REVIEW: "The Lighthouse" - Robert Egger's delightfully twisted folk tale

“There’s enchantment in the light . . .”

We seem to be in a horror renaissance. With a new wave of independent filmmakers on the rise and studios like A24 investing in unique visions from highly creative people, cinema on a whole is improving. New, imaginative filmmakers are injecting the industry with some much renewal and are keeping film fresh and dynamic in a way we haven’t seen in decades.

One of the genres that have had the greatest net improvement has been the horror genre.

Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse is one of these movies that is improving both the horror genre and filmmaking as a whole.

Set in the 1980s, on an isolated island in New England, The Lighthouse follows two lighthouse keepers, played by Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. As the film progresses, the two begin to lose their sanity and their grip on reality - which may be result of the extreme isolation and two unstable minds, or the product of an ancient evil enchantment.

Like, Eggers’ earlier work The Witch (2014), the film covers the ideas of isolation, collective hallucinations, and evil which may or may not be real, however, its able play up the elements in a far greater and more extreme fashion. Eggers’ intentionally disturbs the essential elements of cinema to unsettle of the viewer in every possible way.

An image from The Lighthouse in 1.19:1

He uses strange blocking and framing to create a distorted view of what is going on the film. With its uncomfortable close ups, harsh cutting, distorted images, the film presents itself as a twisted view on this lighthouse. The uses of black and white makes the film visual distinctive and elevates the presence of shadow and darkness through out. Then there’s the visual style of the effects. The wide shots of the Lighthouse are all done in strange painted style that seems out of place in 2019, but further elevate the insane circumstances of the film.

Most notably, Eggers’ decided to shoot the film in a 1.19:1 aspect ratio which creates a far tighter visual presentation. For those who aren’t cinematographers or cinema nerds, let me catch you up to speed. All films are shot in a certain aspect ratio, a ratio which dictates size of the width of the frame to the height of the frame. The biggest aspect ratio ever used was 4:1, which was used for only one film in cinema history: Napoleon (1927). Most mainstream films are released in a 2.37:1 or 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The standard of 70mm film is 2.2:1. Most computers are in a 1.7:1 (or a 16:9) ratio, which is standard aspect ratio for most television shows. The Lighthouse’s 1.19:1 used to be a standard in old films from the early days of cinema, but has fallen out of favour because of how restricting and box-y it is. Eggers knows this and his choice of this ratio is a deliberate creative choice.

The Lighthouse could be seen as some sort of sequel to The Witch. Eggers’ first proved his skill and talent with The Witch and now taking his ideas to an even further extreme. The Lighthouse presents itself as the film Eggers always wanted to make, and makes The Witch look like some sort of test. It’s a continuation and an expansion upon the same ideas. The films should not be viewed or discussed out of context of one another as they mutually impact the meaning and interpretation of the other.

Eggers directs Pattinson on set in Nova Scotia.

Then, of course, we get to the brilliant performances from Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. Dafoe has had a recent string of powerful performances in indie cinema with his roles in The Florida Project (2017) and At Eternity’s Gate (2018) and he continues to add to his legacy here. He proves with these three movies his incredible range. He jumps between playing a strong, leading-man type in The Florida Project, to his emotional and scattered performance as Vincent Van Gogh in At Eternity’s Gate, then to a strange, nearly cartoonish character in The Lighthouse. He is proving to be one of the finest and most versatile actors of this generation of cinema.

Unlike Dafoe, who is an established actor with a long history and extensive filmography, Robert Pattinson is somewhat of a new comer. Pattinson started off his career with his stint as the male lead of the Twilight series, which gained him a following and fame, but wasn’t looked upon favourably by critics. However, Pattinson then jumped out of mainstream to do work on a number of smaller, independent releases which proved how fantastic of a performer he really is. The Lighthouse just proves that even further. Again, unlike Dafoe, who is an eccentric presence from the get-go of the movie, Pattinson delivers a slow decent into madness and insanity in which he is able to show off all of his acting muscles, and also become one of the film’s highlights. A24, the studio behind The Lighthouse, has launched an official ‘for your consideration’ to get Pattinson nominated for Best Actor at the upcoming 2020 Oscars.

Pattinson is taking this praise and returning to the mainstream with his upcoming roles in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet (2020) and as the titular character in Matt Reeves’ upcoming untitled Batman film (2021).

The Lighthouse is a fantastic piece of horror cinema. Robert Eggers proves just how creative and unique the genre, which has so often been relegated to the sidelines of cinematic discussion, can be. With a unique and distinctive visual style, excellent score, and two brilliant performances from the two leads, The Lighthouse is a film that is not easy to forget and will be remembered for years to come.


Score: 5/5


The Lighthouse Quick Facts
Directed by Robert Eggers
Written by Robert Eggers and Max Eggers
Starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe
Released October 18, 2019
110 minutes