The more fantastical “Lighthouse” only hints at potential layers. I felt trapped with the two actors, as if I had the only seat in a black box theater and was determined to soak up their performances and not think about the people they’re playing.Īs with “The VVitch,” my favorite film of 2016, “The Lighthouse” meticulously captures the speaking style of the time and region – so much so that even Ephraim recognizes his contemporary is a “parody.” Thomas finishes sentences with “says I,” and while Ephraim’s angry description of Thomas’ grooming habits feels accurate (although screens don’t transmit smell, of course), Thomas is also rather sympathetic with his blatant case of big fish/small pond syndrome.īut I like “The VVitch” much better, because it has intrigue, scares and reality-based dread to go along with its olden-days misery. The performances are excellent, particularly Dafoe, who gets the bulk of the dialog. government job, but it bears a remarkable resemblance to modern black-site torture strategies. Lighthouse keeper was an honest-to-god U.S. A foghorn regularly blares an aural warning to ships, yet the sea is so angry that we know there are no ships braving it. This isn’t a story of light cutting through the dark, but rather about noise cutting through calm. At least on this island, lighthouse keeper is not a peaceful job, and whatever the beacon of light symbolizes, it’s certainly not hope. Thomas rewards hard work with write-ups in his logbook about how Ephraim is not good enough – while himself breaking rules such as the no-drinking policy.Ī horror film for categorization purposes only, “The Lighthouse” is all about sights and sounds signifying Ephraim’s frustrations, shot in black-and-white in the claustrophobic 4:3 ratio of old “square” TVs. Writer-director Robert Eggers ( “The VVitch”), with an assist from co-writer Max Eggers, wallows in the madness any normal person would descend into when they find out their boss on this four-week gig not only farts regularly and unapologetically but also is a stern taskmaster.
“The Lighthouse” (2019) – now on Amazon Prime - taps into some of the job’s reality, but it’s mostly a grim mood piece chronicling Robert Pattinson’s Ephraim being driven crazy by Willem Dafoe’s farting Thomas in the 1890s at an offshore New England lighthouse. The keeper had his list of daily duties - mundane, monotonous and lonely, yet essential for the survival of ships at sea. The job of lighthouse keeper, from the long-ago days when the lights needed to be manned, has a pure and simple grandeur.
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