The Lighthouse
Film

The Lighthouse

January 17, 2020

This event occurred as part of the 19/20 Hop Film season. This is an archived view.

Shot in hypnotic black and white, this supernatural (or psychological?) thriller centers on two lighthouse keepers (Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson) on a mysterious island.

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When sea-worn sailor Thomas Wake (Dafoe) ferries itinerant ex-lumberjack Ephraim Winslow (Pattinson) to a remote New England island, he promises to show him the ropes in the art of lighthouse keeping. But Winslow soon finds himself mostly grunting through punishing manual labor while enduring Wake's drunken taunts. As the nights get long and the booze runs out, a Nor'easter rumbles in and tensions rise like the tide as ominous portents encircle the cut-off duo.

Robert Eggers (The Witch) directs this tense, atmospheric period piece about two men brought to the brink of delirium by crushing loneliness—a salty tale that is as playfully self-aware and filthy as it is disturbing. Willem Dafoe is incredible as a boorish-but-erudite old sea dog, while Pattison seethes with a gruff dejection that turns into vindictive rage. Unsettling and gorgeous, this elegantly claustrophobic black-and-white drama hints at mythological and supernatural forces while diving headfirst into a roiling sea of masculine fury. D: Robert Eggers, US, 2019,

Academy Award Nominee for Best Cinematography.

Note: This film is for mature audiences only.

The Lighthouse is a ferocious battle of wills, a tour de force of cold, clammy suspense and a chance to savor the visual glories of a bygone era of cinematic artisanship.”

Los Angeles Times

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