The Lighthouse - This Year's Cinematic Experience
Where on earth do I begin when describing 'The Lighthouse'? This is a film that is such a mesmerising unpredictable experience that it is so difficult to explore honestly without blatantly spoiling the experience. Robert Eggers confused and surprised audiences with his slow cult horror film 'The Witch' and everyone was eagerly waiting to see what he would bring to the table next and he certainly didn't disappoint. 'The Lighthouse' revolves around the characters of Winslow (Robert Pattinnson) and Tom (Willem Dafoe) in the 19th Century as they struggle with loneliness and delusion whilst being the lone operatives of a desolate Lighthouse. This film is that rare moment of pure cinematic bliss, technically fascinating, flawless writing and a goldmine of thematic concepts and ideas to delve into whilst still maintaining a highly enjoyable and engaging experience.
At the forefront of the film's dark gothic is tale is two incredible performances by two actors committing to every single moment. Willem Dafoe delivers the best performance of his career and that is from someone who loves Dafoe so much. His character is this almost stereotypical heightened depiction of a 19th-century sailor, akin to Captain McAlisster from 'The Simpsons' and Dafoe revels in this whilst creating a character that uses these stereotypical ideas to create an atmosphere of distrust and wariness for what is really going on with him. There are several moments that you can tell Dafoe is giving it his all, he isn't scared to go all over the place in insanity in several jaw-dropping moments, he goes from scarily overbearing to some moments of genuine weakness and humiliation which takes a lot to commit to a performance. Robert Pattinnson takes this, pun intended, fish out of water character and makes it something else, he constantly evokes this wavering level of confusion with sympathy yet slight wariness at times. Eggers manages to create a lot of the horror and tense moments through the use of these performances, a strained look of horror on Pattinson's face or a smile from Dafoe can elicit the same reaction as the film's more traditional horror moments. Pattinson puts so much into the delusion of his character, indulging in the outbursts and revelling in the timidness, this performance is stellar and an example of total commitment to a character in order to elicit the film's tough reaction.
To make a bold technical choice and have it pay off as much as 'The Lighthouse' is such a challenging thing but the technical elements in this film make it nothing short of a masterpiece. It is shot in beautiful 35mm black and white film at a 1,19x1 aspect ration to give the film this ancient authentic feel. Eggers is clearly harking back to films that would have been made around this time, it makes this world feel so much more tangible and consequential to maintain our only perception of this time, being black and white photography, part of this world. Eggers also uses those claustrophobic black bars to great dramatic effect, some shots make it so only a small part of the frame visible to create this chilling and uncomfortable environment, it at no points feels distracting and I couldn't imagine the film in any other way. At no point does the editing fail to elicit a visceral reaction, occasionally shots feel painfully long as we watch a mundane scene drenched in atmosphere and on occasion horror is created from swift disorientating cuts. The sound design and score are also downright beautiful, it uses quite a heightened naturalistic sound pallet, utilising this viscous soundscape of the island in twisted ways to build tension or unnerve the audience to a fascinating extent. It is a bold technical film, playing with conventions and cinematic techniques to make it feel genuinely a truly unique piece of cinema.
It is a tough film to write about without spoiling at all, I totally and honestly encourage you to go in without touching a trailer and let the experience wash over you. Because, in many ways, it is a complete experience based film, the act of watching 'The Lighthouse' is an experience that hasn't been beaten in a long time with it's approach to filmmaking feeling raw and so captivating. Not enough films revel in their own insanity, attempting to create an experience that doesn't have time to wait for its audience to catch up. That's not to say it is plotless, the narrative beats feel authentic and realised but the subtext and ideas that Eggers play with are drenched in mystery and wit. There's a lot to unpack in 'The Lighthouse' that is probably its greatest strength, the imagery and ideas presented are fascinating and will lead you down a deep dark rabbit hole of myths and folklore. But the psychological focus on these characters was by far much more interesting, there are split-second moments that I could spend hours discussing and the ride home after the film was full of excited and profound discussion on the film's meaning. Yet with all of this it still manages to remain hilarious at times and bone-chillingly horrifying at other times and if that doesn't make 'The Lighthouse' a masterpiece I don't know what does.
This was film number Three I managed to catch at Leeds International Film Festival and I am slowly working through trying to review each film but I have been exhausted. Thanks for reading!