Wake (Dafoe) is a veteran of this job; Winslow (Pattinson) is a newbie who steps into the job after Wake's previous assistant died.
As time goes on, Winslow suspects that all is not well on the island...
This movie features two elements key to getting me into a movie: mermaids and whatever Ursula was in The Little Mermaid. It's three elements if you include the smorgasbord of character choices Dafoe is making.
The first thing that sticks out is the aspect ratio - 1.19:1 reduces the frame to a near-square so we are as boxed in as our protagonists. It felt like an inversion of the use of space in The Invisible Man - whereas that film made use of empty space in the frame to create suspense, The Lighthouse's limited perspective creates a level of discombobulation and claustrophobia that grows increasingly oppressive as our heroes become more disconnected from relief (and reality).
The film's action appears to be precipitated by a trio of deaths - one offscreen, one on and another metaphoric. Death is a chaotic event in this universe - rather like Macbeth, the death of a key figure precipitates a breakdown in the natural order of things. Since the film is also focused on two men, and the only woman we see is - probably - imaginary, I started imagining the movie as a revenge movie with Gaia wrecking holy hell as Winslow for his various offences.
If the Coen Brothers had made a Val Lewton movie it might graze the same deadpan dread and gonzo gothic vibe of The Lighthouse.
This movie features two elements key to getting me into a movie: mermaids and whatever Ursula was in The Little Mermaid. It's three elements if you include the smorgasbord of character choices Dafoe is making.
The first thing that sticks out is the aspect ratio - 1.19:1 reduces the frame to a near-square so we are as boxed in as our protagonists. It felt like an inversion of the use of space in The Invisible Man - whereas that film made use of empty space in the frame to create suspense, The Lighthouse's limited perspective creates a level of discombobulation and claustrophobia that grows increasingly oppressive as our heroes become more disconnected from relief (and reality).
While the film is technically a two-hander, the film is bolted to the POV of Pattinson's Winslow.
At first, Winslow seems like an every-man in a bizzaro world - beleaguered by the elements, both real (seagulls) and possibly imagined (mermaids!).
Pattinson delivers a world-weary performance as Winslow. As the island begins to effect him, he grows more manic. It is a vulnerable, ugly performance that is utterly engrossing as Winslow's true nature comes into focus.
While his performance is more internal than Dafoe, he brings a feverish level of self-centredness to the role that becomes more apparent as the pair are forced to extend their stay on the island.
On the hairy face of it, Dafoe initially looks like a caricature here, with his accent and affected limp. Since we are in Winslow's (Pattinson) corner at the outset, Dafoe initially presents as an antagonist, a harsh taskmaster putting Winslow through hell with a never-ending series of tasks.
While the casting feels uninspired, the movie knows exactly what his purpose is in the movie, and maximises his Dafoeness. Once it becomes clear that Winslow is an unreliable narrator, Wake's various idiosyncrasies feel far less otherworldly by comparison.
I have not seen The Witch (yet), and I recall some complaints about the length. I enjoy slow burns, and I really enjoyed how deliberate The Lighthouse is - it is only in the closing third that the proverbial hits the fan.
The movie is deeply unsettling - there is something very tactile about the movie's aesthetic, a fleshiness and sense of physical and psychological vulnerability which gives the movie a visceral punch - without being particularly gory.
As the line between reality and nightmare weakens, the movie's anxieties extend beyond the disintegrating rules of the world to the mental health of our leads, and even our understanding of their respective identities.
If this sounds like a downer, the Lighthouse is not simply some dreary mood piece. The movie has a mordant sense of humour that becomes more evident as the movie enters its gonzo final minutes. There is also a subtext of sexual frustration to the movie that I personally found very funny. While Winslow's fixation on mermaids, and his suspicions about Wake, carry a certain amount of dread, I came away from the movie feeling they were a black joke on our 'hero' - manifestations of his preoccupations than anything specific to the island.
The film's action appears to be precipitated by a trio of deaths - one offscreen, one on and another metaphoric. Death is a chaotic event in this universe - rather like Macbeth, the death of a key figure precipitates a breakdown in the natural order of things. Since the film is also focused on two men, and the only woman we see is - probably - imaginary, I started imagining the movie as a revenge movie with Gaia wrecking holy hell as Winslow for his various offences.
Once the storm begins and our heroes are barricaded inside their shelter, I really began to enjoy the movie. While it is disturbing, I enjoyed the atmosphere of these sequences (the long shots of the sea buffeting the island are fantastic). The movie began to feel like one of those low-budget gothics from the forties and fifties - while Lewton is an easy pull as an influence, the move also reminded me of potboilers like The Trollenberg Terror - the aesthetic is similar, but the affect is completely its own.
I am not ready to dig deeper without another viewing, but The Lighthouse is definitely worth checking out.
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