The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse is undoubtedly a remarkable experience. A film composed of black and white shots in the classic aspect ratio, full of magical realism turning into naturalism. Even its language is different, and the script is inspired by the language of real 19th-century sailors and the unfinished short story by E. A. Poe. The result is certainly worthy of attention, but it is open to debate whether pure naturalism would be a more appropriate form. (19/03/2022)

Just like in his The Witch, the director relishes creating the right atmosphere, but his film is very inapproachable; he makes every effort to spoil your viewing experience. The actors in the leading roles (Dafoe and Pattison) deliver superb performances, moreover in black and white, in a spooky, morbid environment with a hidden evil like from Lovecraft. I like all of this, but the inapproachability of the film makes it hard to give it better than average rating. It is, however, definitely a unique experience. (30/01/2020)

The Lighthouse is about nerdy form, great actors and the director’s fearlessness in experimentation and ambition to do something that had never been seen before. The sound track is astonishingly engaging and almost even scary with the deep droning of the lighthouse. The cool black-and-white 4:3 composition is reminiscent of horror movies from the early 20th century. The depressing confining atmosphere of the remote, foggy and windy exterior and the damp and stinking interior. And the conflict between two men that doesn’t take all of these circumstances into account. Their drunken talk isn’t very stimulating, but it serves well to characterise the men and the place at the time. (08/01/2020)

A sea the color of crude oil and the light of the lighthouse like the Divine Light. A crushing atmosphere of bullying, lies and madness. A great screenplay with psychologically unstable characters in the main roles, who move the action along with drunken spouting and gradual confiding in each other as they come face to face with starving to death. Teh farting Dafoe delivers an acting masterclass and the masturbating Pattinson is his star pupil who isn’t afraid of taking things to extremes. The mermaid hallucinations and being buried alive are moments of the year. Aye, lad! (30/12/2019)

A very empty exhibition of a talented machine to build a thick atmosphere; you can’t deny its depiction of period realism and the intentionally obsolete formal approaches (static shots, details, expressive acting, precise geometric composition), but it has absolutely nothing to offer the viewer seeking a meaningfully organised narration or some sort of distinctive process. The Witch headed somewhere and tied a loop around the viewer, who had set certain expectations, but The Lighthouse is self absorbed from the first to the last scene and never changes its nature and the pressure on the audience – and though in itself this isn’t annoying, it’s certainly not remarkable or in any way as subversive as Eggers wants it to be. 60% (18/01/2020)