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

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?

this owned, ned otm

Just saw this, & while I mainly enjoyed it, it felt like it could have been 15-30 minutes shorter. Not as narratively or thematically tight as The Witch. More shaggy dog story than fable.

Further thoughts: the looseness of it all owes to Eggers' efforts to disorient the viewer. Like the characters, you start to lose track of time. This was handled pretty effectively IMO.

Also this is kind of an ideal film for the rolling masc. thread to discuss.

It's often a very funny film but in the way that Samuel Beckett can be funny, if you like.

I'm still trying to make sense of the seemingly anachronistic reference to Ahab.

Going to watch it in an hour. Two of my local colleagues complained it wasn't worth the fuss. Veremos!

And yeah this film on masculinity was... a lot. I'm still coming to terms with (finding the words for) it.

I'm still trying to make sense of the seemingly anachronistic reference to Ahab.

― Subaru owners I have wordlessly loved (bernard snowy)

I said "what the fuck?!" loud enough for my neighbors to turn around.

This wasn't much, part of the tradition of horror movies set in enchanted locations that drive the occupants mad, with overtones of early O'Neill.

IDK if the Ahab ref was an anachronism; Moby-Dick came out in 1851 and this takes place iirc in the 1890s? Of course the book wasn't really rediscovered and made canon until the 20th century. /pedantry

Still dunno if I "liked" this but it was a hell of a trip, that's for sure. The "may Neptune strike ye dead!" curse was one of the best things in it and I could have listened to/watched Dafoe do that for like another 5 mins

Pattinson's been on a roll the last decade, but he was miscast: he can't be histrionic anymore.

‘Tis a thing of beauty, this tweet

The Lighthouse is now my fifth favorite Kids In The Hall skit. pic.twitter.com/8s94LCrLkf

— Starts Today! (@StartsTodayFans) October 27, 2019

https://youtu.be/1si6M-vDEzI

this was pretty funny

fave bits:
* the two monologues where they go off on each other and their respective laconic responses
* r-patt's super-intense drunken jig dancing
* the distorted screams at the climax

Fun, not weird enough. I just read moby-dick like last year and I actually want to pick it up again, ffs.

so when a man gaslights another man I guess it's called lighthousing him

Masterpiece imo. what could've been gimmicky cinematography is completely necessary. for once, form enhances content. You could take a still of this and a still from the Cohen restoration of The Old Dark House, or Dreyer's Joan of Arc, and it would look like the same movie. The only thing separating it is the modern sound equipment. Stunning sound design also, that fuzzed out scream when he finally touches the light was incredible. And the foghorn itself. But also, there are phenomenally executed tracking shots and some crucial camera moves during their dinners. I wasn't that hot on The Witch so this really surprised me. Safdies put it best:

The light in the lighthouse was that chapter in Moby Dick just about the color white.

— SAFDIE (@JOSH_BENNY) October 21, 2019

yeah certainly can't complain about the sound and light, the look of the thing. It left me (uncharacteristically?) wanting more psychology and less word salad.

Expect this to grow in estimation in my memory though.

An intermittently fun Dumb and Dumber.

it's a good question about Moby Dick and the Ahab reference. the movie takes place in the 1890s, around Melville's death. before 1891, there were 3,215 copies of Moby Dick sold. between 1892-98, it sold another 1,800 copies. idk, maybe sea captains were hip to Melville. I think it's a stretch but not impossible.

xp that's exactly why I loved it, the look & sound enhanced the story. it's a simple story, just cabin fever. and I felt like I was inside that cabin, and eventually, in their delusions. it's remarkably well paced. I like that their pasts are kept ambiguous. I didn't mind the monologues because they were never spelling something out, there's no Paris Texas style expository monologue about Pattinson's past. he mumbles, covets the mermaid, pulverizes a bird. this, I think, is enough

Really enjoyed this :)

oof that bird pulverization

pattinson's howling shaking gaping maw my favorite movie moment of the past year at least

deeply satisfying, i can't imagine not being into this at least on a purely audio/visual level

An intermittently fun Dumb and Dumber.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, October 31, 2019 4:33 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Or a gender-flipped What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

before 1891, there were 3,215 copies of Moby Dick sold. between 1892-98, it sold another 1,800 copies. idk, maybe sea captains were hip to Melville. I think it's a stretch but not impossible

Plus then, as now, you don’t need to have actually read moby dick to pull out a reference to captain ahab being a crazy sea guy. So I can roll with it.

Don’t really know what this added up to after all the sound and fury, but it was fun. thought the final shot was wayyy too on the nose, while also not really explicating that much thematically. Alfred otm abt it being another in a long line of “this crazy place made this guy go crazy” films, but it was still a good ride.

This movie about two men drinking and masturbating in a lighthouse does NOT pass the Bechdel Test

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3-mjqQ6BIc

Me da just dropped this on me:

So Andrew tell me: why would there even be an ax at that lighthouse????

For chopping firewood?

All the stoves I saw were burning coal ...

duh for chopping up old salts

axes are standard equipment for firefighting on ships, and presumably in lighthouses too

* the two monologues where they go off on each other and their respective laconic responses

I'm not sure I can pin down exactly why, but I think this was my least favourite part. The sarcastic reactions, that is. The monologues are funny on their own, without the movie doing the job of demolishing them for us. Maybe it was the repetition of the same beat that made it stick out and feel hackneyed.

agreed, I too saw those coming a mile away, should have left them out

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.

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)