The Lighthouse - Movie Review (10/10)

Would you say three times is enough to proclaim a film as one of your all-time favorites? I would say so and that is why when I consider a top 10 list of all of my favorite flicks, Robert Egger's 2019 surreal masterpiece "The Lighthouse" would most definitely be on there.

"The Lighthouse" is many things but simply speaking, it's a story of two men, Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) and Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson), lighthouse tenders, being stranded on an island together and slowly coming to lose their sanity (Winslow more so than Wake). Each man holds secrets, and the titular lighthouse becomes a source of conflict within the men when Wake forbids Winslow from seeing the light, sparking anger and jealousy. There are many metaphors and analogies that can be read into the story but at its surface, this is what you get, and oh boy does it deliver.

The first thing to be noticed as the film starts is its unique presentation - black and white, filmed on old film cameras, and displayed in an almost square 1.19:1 aspect ratio. Though some may find the use of these techniques to emulate an older time to be pretentious, they are key to transporting the viewer back to the late 19th century where the movie is set. The thin viewing space adds tremendously to the anxiety felt by the characters and almost disappears into the black in darker lit screen, leaving us solely with the character in focus. The black and white also represents the day and night cycle we see in the film and allows Eggers to cast dark shadows and shine freighting silhouettes onto Willem Dafoe’s face during his many, many monologues. The cinematography truly deserves a nod and it’s a shame this did not win the Oscar because despite lacking color, its one of the best-looking films I’ve seen.

Speaking of Dafoe, in a story like this, the movie is only as good as its lead actors, and man do these two-give career best performances. The dialogue was inspired and lifted directly from old sailor journals, and a large chunk of that was for Dafoe who easily chews through the difficult out-of-time lines. He never feels like he’s phoning it in or he’s putting on a character – he is so natural in his presentation that I never doubted for a moment that he was not the one-legged wickie dancing under the light, full of ecstasy. His commitment to the character translates thoroughly into his best performance of all time and outshines anything that came out in the same year (yeah, I said it!). Not to be outdone, Robert Pattinson also delivers an excellent portrayal of a man who slowly descends into madness due to the environment he’s been put into, his eyes getting crazier and crazier as the movie goes on. There was not a moment these two actors did not absolutely command the screen.

Though not as important for a story of this nature, the script, written by Robert Eggers and his brother, Max Eggers, is also fantastic. As mentioned above, these two spent crucial time painstakingly researching the specific sailor language of the time to give the film an extra layer of realism. I’ve also never seen a script so successfully switch between the serious and the comedic – a scene can start out with you laughing, then be absolutely mesmerized, and be laughing at the end again, all without disturbing the overall tone. This particular style also leads to many, many different interpretations of the ending, with those ranging from the serious to the absurd.

In the end, as I often must do, watch “The Lighthouse” with caution. I have done nothing but rave about this thing but its absolutely lacks universal appeal. You can have a room full of people watching it and you will have the widest range of reactions. But that’s exactly what makes it special – its relentless in its pursuits of what it wants to be and I respect that type of film-making to the highest degree and is why I give it a 10/10.