This is a beautiful and haunting film. I was, nevertheless, slightly disappointed in the direction taken by filmmaker Robert Eggers in his sophomore feature. The first movie Eggers directed, The Witch, suggested an artist about to launch an extremely unique style. It is hard to call the aesthetics of The Lighthouse unique because they are an intentional hommage to an established master of the medium, the celebrated Hungarian auteur Bella Tarr.
This is not to say that the craftsmanship here is inferior to that displayed in The Witch, indeed it might be more impressive. For Eggers and his team do deliver a work fully worthy of Tarr, hardly an accomplishment to be scoffed at. Yet, specific shots and sequences are lifted from Tarr's work, especially The Turin Horse. This hardly seems a way for an emerging young talent to hone a unique style.
One can tell, however, that this came from the mind of the man behind The Witch, and not Tarr. Tarr's films are about humanity being overcome by our inner emptiness. Tarr's humanity is petulant, but mostly because it knows deep down inside that it amounts to nothing. Eggers's universe, on the other hand, is not empty. It is filled with an exceptionally sinister meaning. I can't think of a film that made baby eating seem as rich in metaphysical suggestion as did The Witch. You REALLY don't want to discover the secret meaning of Eggers's world in a dark alley.
There's a Promethean theme running through The Lighthouse that I didn't fully get. Indeed, the film is a bit heavy on symbolism for my taste. But both here and in The Witch the characters become vestibules for a divine chaos. In The Witch the messenger of this chaos is nature and repressed sexuality. In The Lighthouse it is alcohol. I don't know that any film I've seen has been as detailed a study of drunkenness, of the ways drink shatters the self, and in doing so sets it free to be the confused, paradoxical thing it is. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson do fine jobs of convincing the viewer they've had plenty of first hand experience.
This is not to say that the craftsmanship here is inferior to that displayed in The Witch, indeed it might be more impressive. For Eggers and his team do deliver a work fully worthy of Tarr, hardly an accomplishment to be scoffed at. Yet, specific shots and sequences are lifted from Tarr's work, especially The Turin Horse. This hardly seems a way for an emerging young talent to hone a unique style.
One can tell, however, that this came from the mind of the man behind The Witch, and not Tarr. Tarr's films are about humanity being overcome by our inner emptiness. Tarr's humanity is petulant, but mostly because it knows deep down inside that it amounts to nothing. Eggers's universe, on the other hand, is not empty. It is filled with an exceptionally sinister meaning. I can't think of a film that made baby eating seem as rich in metaphysical suggestion as did The Witch. You REALLY don't want to discover the secret meaning of Eggers's world in a dark alley.
There's a Promethean theme running through The Lighthouse that I didn't fully get. Indeed, the film is a bit heavy on symbolism for my taste. But both here and in The Witch the characters become vestibules for a divine chaos. In The Witch the messenger of this chaos is nature and repressed sexuality. In The Lighthouse it is alcohol. I don't know that any film I've seen has been as detailed a study of drunkenness, of the ways drink shatters the self, and in doing so sets it free to be the confused, paradoxical thing it is. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson do fine jobs of convincing the viewer they've had plenty of first hand experience.