A pearl shining in the deep.The Lovecraftian horror might leave you with more questions than answers, so let's break down the ending of The Lighthouse. In these darkened times of blind consumerism and mindless memes, The Lighthouse is a beacon for weary travellers in the dark. The Lighthouse is a cinematic bare-knuckle fight, that crashes over the soul in a cathartic wave of existential dread. This is a filmmaker who seems at his most content when he goes against the grain and fights the prevailing cinematic winds. These stark images are propelled even further by the haunting a-tonal strings of Mark Korven which bring a steely vitality to the coastal hell of the lighthouse.Īs a director Robert Eggers is unapologetic in his nuanced approach. Blashke captures the eroded coastal landscapes and imbues them with a euphoric sense of dread that verges on transcendent. Together they craft an unnerving portrait of Winslow and Wake. And while Eggers steers the film’s gruelling journey, he’s supported wholly by his able-bodied cinematographer Jarin Blashke. There’s a noticeable restraint and minimalism to his compositions and there’s a clear debt to European cinema, with noticeable influences from the likes of Bergman, Tarkovsky and Bela Tarr.
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But Eggers is succinct and diplomatic in his use of the camera. The grainy black and white is a ghostly staple of the film’s prevailing atmosphere. Robert Eggers traumatic images are potent and unnerving. But Winslow’s obsession preys at his soul, until his sense of reality begins to drown in a whirlwind of waves and psychosis. Each night as Wake tends to it zealously, Winslow magnetically obsesses over it. As Winslow battles isolation and irritation, he becomes enraptured by the incandescent mystery of the lightroom, and haunted by its supernatural calling. But the misery and hardship of these tasks grind at his pride and dignity. Instead, Winslow’s left with the gruelling shit shovelling tasks of gathering firewood and maintaining lighthouse mechanics. When Winslow expresses a desire to work the lightroom Wake becomes defensive and guards it with a religious fanaticism. But Wake’s puritanical about his superstitions and warns Winslow that his previous assistant lost his sanity. Wake’s drunken sea chanties, cryptic sea lore and endless superstitions repulse Winslow. Winslow, a man of a quiet despondent demeanour, is matched against the overbearing traditionalism of Wake.
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From the get-go Winslow and Wake’s natures are set against one another.
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Winslow’s at the service of veteran keeper, Thomas Wake(Willem Dafoe). He’s traded a post logging in Canada for this inhospitable domain at the edge of the world. Ephraim Winslow (Robert Patterson) is a newly hired assistant lighthouse keeper. It’s barely visible in the fog, but the lighthouse rises out of the island earth like a solemn religious monument. It’s a near hallucinogenic feast, and the onscreen atmosphere is a hypnotic high-wire act to die for. Eggers establishes a heightened state of tension and anxiety early on, and never slackens. With The Lighthouse, Eggers makes a bold return to the directorial helm, as he lures us on a nautical pilgrimage into the darkest depths of man’s soul. Writer/ Director Robert Eggers drew critical acclaim and praise for his debut The Witch, a daring period horror set in New England. The Lighthouse is a piercing psychological horror about two lighthouse keepers in 19 th century Maine.
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