Review: The Lighthouse

Loneliness can be the worst curse of all.

Imagine yourself having to get stranded in an island with nowhere to go. Now, add another person whom you can't stand, with you on your obligatory stay. How long would you last before either going insane or evil thoughts begin to creep inside you? 

Sometime around the 1890's, signed up for their new assignment for the upkeep of a lighthouse off the coast of New England for four weeks, Thomas Wake and Ephraim Winslow arrives at the island. Wake is a veteran while Winslow is the new recruit. Wake doesn't waste a single opportunity to remind Winslow of who is in charge by constantly nagging him with the all duties, except one, much to the growing curiousity and to the resentment of Winslow. From the very first day, it is very clear that they don't enjoy each other's company. That changes, only at nights when they drink heavily and talk about their pasts, revealing the skeleton in the closet, only to wake up in the morning with even more resentment and reasons to hate and doubt each other. On their race to who would turn crazy first, fate hits them hard in the forms of a heavy storm, a missed boat for return and an unusually vengeful seagull. 

William Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, playing the veteran wickie and the understudy respectively, are just brilliant in every sense of it. While Dafoe is already a proven acclaimed actor, Pattinson continues his astonishing surge as an actor, following the trail of his latest outstanding performances in movies such as Good Time, The lost city of Z, High Life etc. Both men stays committed to their characters throughout the film and an Oscar nomination could very well be the least they can be rewarded with, for how they have performed. 

Technically, the movie is a masterpiece. From the use of constant harrowing noise of foghorn, seagulls and waves to the exceptional use of light and the 1:19:1 aspect ratio to let us have the feel of the claustrophobic nature of the place and  the of the horror which the characters are feeling. Robert Eggers is a man who is very affirmative about what he is doing and what he brings to the screen, just like he did with with his writing and directing in his debut film, The Witch. 

This year has been relatively a silent one from A24 for the first half of the year, compared to the last few successful years. Through the second half of the year, they proved once again why they are the best in the business/art right now, with a flurry of movies such as Midsommar, The Souvenir, The Farewell, The last black man in San Francisco and The Lighthouse to add to High Life and Gloria Bell from the first half of the year. They have upped their game right in time to provide all the right kind of fuss for the upcoming, Uncut Gems.