arr it be The Lighthouse (Eggers, 2019) - Pattinson, Dafoe, sea shanties

why'd yer spill yer beans

So excited.

In depth interview with DP Jarin Blaschke, for those fascinated with the technical side.

Ah, shot on film, that explains why it (seems to) look so good. Every video B&W conversion I can think of has looked like washed-out dogshit.

ok

Kinda hoping that "fantasy horror" per the Kodak article, is a misnomer. Not that that would be *bad* per se, but I really want a straight psychodrama about two dudes going nuts on a tiny island.

Yeah, all about this.

this looks fantastic

there has definitely been a dearth of good lighthouse movies

psyched, this sounds great

xps

heard the director namedrop Weird Tales and Lovecraft in an interview about this, so i doubt it's really a straight psychodrama

I've avoided most information, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone suffered a case of Space Madness.

I think one could do a fine digital->B&W process, one would just need to do a lot of thoughtful adjustments to the RGB channel contributions.

One of my favorite B&W films of the last decade, November (2017), was shot digital, and in some segments, infrared digital.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19QZy1YHL50

I don't think every b&w video conversion is awful

I loved The Witch and have been really excited for this

want to see November

New trailer. Looks good and wacky. So stoked for this.

https://youtu.be/42_UHhpq530

!

Dafoe borrowing the Nicholson axe trot from The Shining

also expecting Popeye and Poopdeck Pappy to show up at the end

what?

just a lotta salty seaside snarling in that trailer

Ahahaha and here I was worried this trailer would spoil or reveal anything.

lol that is a good description of it

What

I’ve watched this trailer more times than I’d like to admit. For the What.

hmmmm possibly watered-down Guy Maddin

Did you see The Witch? Not remotely his angle.

I did not see The Witch, bcz it was called The Witch

First they came for people who saw The Witch and I said nothing, etc.

Morbz i think you would appreciate the Witch.

Eggers is nothing like Madden

I am up for watered down guy maddin

I did not see The Witch, bcz it was called The Witch

pretty excited for this based on The Witch, but not crazy about that 'what' scene, reminds me of how so many scenes in The Master just felt like acting workshop exercises

Reading that interview with the DP posted upthread, apparently they made the weirdly specific choice to shoot this in the 1.19:1 Movietone ratio, which sounds pretty neat

other films in the last few years have done same... Grand Budapest Hotel?

Yeah didnt Grand Budapest deploy different aspect ratios for flashbacks iirc? I remember a few others in the last 10 years that have been in academy ratio. Per that interview, I guess 1.19:1 specifically dates from the transition from silent to sound, the DP cites M as the big inspiration to go with it.

pretty excited for this based on The Witch, but not crazy about that 'what' scene, reminds me of how so many scenes in The Master just felt like acting workshop exercises

well yeah theres obviously those parts, but imo a lot of the non-exercise scenes felt like actor-game stuff, like "what if we do a take where instead of the lines you sing 'slow boat to china'", etc. A friend described at the time it as "good, but like watching an acting contest" which I thought was otm.

PSH and Joaquin are good actors and I think they did the acting thing well and in a way that was perfect for the tone of the film, but this is for another thread I think.

“a ghost story” used a v similar ratio iirc

it was mentioned in the never coming to a cinema near you but those of you that aren't aware should check out british film bait from this year. filmed on a hand-cranked camera that films shots/reels a maximum of 28 seconds in length and developed by the director himself. a truly incredible achievement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmydSyiR59o

https://www.baitfilm.co.uk/

weird, given its not that long since this story was given the film treatment :

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3520714/

xp saw bait tonight and loved it, thanks for the tip jed!

opens in NY today

"immaculately curated"

https://www.artforum.com/film/nick-pinkerton-on-robert-eggers-s-the-lighthouse-2019-81048

ah "curated"

it's a dis

It’s a dat

Whoa, weird, am I the first one to see it here? Or at least revive the thread.

Anyway, saw it last night, still digesting it a bit. A striking film certainly on that technical front alone, pretty much every shot is damn near immaculate; the Movietone ratio worked really well. Pattinson and Dafoe go at it but more in a slow burn than explosive way; if anything Dafoe's most self-consciously 'actorly' moment is clearly scripted that way and is hilariously responded to in context. It's often a very funny film but in the way that Samuel Beckett can be funny, if you like. There are 'big' moments but they all feel earned and I even had an actual jump scare moment.

In terms of whether it's 'fantasy horror' or not -- giving away nothing, it's very clearly psychological horror but could be something else. Weird Tales and Lovecraft, sure I guess, but more in the 'New England can be a fucked up landscape' sense (which given The Witch makes sense). zchrys's "a straight psychodrama about two dudes going nuts on a tiny island" wish upthread is pretty much all you need to know going in.

Music often excellent, pacing works incredibly well, being an actual lighthouse keeper in the 19th century at that place would have driven me goddamn crazy.

More on the location shooting here:

https://www.indiewire.com/2019/10/the-lighthouse-robert-eggers-period-production-design-1202184244/

Well said, Ned.

I dug it, but I will definitely have to see it again to fully absorb it.

Bring a towel.

splash zone in the first six rows?

That style of gag is so overdone in the 2010s, I’m always annoyed to see ppl still deploying it, espec in period stuff bc it takes me out of it

Also an axe would totally be an essential tool for daily use with them building and repairing stuff, working with big heavy ropes & lines, etc

Dumb-smart fun for smart-dumb people (me). As much as I have grown to hate how handy #OnePerfectShot is as a slam, Nick P. is so not off the mark deploying it here. I definitely felt the spell it had over me evaporate when Pattinson started flailing his limbs around and swilling ambergris, or whatever. And it never actually hands over subjectivity from the director's head to Pattinson's. But I tilt slightly toward the "pro" camp and all my reservations will probably melt away with time.

ty for dn

re: ahab -- what if ahab is an actual famous captain in this story?
what if this... is in the moby cinematic dickaverse?

i haven't seen this, but i have to say that all the professional movie reviewers on here make me want to just love every single movie that you hate. talk about fucking snobbery.

and that's how we got Trump!

Upside is you’re going to love every single movie ever going forward.

lol, that's the dumbest response I've ever heard, Alfred.

poptimism disappears when it comes to films, for some reason that i can't fathom.

oh, you were serious? I thought we were joshing.

poptimism disappears when it comes to films, for some reason that i can't fathom.

I've no idea what this means. Anyway, this is a message board. If you wanna discuss the movie, by all means, but don't be catty.

i mean, i'm only sort of joshing.

it's just that for films, there always seems to be a pile-on here (and elsewhere) of very snotty critics pooh-poohing the latest "arthouse" thing that popular audiences are excited about. of course, some of these movies might actually suck, but the tone that Morbz (and let's say KJB, for example) takes is just awash in utter snobbery that makes it seem like there are no good movies left. i don't think i've read something from Morbz *liking* a movie since i've been on this site, tbh.

it means that in a lot of film threads that i lurk on, there seems to be universal disdain for a lot of "popular" films, whereas the same disdain isn't directed at "popular" music in the same manner. i just don't get it.

anyway, sorry, i actually really like reading yr opinions on many things, not trying to be a turdmuffin, though obviously am, so i step away.

Actually, he liked Marriage Story and The Irishman iirc, but he can defend himself.

With all due respect, tabes, you're not around much anymore. KJB is gone. Most film discussions these days (when they happen) tend to be pretty good.

I get where tabes is coming from tho.

I wished I hadn't stayed up late to watch this rubbish. If the non-comedy captain birdseye accent and ropy improvised dialogue + gratuitous masturbation aren't embarrassing enough, it's just a nothing movie - both the horror and the psychodrama elements are piss weak and go nowhere. All involved should feel embarrassed.

I think there there was another so so Lighthouse movie from a few years ago that was still better than this shite.

spilling beans itt

lol... and that capt ahab reference didn't quite glisten like the pecker of a sperm whale.. who get's paid for doing this stuff?

hahaha fuck this was so fucking good. It's been a while since I've seen a good midnight cult movie ala Eraserhead. This will stick with me for a long time. I hope either of these guys gets an Oscar nom.

Looked good, was tedious. Eggers has yet to "wow" me. His films seem to be reaching for some sort of thing - primal horror? - that I just don't think he's able to deliver.

I'll take Ben Wheatley in horror-mode over this guy any day.

I like some Wheatley, but hasn't captured the horror of awaiting the winter with a failed crop.

The Witch is doing a lot of things that haven't been as well done in the horror genre before. Most notably in period production design, but also in period daily concerns. Your 17th and 18th century farming ancestors had a very real chance of slowly starving to death, and by the end of harvest they'd know whether they'd survive the next 6 months or be reduced to beggars.

Yet to see The Lighthouse, but if Eggers ouvre remains period films with slowly growing dread, leading to his characters finally cracking, that's something new.

... and also timely. We're all watching the same news of the collapsing world, and some days its all I can do to stop myself screaming naked down the street. We're surrounded by others pacified with political propaganda, like having credulous neighbors in Jonestown (now there's a film I'd love to see a docu-psychological horror). A horror cinema of this sense of glacially encroaching dread, that its all falling apart and we're doubtless doomed, but which focuses on the psychological tension of the struggle to stay presentable... that's something I can identify with.

I liked The Witch quite a lot. I think its stature will only grow.

I was expecting something more tepid reading takes on this here. This was convincingly possessed and demented. Loved it.

I'll take Ben Wheatley in horror-mode over this guy any day.

I’m more of an Amy Jump fan

when the two actors started autocritiquing the movie via each other's performances {You're a PARODY of an old salt!) i lost all hope

basically a Corman movie with drunken comedy and Prometheus baggage; nice-looking tho

i'll send tabes a list of the many movies i liked this year btw

Dafoe really makes Lionel Barrymore look like the king of Bressonian understatement in this

xp it better be a list of pop movies you liked this year or else his point is proven

i think Little Women, Ad Astra, Irishman and Dolemite count on that score

Also, a lot more pop than this movie tbh.

People are suckers for Grand Guignol when it's black and white.

nice-looking tho

nice-sounding too

Hell yeah we are xp

and most successful when it's a comedy (again, the Corman-Price-Lorre films)

This is not a genre of movie https://t.co/pVnlAl3mVk

— Shuja Haider (@shujaxhaider) January 28, 2020

yeah I had that argument in 2011 when The Artist wowed too many people ("Silent movies aren't a genre").

So what tho

I saw this on Valentine's Day - I can't off the top of my head think of a film more likely to put people off sex afterwards.

A lot of weird authenticity when you read around about it - they built the lighthouse, a lot of century-old film lenses, they built the light and the foghorn (and most of the weather is natural) - but in the service of very keyed-up and unnatural performances. Which is great!

The real anachronism is that the song they're singing before they don't kiss was written in the 1980s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpWWWhc9QzI

weird, given its not that long since this story was given the film treatment

He's been working on this since before the VVitch, I understand - though both Pattinson and Dafoe approached him after that and asked to be in a film of his.

when the two actors started autocritiquing the movie via each other's performances {You're a PARODY of an old salt!) i lost all hope

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, January 29, 2020 3:38 PM

I was a little irked by this bit but I liked the film a lot.

I had heard it was a remake of The Lighthouse Keepers (1929) but apparently not?

Feeling smug about catching the Sascha Schneider influence.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4198/34681056660_492c0f4fd4_o.jpg

https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/lighthouse-robert-eggers-literary-visual-influences-melville-lovecraft-dads-army
https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/interviews/lighthouse-robert-eggers-influences

Would like to see this with subtitles someday because I think I missed a bunch, or a script to appreciate all the sea dog talk.

Getting excited for The Northman, and wondering if Eggers will ever make a film not titled "The ___"

https://www.slashfilm.com/the-northman-viking-film-anya-taylor-joy/

Cool.

saw this, enjoyed everything. looked amazing and the two lads were game.

surprised nobody made a pattinson/day lewis link, i think he was blatantly lifting entire elements tbh

I fell asleep to this just as old mate was killing a seagull about a year ago. Figure nothing important would happen after that moment so haven’t turned it back on

I fell asleep to this just as old mate was killing a seagull about a year ago. Figure nothing important would happen after that moment so haven’t turned it back on

(It’s kind of a funny idea the movie ending there as if nothing else happen and I haven’t been willing to ruin that illusion yet)