Review of The Lighthouse (2019) by Markhreviews — 30 Oct 2019

Writer/Director Robert Eggers (“The Witch,” 2015) has created a fever dream of a film. A lighthouse keeper (Willem Dafoe) and his helper (Robert Pattinson) arrive on a tiny, remote island to staff a lighthouse for the next four weeks. They work, they drink (a lot) and, soon enough, one or both of them begin a torturous descent into madness.

“The Lighthouse” is catnip for the art house crowd. The film is shot in 35mm black-and-white with an aspect ratio of 1.19:1 (this means the projected image is only 19% wider than its height), the projected images a boxy, noirish, claustrophobic tone. As a result, one of the most memorable elements of the entire film is its gritty, stark cinematography. If there’s any justice in the world, Cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, who partnered with Eggers on “The Witch,” should easily receive an Oscar nomination for his efforts. Because of the emphasis on the visuals, the script is spare – several minutes and two long farts have passed before a word is spoken.

On the screen, this is literally a two-person effort (the only other credited actor is a non-speaking mermaid whose scenes are as disturbing as they are brief). In fact, the only other characters of note in the film are seagulls. According to Director Eggers, three main stunt seagulls – Lady, Tramp and Johnny – were flown in from the UK to lend their expertise, seriously. Fortunately, the primary characters are totally worth the price of admission. Together and alone, Dafoe (“The Florida Project,” 133 acting credits, and counting) and Pattinson (showing depth and range never expected during his rise to fame with the “Twilight Saga”) are excellent. Each draws the audience close in every scene, then dares you to look away.

What this movie is about is another matter altogether. Before and since the film’s release, Eggers has been frustratingly elusive about his intentions. At every opportunity, he simply suggests that this is a ghost story set in a lighthouse off the coast of Maine in the late 19th century. Despite my public elementary and secondary education, I picked out a clear allusion to Prometheus and a couple of Herman Melville references. In a brief conversation after the film, a cinephile well above my pay grade told me she had picked up another dozen references from literature and other films. I left the theater dazzled but bewildered.

If David Lynch had a love child with one of the original writers of Greek mythology, “The Lighthouse” might well be the result.