by A.J.
Does this scenario feel familiar? Due to dangerous conditions you have been forced to remain in one location for an indefinite period of time? In this time of self-isolation and shelter-in-place, the premise of the 2019 genre defying film
The Lighthouse may seem familiar. Maybe too familiar.
Horror, like comedy, is subjective and difficult to execute. One can be as unsettling as the other, and they can, perhaps often, go hand in hand. This is certainly true of the surreal psychological horror
The Lighthouse, a film that is perplexing, unsettling, and thoroughly entertaining. Like with director
Robert Eggers’s moody and chilling debut feature,
The Witch, a standout of recent horror movies, you could make a good argument that
The Lighthouse is not strictly a horror movie but more of a cerebral drama with some horror elements. Its inability to be classified is part of what makes this movie special.
The Lighthouse is an intriguing blend of strange visuals, psychological uncertainty, and genuine humor all anchored by two incredible performances from
Willem Dafoe and
Robert Pattinson.
The Lighthouse isn’t so much a character study as a situation study. The plot is so simple it is practically nonexistent. Two late 19th (or early 20th) century lighthouse keepers become stranded on a tiny, rocky island during a prolonged storm. The younger of the two men is Winslow (Robert Pattinson), the new assistant to the salty and cantankerous veteran keeper, Thomas (Willem Dafoe). Thomas gruffly orders Winslow around and has him do all the menial chores like polishing brass, shoveling coal, and cleaning their sleeping area. They are supposed to take turns tending to the light but Thomas insists that only he will watch the light. Their beds are on opposite sides of a tiny room and there is no outhouse, only two pots near their beds. There is no privacy unless the other is working their shift.
From the start,
The Lighthouse takes on an eerie and ominous tone. Winslow begins having dreams of finding a dead body on the shore and visions of a mermaid. We learn that his predecessor went mad talking about sirens and mermaids and believed there was some enchantment in the light. Sneaking out one night, he sees Thomas standing naked in a trance in front of the bright, glowing light. The answers to what is really going on and why are either in plain sight or nowhere to be found. We learn that Winslow stole the identity of another man and Thomas lied about how he hurt his leg, yet neither seems unreliable or untrustworthy. The screenplay by Robert and Max Eggers is clever to get ahead of potential explanations and audience theories. We learn that Winslow used to work in timber in Canada and left after an accident. When Thomas tells Winslow that he might still be in Canada having a hallucination as he is dying of exposure, that idea as a plausible explanation seems to be extinguished.
Winslow’s dreams/hallucinations are filled with strange, creepy imagery made all the more striking by the brilliant Oscar nominated black and white cinematography of
Jarin Blaschke. The film is shot in the 4:3 aspect ratio giving it the boxy window look of a silent movie. The sound design mixes the sounds of the sea along with the unnatural low bellow of the foghorn is as unsettling, if not more so, as any of the strange visions.
What really makes the film worth watching are the brilliant, powerhouse performances by Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. Dafoe delivers one of the best and strongest performances of his long and great career; his role here ranks with his work in
Platoon and
Shadow of the Vampire. He looks like Van Gogh’s postman portrait come to life and speaks and acts like an old sea captain. Both he and Pattinson look believable as people from a bygone era. Pattinson’s character is the one that may or may not be going insane, but his break with reality is slow and subtle. Even in his wilder moments Pattinson never feels over the top. You might describe Dafoe’s performance as over the top, but it never feels indulgent.
If Hell is other people, this movie is a window into that Hell. Winslow and Thomas begin as strangers, don’t much care for the other, then hate each other, then respect each other, then hate each other, then open up to each other, then hate each other. The humor, and there is plenty of it, is broad and awkward. “Let Neptune strike ye dead, Winslow!” Thomas shouts after Winslow says he doesn’t like Thomas’s cooking. Dafoe plays this scene with such hurt and anger you don’t know whether to laugh or be awkwardly silent. One morning Winslow, disoriented from a hangover, throws the chamber pots into the wind. When he returns, Thomas tells him casually, “you smell like shit.” They drink together, and then they drink more, and when they run out of alcohol, they drink the kerosene for the light. You watch these two men descend into madness or be trapped in Hell, and it is incredibly entertaining thanks to the actors.
If you have ever wondered what
The Shining would be like with more laughs, I highly recommend
The Lighthouse. This is a movie, like
The Shining and
Apocalypse Now, that is an all-enveloping experience. You might be unsure of what is real and what is a dream, but at a certain point it doesn’t matter because you’re stuck there with the characters. What does the final image mean? I have no idea, but anything else, any kind of explanation, just would not be right.
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