The Lighthouse

[bobbie solo]

this movie will be divisive. Your enjoyment level will be based on what you were hoping to get out of the movie. If you're all in for just the mindfuck of it all, you're gonna love it. If you were hoping for an actual story & perhaps some character arcs, you will leave disappointed like I did. I'm glad I went to see it, but it was not what I was looking for. Def. a step down after Eggers' last movie The VVitch.

Pattinson & Dafoe are ALL IN though. Their performances are impressive. The movie looks really cool too, shot in B&W and also in a somewhat extreme 4:3 ratio, almost looking square. Adds to the claustrophobia being conveyed at times, as well as the period setting (a lighthouse off the coast of New England somewhere in 1890). Their accents & vocab are extremely of the period (like The VVitch) so subtitles would have helped me out. The movie is hard enough to follow (purposefully), it took me out of things that much more when I couldnt make out what they were saying.

So yeah...things just get weirder and weirder throughout and you can never be sure whats real and what isn't. That's fine, but when you add the repetition of certain interactions & scenes & the fact that imo the movie doesn't go anywhere (or at least not anywhere "larger" like I was assuming would happen eventually), it got really annoying for me. With all the repetition, they should have cut 20 or so minutes off this thing & I prolly would have enjoyed it alot more. It honestly felt padded...like let's just add more weird shit here and odd, quickly cut images there just for the hell of it.

[Mr. Blaileen]

There aren't any showings near me until Thursday, but I'm pretty pumped for this.

[Balthier]

I enjoy a weird flick from time to time. Will be checking this one out for sure. Thanks for the review

[Mr. Blaileen]

Spoiler-y review:

This might be one of the weirdest films I've ever watched. It's hard to write a review for it because it was so out-there. This is more a series of bizarre moments and happenings rather than a linear, cohesive story. It's a slow burn of gaslighting, isolation, and miserable living conditions that were exacerbated by alcohol and a lack of food. Wake's obsession with the light (almost religious in a way), along his habit of being extremely secretive egged on Winslow's descent into madness. Because of the conditions, it wasn't always easy to tell what was real and what was in the minds of the characters. During the first half or so I kept waiting for some monster or cthulu type thing to appear, but it was clear after awhile that it wasn't going to turn into a traditional horror flick (there were almost more comedic moments than scary ones). By the end, though, I was on the edge of my seat waiting for what I knew would be an intense (and weird AF) climax. I walked away satisfied.

Loved the black and white and old aspect ratio- I don't think it would have worked as well if there was color.

Pattinson and Dafoe crushed it. They were intense, weird, crazy, manipulative, funny at times, and most importantly..believable. I totally bought into Dafoe's Wake being a batshit crazy wickie that had been there for years and years.

At the end of the day, I didn't like it as much as I did the VVitch, but it was still very good, IMO. I find myself unable to stop thinking about it this morning. I wanna watch it again, but with subtitles.

[mfte]

Two thumbs up. The lack of colour, odd aspect ratio and the dialogue make this movie feel like it came from some other dimension. Either actor deserves some sort of award for their performance. Sound design is top notch.

What is that stuff he dumped in to the cistern to make the water not taste terrible?

[InsectGod]

I very much enjoyed this movie and would recommend it for sure. Like people said their performances were excellent and the direction was top notch. Beautiful shots, and I really liked the surreal parts. Would like to watch it again once it's released digitally

[imail724]

Finally watched this last night and loved every minute of it. Really glad I saw it at home so I could watch with subtitles though.

[Jon]

What is that stuff he dumped in to the cistern to make the water not taste terrible?

It was chalk.

ETA: I've seen mention of cabin fever, gaslighting, etc., but not much mention of the fact that they were ingesting and inhaling toxic chemicals.

[Haysey_Draws]

Both this and Parasite are out within weeks of each other and i'm not sure i can even fit both in, let along my head being able to process it!

[dlb]

Kind of regret seeing Parasite in cinemas as it's been quite an expensive ticket and while the movie was great, I could have done without the big screen. The Lighthouse on the other hand is a MUST if you have the chance to watch it in an old vintage cinema. As I've had a semester of Weimar-period film in university way back this felt like home. Stunning movie and just another one to solidify that Pattinson is actually a quite good actor. Dafoe... specactular performance! He actually deserves some kind of nod for this one in my opinion.

[Erneuert]

Just watched this and absolutely loved it. Dafoe is great in mind-fuck films for sure (see: Antichrist).

It was chalk.

ETA: I've seen mention of cabin fever, gaslighting, etc., but not much mention of the fact that they were ingesting and inhaling toxic chemicals.

That's interesting that you mentioned chalk. I was just reading this about the Poe story:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light-House

On January 3 he describes the day as being calm and placid, and resolves to explore the lighthouse. He again begins to worry about the safety of the structure, but tries to reassure himself. The last line reads, "The basis on which the structure rests seems to me to be chalk..."

More thoughts: having subtitles on definitely helped. I pissed myself laughing at the scene when Pattinson's character starts swearing at him and telling him how much he hates his farts.

[thelastdisciple]

I finally gave this a watch, it was truly bizarre in the best ways.

At one point i was starting to wonder if maybe there was something about the two guys being the same person just a younger and older version with the lighthouse being some kind of strange disruption of time and space. I thought maybe near the end you'd have Pattinson go crazy and kill Dafoe. Afterward it would do some time jumps where it shows Pattinson get progressively older where he eventually becomes Dafoe, he leaves to hire the new guy, the movie loops and starts from the beginning again and the same two guys are heading to the lighthouse. end film.

It was for sure going in a completely different direction in my mind lol

All in all i guess.. the moral of the story is that it's bad luck to kill a sea bird.

[Jord]

why'd you spill yer beans?

[Erneuert]