The Lighthouse Movie Review

The Lighthouse (2019)

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Written by: Robert Eggers, Max Eggers
Directed by: Robert Eggers
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe, Valeriia Karaman
Rated: R
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Plot
Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.

Verdict
This is a bit of a film buff movie, but if you like creative movies don't let the period dialog, black & white images, and slow pace deter you. This is a wonderfully unnerving and engaging movie that leaves you with more than a few questions. It has a slow pace, but it's never boring. This movie is a ride.
Watch it.

Review
After watching Eggers first movie The Witch, I knew I'd be watching his next movie. This is similar in style with an unnervingly slow pace and seemingly period accurate dialog. When this ended, I wasn't sure what happened. Was it isolation due to madness, supernatural causes, or something else entirely?

This movie is steeped in style and setting, from the black and white color palette to the film grain and period accurate dialog. It feels like a movie much older than it really is.
The entire movie takes place at a lighthouse and nearby cottage. This film is engineered to create a heavy mood, very similar to The Witch. The score pushes you to expect a fright and I was waiting for something to happen. This is an uneasy movie that doesn't employ any cheap scares. Whether it's a horror movie at all is up for debate.

Willem Dafoe plays Thomas Wake.

Dafoe plays Thomas, a lighthouse keeper. Pattinson plays Ephraim, on a one month contract. They are isolated from anyone else and that's why Ephraim took the post. The farther out you are the more money you get. Thomas, being in charge, makes Ephraim do all the menial tasks but doesn't let him enter the top chamber of the lighthouse.

Dafoe really chews some scenery. He plays an ornery old man that doesn't seem to interact with people often. Ephraim realizes the imbalance of power rather quickly.
The core of this movie is two guys in a cottage that don't get along for various reasons. It's a simple plot, but it's more engaging than most movies.

The question I began wondering was whether isolation breeds madness or whether something preternatural was occurring. I still don't know the answer to that.

Robert Pattinson plays Ephraim Winslow.

There are multiple references or features of only one eye. I don't know if that is a clue about perspective and what we're not seeing or something else. This movie is part horror and part rumination on isolation. I never quite knew where reality started and stopped. I can tell you what happens in this movie, but is it really what happens and what does it mean? I don't know if I can believe what I've seen. I could just as easily say Ephraim angered the ocean spirits and they forced him to pay penance, but that's not the whole story either.