The Lighthouse

[s1conrad]

I saw this stark and hypnotic film last night, and it has elements of both 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and 'Fight Club.' The plot involves two men on a wave-swept rock off the coast of New England, tending a beacon and its deafening foghorn. Willem Dafoe gives a stellar performance as the salty head keep, barking out orders and singing drunken sea shanties. Robert Pattinson is riveting as the smoldering assistant keeper, barely tolerating Dafoe's abusive demands. Bad luck and a harsh storm unfold after Pattinson's character, in a fit of rage, kills a one-eyed seagull. When the relief tender fails to show, the two descend into madness--sparring off with each other and resorting to drinking kerosene. There's a strange eroticism to the film; the two men have a sort-of symbiotic relationship--they are imprisoned in close quarters in the middle of a vast, unforgiving sea. Pattinson has visions of an exotic mermaid, and Dafoe sexually covets the jewel-like beacon. The film's haunting ending is violent as well as puzzling (I don't want to say much else--viewers can speculate for themselves). The Lighthouse is filmed in black & white, which adds to the mesmerizing effect of the story; you really feel transported back to the 1880's . Dafoe deserves an Oscar nomination for his performance--he really relishes in this Melville-type character. The director, Robert Eggers, also should be awarded for fleshing out these excellent performances, but also for his unsentimental depiction of 19th century lightkeepers and their hardscrabble existence.

[TruthBTold]

Wow, definitely something to see. Thanks. It sounds very weird in many ways.