{"id":10477,"date":"2019-10-07T12:13:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T19:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog-proxy.atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/?p=10477"},"modified":"2019-10-07T13:43:35","modified_gmt":"2019-10-07T20:43:35","slug":"the-lighthouse-review-three-reasons-to-see-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/the-lighthouse-review\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;The Lighthouse&#8217; Review: Three Reasons To See It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Eggers returns four years after\u00a0<i>The Witch<\/i>\u00a0with his 4:3 aspect ratio, black-and-white seadog tale\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atomtickets.com\/movies\/the-lighthouse\/293000\"><i>The Lighthouse<\/i><\/a>. Two brilliant actors, one rotating fog-cutter, insidious paranoia. If you thought\u00a0<i>The Witch<\/i>\u00a0was a test of patience, Eggers doubles down on the slowest of period piece burns with no desire to speed forth.\u00a0<i>The Lighthouse<\/i>\u00a0is all about mood, performative brilliance, and the madness that puts two men at professional odds while waves crash all around them. Eggers is no doubt a technical wizard when it comes to cinematic technique and production design, but expect even less mainstream appeal this time around.<\/p>\n<p>Turn back, ye whose stomachs form a sailor\u2019s knot at the mention of \u201carthouse\u201d filmmaking.\u00a0\u2018Tis\u00a0choppy monochromatic waters with no respite from broody scowls in sight.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Hyag7lR8CPA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) has just begun a four-week stint as Thomas Wake\u2019s (Willem Dafoe) newest lighthouse caretaker. Thomas spends his days basking in the light\u2019s glow while Ephraim is tasked with mundane chores. Shoveling coal into flames, mending shingles, painting walls while Thomas holds him \u201csteady.\u201d Neither men know the comforts of technology given how\u00a0<i>The Lighthouse<\/i>\u00a0takes place in the 1890s, as Ephraim\u2019s only purpose is labor and sleep. It\u2019s enough to drive a man crazy, being worked like a horse in such isolation. As we watch Ephraim spin out of sanity during a thunderous storm that locks both men inside, \u201ccrazy\u201d is just the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>A24 will release\u00a0<i>The Lighthouse<\/i>\u00a0on October 18th, most likely in a limited to medium theater capacity. Here are three reasons to hop aboard this voyage into the hypnotic, disorienting, and divisive.<\/p>\n<h2>1. Pattinson And Dafoe\u00a0With Career-Best Performances<\/h2>\n<p><i>The Lighthouse<\/i>\u00a0is a performative siren\u2019s song \u201csung\u201d by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe, both of whom act their liquor-soaked butts off. Two men stranded with only themselves and their demons, extrapolated by contained hysteria. It\u2019s the late 1800s &#8211; no television, no pastimes, nothing but grunt work and \u201cCaptain\u201d Thomas bossing Ephraim around. Pattinson and Dafoe are challenged to carry almost a two-hour movie with nothing but their weathered faces, which they indeed accomplish. Pattinson\u2019s John F. Kennedy accent and conspiracy obsessions spike tension as Dafoe plays the gruff, immovable tyrant who pushes his every button (and farts a lot).<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a tune that whimpers as time goes on. Eggers\u2019 screenplay (co-written by brother Max) is a repetitive cycle of killing boredom, gaslighting, and mistrust among two coworkers. As tempers drift in the open, masked by boozy mess hall dance routines and incoherent mumbling, Eggers\u2019 vision descends into blurred reality. Intriguing, perplexing, but drawn thinner than taffy pulled three feet apart. Pattinson\u2019s exaggerated fixation on mermaid lore and Dafoe\u2019s scallywag brashness carries scene after scene, holding steady as the film threatens to dully fall to pieces.\u00a0<i>The Lighthouse<\/i>\u00a0is a masterclass in tension, even if Eggers has trouble justifying such a simplistic perspective on unsavory solitude.<\/p>\n<h2>2. We Were Robbed Of Robert Eggers\u2019 Nosferatu (So Far)<\/h2>\n<p>Mr. Eggers manipulates light and darkness within the monochromatic boundaries of\u00a0<i>The Lighthouse<\/i>\u00a0as only a technical mastermind could devise. Close range shots are crosshatched by thick shadows across character faces as to accentuate, for example, Dafoe\u2019s darting, crazy eyes. There\u2019s no color palette for contrast, just varying depths of blacks and greys. Eggers wields these so-called limitations with artistic bravado, showing more command of optical detailing than anything James Cameron\u2019s latest technological invention could challenge.<\/p>\n<p>I make the\u00a0<i>Nosferatu<\/i>\u00a0comment above because the way Eggers frames his human characters makes them seem vampiric. Shrouded in darkness by virtue of nightfall or oil lanterns providing their dilapidated shack\u2019s only illumination, barely enough to reveal who\u2019s talking. It\u2019s perfect for dark Transylvanian castles and chambers but works equally magnificently on a jagged clump of stones. As Eggers accomplished in\u00a0<i>The Witch<\/i>, he once again revitalizes a bygone era by heightening the art of generational simplicity. Tension built on lore and superstition, visuals inviting besides a lack of complication. You can practically smell the foul stench of overfilled bedpans and Dafoe\u2019s mangy beard, a testament to Eggers\u2019 inarguable design forte.<\/p>\n<h2>3. It\u2019s Unique, That&#8217;s For Damn Sure<\/h2>\n<p>You won\u2019t see anything like\u00a0<i>The Lighthouse<\/i>\u00a0this, next, or maybe ten years from now. Eggers\u2019 fascination with character-driven despicableness is loaded with poetic sailor\u2019s insults and trickery of the mind. Slithery aquatic monster tentacles are either a figment of imagination or proof that something wicked calls Thomas\u2019 lighthouse home. Ephraim\u2019s desires and alcoholism drive an \u201cimprisoned\u201d deckhand into a spiral of morose disdain for taking orders, at least until the next bottle of alcohol arrives. Eggers\u2019 sophomore experiment is fascinating, provocative, but wades in the shallows far too long before diving deep into enchanted waters.<\/p>\n<p>This might sound crass, but there\u2019s a true metaphor here:\u00a0<i>The Lighthouse<\/i>\u00a0loves the smell of its own farts. It\u2019s an actual plot device throughout the film\u2019s duration and works to sniff out the film\u2019s most pungent offenses. Eggers <em>loves<\/em> every second of his film, as he should. It\u2019s evident in the way scenes linger, draw out, and how both lead actors are allowed to freely meander through\u00a0boatsman\u00a0talk without intrusion for either too long or nowhere near long enough. Audiences will be split down the middle betwixt those who\u2019re captivated by acid-trip alcohol dazes and pent up sexual frustrations, versus those who\u2019ll be bored enough to walk the plank mid-screening. If you thought\u00a0<i>The Witch<\/i>\u00a0was a drag, be wary of\u00a0<i>The Lighthouse<\/i>\u2019s warming glow. A film to be studied in graduate film programs, not chosen for a raucous Friday night popcorn viewing.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Lighthouse<\/em> is in theaters on October 18th.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Eggers returns four years after\u00a0The Witch\u00a0with his 4:3 aspect ratio, black-and-white seadog tale\u00a0The Lighthouse. Two brilliant actors, one rotating fog-cutter, insidious paranoia. If you thought\u00a0The Witch\u00a0was a test of patience, Eggers doubles down on the slowest of period piece burns with no desire to speed forth.\u00a0The Lighthouse\u00a0is all about mood, performative brilliance, and the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":10478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[40,37],"class_list":["post-10477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-featuredpage","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10477"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10482,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10477\/revisions\/10482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}