earlier film, Eggers also wrote the screenplay but this time he’s been joined by his screenwriter brother Max and together they have created a hugely novel two-hander that is entirely spoken in their recreated version of 19th century seamen’s patois. It’s not too fanciful, however, because they drew on literary works from the period, especially those by Herman Melville and Robert Louis Stevenson, plus old slang and nautical dictionaries and, particularly, the works of Sarah Orne Jewett, a poet and novelist from Maine who often wrote in original dialect. The result is a bewitching concoction.
As soon as The Lighthouse begins, you know you’re in for something very different to the norm - the framing is similar to the classic “Academy’ ratio but is, in fact, even more square, utilising a 1.19:1 ratio, a look that was achieved through the use of vintage lenses; plus, the movie is shot in grainy black-and-white on 35mm. film stock. Yes, film! That in itself is unusual these days. It’s the 1890s and the action opens on a shot of the backs of two men peering into a thick fog from the bow of a ship as it approaches a tiny island. A mournful foghorn sounds ominous in the gloom. On the island is a lighthouse that they are to tend for the next four weeks. These two ‘wickies’ are the seasoned Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe), who loves the lamp like a mistress, and the newbie, Efraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson), who’s looking for change after working in timber mills. As they settle in, Winslow finds a small carved figurine of a mermaid hidden inside his mattress and stashes it away in a pocket. From the start, Wake needles and rides the younger man, constantly deriding his workmanship and threatening to dock his pay. He even seems to be gaslighting him at times but the taciturn Winslow refuses to be goaded by him. As the weeks pass, they fall into an uneasy routine, until the night before the boat is due to arrive to pick them up. As a farewell gesture, Winslow joins Wake in drinking a whisky toast, something he has declined to do until then, and they soon get roaring drunk. The next morning there’s a raging storm and no boat and, from then on, their claustrophobic world starts to collapse around them… literally. But are they going mad or hallucinating or is something more demonic possessing them? Or is it that “Boredom makes men to villains.”
The Lighthouse features many of the same crew that worked with Eggers on The Witch, including cinematographer Jarin Blaschke (who’s deservedly been nominated for the Best Cinematography Oscar), production designer Craig Lathrop, costume designer Linda Muir, composer Mark Korven, and editor Louise Ford, and collectively they’ve done a sterling job. The film looks superb, as gritty and coarse as the men in the frame (you can almost smell them!) and due credit must also go to sound designer Damian Volpe. His foghorn makes your skin crawl. As Eggers explains, “if you don’t have an effective soundscape, the movie doesn’t work at all.” Dafoe and Pattinson are brilliant and it’s hard to understand why they were overlooked in the Academy Award nominations. Their performances are disturbingly realistic and getting the unfamiliar dialogue right, and sounding so authentic, is a measure of their impressive skills.
Ultimately, The Lighthouse is a terrifying journey into the unknown, a truly Gothic horror story about man’s inhumanity to man. What it’s really all about is best left to each individual but, in any event, it’s a ripping yarn. As Robert Eggers has said, “Nothing good can happen when two men are left alone in a giant phallus.” One thing’s for sure, you’ll never look at a seagull the same way again!
Screenwriters: Robert Eggers and Max Eggers
Principal cast:
Willem Dafoe
Robert Pattinson
Country: Canada/USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 109 mins.
Australian release date: 6 February 2020.
The new film by Robert Eggers, whose first feature was the strange and creepy The Witch in 2015, has done it again with his sophomore effort, The Lighthouse. Done it again in the strange and creepy department, that is. Yes, it’s only February but this is probably one of the weirdest and most original films that will be released all year. Like his earlier film, Eggers also wrote the screenplay but this time he’s been joined by his screenwriter brother Max and together they have created a hugely novel two-hander that is entirely spoken in their recreated version of 19th century seamen’s patois. It’s not too fanciful, however, because they drew on literary works from the period, especially those by Herman Melville and Robert Louis Stevenson, plus old slang and nautical dictionaries and, particularly, the works of Sarah Orne Jewett, a poet and novelist from Maine who often wrote in original dialect. The result is a bewitching concoction.
As soon as The Lighthouse begins, you know you’re in for something very different to the norm - the framing is similar to the classic “Academy’ ratio but is, in fact, even more square, utilising a 1.19:1 ratio, a look that was achieved through the use of vintage lenses; plus, the movie is shot in grainy black-and-white on 35mm. film stock. Yes, film! That in itself is unusual these days. It’s the 1890s and the action opens on a shot of the backs of two men peering into a thick fog from the bow of a ship as it approaches a tiny island. A mournful foghorn sounds ominous in the gloom. On the island is a lighthouse that they are to tend for the next four weeks. These two ‘wickies’ are the seasoned Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe), who loves the lamp like a mistress, and the newbie, Efraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson), who’s looking for change after working in timber mills. As they settle in, Winslow finds a small carved figurine of a mermaid hidden inside his mattress and stashes it away in a pocket. From the start, Wake needles and rides the younger man, constantly deriding his workmanship and threatening to dock his pay. He even seems to be gaslighting him at times but the taciturn Winslow refuses to be goaded by him. As the weeks pass, they fall into an uneasy routine, until the night before the boat is due to arrive to pick them up. As a farewell gesture, Winslow joins Wake in drinking a whisky toast, something he has declined to do until then, and they soon get roaring drunk. The next morning there’s a raging storm and no boat and, from then on, their claustrophobic world starts to collapse around them… literally. But are they going mad or hallucinating or is something more demonic possessing them? Or is it that “Boredom makes men to villains.”
The Lighthouse features many of the same crew that worked with Eggers on The Witch, including cinematographer Jarin Blaschke (who’s deservedly been nominated for the Best Cinematography Oscar), production designer Craig Lathrop, costume designer Linda Muir, composer Mark Korven, and editor Louise Ford, and collectively they’ve done a sterling job. The film looks superb, as gritty and coarse as the men in the frame (you can almost smell them!) and due credit must also go to sound designer Damian Volpe. His foghorn makes your skin crawl. As Eggers explains, “if you don’t have an effective soundscape, the movie doesn’t work at all.” Dafoe and Pattinson are brilliant and it’s hard to understand why they were overlooked in the Academy Award nominations. Their performances are disturbingly realistic and getting the unfamiliar dialogue right, and sounding so authentic, is a measure of their impressive skills.
Ultimately, The Lighthouse is a terrifying journey into the unknown, a truly Gothic horror story about man’s inhumanity to man. What it’s really all about is best left to each individual but, in any event, it’s a ripping yarn. As Robert Eggers has said, “Nothing good can happen when two men are left alone in a giant phallus.” One thing’s for sure, you’ll never look at a seagull the same way again!
