The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse comes from Robert Eggers, the man who gifted us the horror indie masterpiece The Witch! In his second outing, you could see how vastly improved his filmmaking skills are! But does the film's content reciprocate from its end? Let's find out.

The plot revolves around a new second officer named Thomas (Robert Pattison) hired to man the lighthouse at a distant, secluded island. His supervisor played by Willem Dafoe is a grumpy old elderly, and right from the go things aren't smooth between them. Thomas looks to be taciturn and moody - total opposite to his senior who is chatty, but of all a pain in the ass! Thomas is assigned every task on the island, while the old man just sways away relaxing. Every task, except manning the light. He keeps that to himself and himself alone. Why is it so? What's the secret there? As Thomas' rage and frustration accumulates day-after-day, the drama gradually tightens between the two, albeit shorter than what we were led to anticipate.

When the premonition and visions involving merfolk, dead bodies and tentacled monster at the lighthouse steps start to appear, the plot falters. This ambiguity is fine if a shred of revelation is provided as to what it all means, at least at the very end, but negative. All it results in is pretentiousness. The literal plot itself builds to a rather gripping finale where the two men spiral into insanity as they are stranded on the island due to heavy squall. Probably the most interesting aspect of this latter plot is that we do not know who is guilty nor who is telling the truth. Did the senior actually murder his assistant or is Thomas the one who's slacking off? Is this whole thing we're witnessing is a recount of the event of how the supervisor killed his former second or has Thomas gone fully insane? This uncertainty though, most definitely crescendos into a stellar climax!

Performances by both these actors are outstanding! Memorizing and exhibiting long lines are not easy of course. But those long, unending lines coupled with acts that don't make much sense such as the senior pretending to be a dog and lashed by Thomas only adds to the overall pretentiousness. However, scenes such as Thomas falling down the tower while painting it as the old fart purposely allowed it to happen, key-stealing attempt, argument about the senior's cooking, Thomas' hint at his criminal past and him beating the life out of a seagull are great!

The technical talent behind this picture is astounding! The makeup is immaculate! Sound design for the merfolk moan, wind howl, lighthouse siren etc. are sharp and crystal clear, although the last one mentioned could get into your nerves due to its relentless, blaring presence during the first good minutes. Editing is proper, with the match cut of masturbation transitioning into a violent sea splat being perfect! Background music is resounding too.

Jarin Blaschke's camerawork needs a paragraph of its own to describe its beauty. That classic square aspect ratio and the black-white dichromatic color palette combined to add effect to the haunting yet beautiful imagery displayed throughout the show! Framing, composition and lighting is flawless! And not to mention the daring filmmaking style Robert Eggers went for! Those no cuts, on-camera action such as Thomas chopping the old man's head with an axe or even burying him alive is nerve-shredding!