The Lighthouse Makes Madness, Isolation Fun Again
by Joseph Shelton
Director Robert Egger’s debut film, The Witch, was a home run right off the bat. It was the kind of movie that being called horror almost diminishes. Or, to look at it another way, it improves the whole genre by association. Whether or not it’s scary may depend on your sense of what makes a horror movie a horror movie, but there’s no denying that it’s the kind of movie experience you won’t soon forget.
Eggers’s sophomore effort, The Lighthouse, shows no sign of a sophomore slump. Like its predecessor, it’s a triumph of atmosphere, period dialogue and cinematography. But The Lighthouse is a little harder to put your finger on than the relatively straight-forward horror cosmology of The Witch. Though it’s no less inspired by folklore, even fairy tales, The Lighthouse is an altogether different experience; it’s maddening, yes, but its also funny, very surreal, and a great showcase for its two leads.
In the first few minutes of the film there are other people. The last two lighthouse keepers, done with their period of service, are leaving the island to the next two keepers, played by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. Once they’re gone, our two stars are pretty much alone for the rest of the film, a few moments of hallucination (?) notwithstanding. Think of it as a reimagining of the The Shining as a maritime two-hander. And then maybe mix in some Lynch and a little Nathaniel Hawthorne, and a pinch of Gaslight. After that, dunk the whole thing in a barrel of chum.
The two main-characters – the weathered sea tar and the younger man embarking on his first tour as a lighthouse keeper – are, of course mysterious. Everything about them is subject to change. Their names seem to change, as do their reasons for being in the lighthouse. Willem Dafoe’s older man seems to enjoy a bizarre and, perhaps, unnaturally close relationship with the actual light of the lighthouse. The other suffers from erotic fantasies about mermaids. One is repeatedly flatulent in the presence of the other, while the other embarks on an ill-starred conflict with a seagull that ends in blood and, very possibly, a curse.
To say anything more would be to risk revealing things that are better left as giddy surprises. Suffice it to say that the film is far funnier, and far more maddening, than you probably expect. Very highly recommended.
