Movie Review: "The Lighthouse"

"The Lighthouse": B+.  A small film which defies genre labeling, The Lighthouse might be short on action but makes up for it with killer acting, thick atmosphere and psychological gamesmanship.  Set on a godforsaken New England island in the late nineteenth century, it is the story of two men whose profession is to man the creepy lighthouse while facing sometimes terrifying dangers presented by mother nature and each other's company.  Willem Dafoe is Thomas Wake, the senior member of the duo who obviously has many secrets which he is not willing to share with his newly arrived younger partner, Efraim Winslow.  Winslow is played by English actor Robert Pattinson.

Wake has been on the job for years, and is set in his ways.  In general, he insists on his subordinate, Winslow, doing the heavy lifting and the odorous housekeeping duties.  Those tasks include lugging kerosene drums up the winding staircase, making repairs on the building's exterior, and emptying the bathroom receptacles.  Most suspiciously, Wake cuts Winslow off short when the younger man proposes switching shifts so that he can attend to the beacon.  "No, the lantern is mine," insists the crotchety Wake.

Director Robert Eggers fills the story with many smoke screens, sinister suggestions, eerie sound effects and a haunting score.  The two most notable effects are the usage of black and white 35mm film, and the reduction of the screen via a narrow aspect ratio.  The latter technical devise is particularly appropriate for the many scenes shot in the cramped quarters of the claustrophobic rooms.  We regularly hear the deep bass bellow of a distant fog horn, but there is never a ship in sight.  Perhaps the beam from the lighthouse, warning sailors of the rocky shores, has caused them to steer away.  The constant wind, rain, thunder and lightning adds to the intensity.

At times Wake appears civil, such as trading tales with Winslow as they share  a meal and quaff hard liquor.  But more often than not he is intimidating, even to the point of being dangerous.  The old man reveals a mean streak, like threatening Winslow with a bad job review and docking his hard-earned pay.  He furtively makes entries in a log book which he keeps under lock and key, just as he does the gate which leads to the beacon.  What is it that he doesn't want Winslow to see?  And, why does Wake hide a knife?  Where is all this going to lead?

Some commentators have described The Lighthouse as a psychological horror story in which the two characters lose their minds.  Eggers gives us a heavy dose of sequences for which we are not sure what we're witnessing.  Swimming mermaids, white-haired men on the beaches, the sea swirling and then parting, sea gulls taking on human characteristics.  Are these mid-sleep dreams, hallucinations, or neither?  Is either character seeing what we're seeing, or is Eggers yanking our chain?  We wonder, what was the fate of the junior light keeper who preceded Winslow to this remote outpost?  Does the same fate await Winslow?

On a recent late night talk show, Pattinson recounted that the movie was shot on a distant shore of Nova Scotia, where the closest civilization was a tiny lobster fishing village.  For over a month the cast and crew fought boredom when they were not working, with little to do except prepare for the next day's shoot.  The uncooperative weather was a constant challenge as well.  Pattinson made it sound like coping with such real life conditions made it easier for him and Dafoe to act like they were ready to kill each other.