The Lighthouse

I admit I came into this movie with significant apprehension. I'd only seen one other movie from director Robert Eggers' filmography (at the time of this writing, he only has three out anyway), that being The Witch. I appreciated what he was trying to do with The Witch, but it just didn't land with me as much as I wanted it to. I did appreciate, though, how The Witch relied on isolation and superstition to build its atmosphere and tear apart the family with paranoia and fear. There is a lot of similarity in that regard between The Witch and The Lighthouse. Like The Witch, The Lighthouse uses isolation and superstition as tools to explore, and then destroy, a relationship. Unlike The Witch, though, the relationship here is not familial. It's not even familiar, in the sense that the characters don't even know each other. Here, a master lighthouse keeper takes on a new apprentice in the 1890's. The apprentice is supposed to be there for only four weeks. The Lighthouse is a challenging movie to review, because it is, by design, an obtuse movie, letting the viewer see what they want to see. There is credible evidence to say it is a story of a troubled young man running from his problems, only to find they follow him wherever he goes and it destroys him in what he thinks is a sanctuary. It could be seen as an exploration of a father-son or mentor-student dynamic, with the younger of the two desperately seeking validation while hating the man he's trying to gain approval from. It could be seen an exploration of what happens when the masks we wear not only for the benefit of polite society but for self-deception crack and fall away, and we're left staring at the naked truth of ourselves. It could be a tale of repressed homoerotic attraction. Or it could simply be a story about two men isolated on a lighthouse on an island that go stark raving mad. Literally all of these are valid interpretations, perhaps even a mix of them if you're so inclined, and I really appreciate that. For every Buzzfeed article you can find about "actually Toy Story 3 was a Vietnam allegory" that feel like some naval-gazing, self-assigned film intelligencia trying to outsmart a movie that is nothing more than what's on the screen, The Lighthouse is designed to be analyzed and dissected and viewed through the unique prism of personal experience. The elements of the movie itself are straight-forward; Robert Pattinson is the younger apprentice and harbors a secret of why he's on the island, Willem Dafoe also seems to be harboring secrets about who he is, and they're stuck on an island together. Eggers never presents one or the other as the hero, and never resorts to telling the story from one man's point of view; the camera is there to capture the events that unfold, not to frame it. How it all adds up is up to the viewer, but no matter how it adds up, no interpretation is wrong. It's like the theory of relativity in film form. This movie is carried, literally in both talent and sheer volume of minutes on the screen, by Pattinson and Dafoe. Apart from brief glimpses of someone from Pattinson's past, and a few shots of a mermaid that may or may not be real, they are this movie. It's a lot to expect 100 or so minutes to be carried by only two people, and they do it with such ease, it's almost frightening. Both go through a range of emotions and dynamics together; distrust, begrudging respect, friendship, resentment, anger, exhaustion, and so much more, and it all feels like the natural consequence of the conditions the characters are in. When Pattinson stands up to Dafoe the first time and Dafoe shuts it down, the expression on Pattinson's face is of resentment over not being heard, but grudging respect for his elder, and that pays off later when there's another confrontation and Pattinson gets more of an opportunity to express himself. Every scene builds on what came before and lays the groundwork for what comes next, and that is all because of the work Pattinson and Dafoe do here in building complex characters. The direction is equally outstanding. Eggers explores every nook and cranny of the island and the buildings on it -- the lighthouse and attached living quarters -- and often from fascinating angles, giving the area a sometimes alien feel. Lighting is selective and, with it being shot in black and white, means some scenes can get dark and hard to discern, but that's by design; it creates an atmosphere, both of authenticity to the time, and for the audience, making them feel the growing horror and claustrophobia. This is amplified by the aspect ratio in which this was shot, which is nearly square. It's a visual representation of the tight quarters the characters are in, and stops the viewer's gaze from wandering to the periphery. I've had Eggers' other film, The Northman, on my watchlist for a while, and I've been hesitant about it, simply because The Witch underwhelmed me. The Lighthouse has me more enthusiastic to see it. This was a fantastic movie, dominated by two excellent performances, and crafted by a director who should not be this talented this early in his career. I look forward to seeing future works by him, and I'm happy this exceeded expectations.