The Lighthouse
In the 1890s, two wickies are ferried across the chop to a lone lighthouse on a cliff. The roof leaks. The water from the cistern runs brown. The winds rattle the house, and waves crash on the ground, slicking all paths.
The shifts are 12 hours long. New man on the job Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) is awake for the daylight hours, repairing the ramshackle accommodations, sparring with aggressive seagulls and tending to the mechanical needs of the lighthouse. At night, experienced keeper Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) tends the light.
The days are long and the two men divided by schedule and temperament. Ephraim counts the days until his four-week shift is over. When a storm turns the seas to an impassable wasteland, the two men find their month-long job has been extended indefinitely.
Can their provisions hold out? What about their sanity?
Disturbing, weird and wonderful, The Lighthouse is more an experience than a story. Director Robert Eggers (The Witch) meticulously crafts a journey into madness that’s rife with artistry and brilliant performances. Eggers shoots the movie like a silent film. The frame is nearly square, contributing to the claustrophobia as well as to historical accuracy. Another mark of the time, shooting in black and white, allowed Eggers to play with light and shadow for dramatic effect.
This is more than a well-shot historical drama. Eggers draws from traditions of German expressionism to create evocative visual metaphors. You could freeze just about any frame of The Lighthouse and have an image that could adorn a gallery wall. As the characters’ sanity slips, the filmmaking does as well. The characters begin to represent themes and ideas swirling around the men as they cope with the situation. It’s bold, fascinating filmmaking that cinephiles will likely discuss for years.
In a movie that makes a case for Eggers as one of the most interesting emerging filmmakers, the leads contribute two astounding performances. Pattinson’s Ephraim is a fish out of water. A man on the run from a mysterious past finds isolation rather than a new start in a new vocation. As the experience plays with his tortured psyche, his only companion is a man with a still looser grip on sanity.
Dafoe is even better. His Wake might have crawled from the pages of a Melville novel, speaking in a dialect Ahab would understand. He curses the heavens and those around him in grandiloquent prose that only works because of Dafoe’s deft sense of performance. He holds the frame, his brilliance and madness swirling together to create a storm nearly as fearsome as the one battering the lighthouse.
The Lighthouse has earned a spot on my Top 10 of the year, but it may not on yours. It’s a movie more about allusions than straightforward storytelling. It will foster hours of conversation on cinematography, mythological symbolism and acting. If you’re looking for a movie with a great plot that won’t exhaust your brain, Parasite — another of my Top 10 of the year — is playing in the theater next door.
Excellent Drama • R • 109 mins.
~~~ New this Week ~~~
Arctic Dogs
Swifty (voiced by Jeremy Renner) dreams of running with the big dogs. But he’s an Arctic fox, not a dog. He toils in the mailroom of Arctic Blast Delivery, while the huskies deliver important packages.
To prove he can handle a route, Swifty steals a sled with mysterious cargo and sets off on the delivery. The package leads Swifty to an evil plot masterminded by Otto Von Walrus (John Cleese).
With chintzy animation and an obvious story, this is a kid movie that may test parental resolve.
Prospects: Dim • PG • 93 mins.
Harriet
Born a slave and escaping to freedom, Harriet Tubman (Cynthia Erivo) isn’t content to live with liberty while others are in bondage. Risking her freedom and life, she organizes a system, The Underground Railroad, to help more slaves escape to freedom in the north.
See it as a tribute to a life that deserves to be celebrated.
Prospects: Flickering • PG-13 • 125 mins.
Jojo Rabbit
At the end of World War II, the Nazis are fighting to keep Germany committed to the cause. Among the true believers is Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis). A boy in Hitler’s youth army, he lives to help the Third Reich take over the world. His imaginary friend and only confidant is Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi).
Jojo’s determination is tested when he realizes his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is harboring a young Jewish girl.
Making a satirical comedy about Nazis is risky business, but director/star Taika Waititi knows how to walk the line between taste and controversy. Expect an excellent satire about fanaticism.
Prospects: Bright • PG-13 • 108 mins.
Motherless Brooklyn
Going is hard for Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton) in 1950s’ Brooklyn. An orphan with Tourette’s syndrome, he’s considered evil by the nuns who raised him. On the streets, he’s considered a nuisance. The only person who sees past Lionel’s ticks is private eye Frank Minna (Bruce Willis), who recognizes Lionel’s amazing memory as the asset it is.
Fair Mystery • R • 144 mins.
Terminator: Dark Fate
Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) thought she prevented Judgement Day, but it turns out she just postponed it. Now, Skynet is sending a new terminator, the Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna), to kill a new woman, Dani (Natalia Reyes). Sarah teams up with an enhanced super soldier and a T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to protect Dani and ensure the survival of humanity.
After two disastrous reboots, original Terminator director James Cameron has returned, as producer film and script consultant. This is a promising sign.
Prospects: Bright • R • 128 mins.