Review of The Light Between Oceans (2016) by Greatmartin — 01 Sep 2016

The lead actors, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander are beautiful, not only physically but in their acting ability. The photography of the scenery by Adam Arkapaw, whether it be the New Zealand country or Tasmania or the ocean waves breaking on shore or the skies above them, are beautiful and in some scenes breathtaking. The music by Alexandre Desplat, never disturbs what is taking place on the screen and only underscores it. The direction by Derek Cianfance, who also wrote the screenplay based on a book by M. L. Stedman's, on the surface says what a tearjerker it is, not to forget so many scenes of actors crying, but he never gets to what should be a major payoff of "The Light Between Oceans".

In many ways this film reminded me of old melodramas starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins or Mary Astor. There is the pregnant woman having two miscarriages, a baby showing up in a rowboat with her dead father at an isolated lighthouse island, the couple decide to keep her, the real mother showing up 5 years later and tears, plenty of tears. Where the directors back then were accused of manipulating the audience and getting them to cry experiencing, in some cases, a catharsis, director/screenwriter Cianfance here only skims the surface of what is happening.

As beautiful as the scenes of the country, water, sun, moon, lighthouse island, the town across the way are, there are too many of each making the movie last 132 minutes resulting in a rushed ending cutting off the emotions of the audience. There are too many voice-overs, too many letters spoken, distracting from the feelings of the actors.

There is much to like about "The Light Between Oceans"--see the first paragraph--but a lot more could have been achieved with a little more effort.