THE LIGHTHOUSE (2019)
Label: Lionsgate
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 109 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Full Frame (1.19:1)
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Robert Eggers
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe
After the critical success of the The Witch (2015) director Robert Eggers didn't fritter away his good standing among the film community by directing a some franchise sequel or reboot, nope, instead he went full-tilt arthouse-horror with another folk-horror tale set in New England, the Lovecraft-ian psychological thriller The Lighthouse (2019) set in the 1890s.
The black and white film opens with former timberman Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) arriving at his new job, as a "wickie", a lighthouse keeper working with Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) on an inhospitable rock island, Wake is a salty sea-dog of a man who is set in his ways, and doesn't make life easy for the younger Ephraim. He's a harsh task master, assigning Winslow back-breaking chores along with some housekeeping the younger man feels is beneath himself, constantly criticizing his work refusing to allow Winslow to see the light at the top of the lighthouse.
The slow-burning film is a creepy and taut excursion into the the realm of insanity, with each man getting on the nerves of the other, the isolation and claustrophobic confines chipping away at their civility towards one another. We see things mainly through the eyes of the younger Winslow, who begins to suspect a Lovecraft-ian tentacle nightmare that seemingly lays just beyond his periphery.
Both Pattinson and Dafoe are phenomenal, both actors are in top-form, with Dafoe turning in a couple of deliciously fervent monologues, including a Neptune-naming diatribe that's begun over an argument about the quality of his lobster-cooking skills, that made me laugh quite a bit. Dafoe's craggy face looks amazing in the harsh and shadowed black and white lensing, and for the first time I can see Robert Pattinson as an adult, and not that kid from the Twilight franchise.
The black and white imagery of the film looks stunning, the cinematography and odd silent-era styled framing really set a tone for the specific period of the film, capturing the harsh and monotonous lightkeeper lifestyle. We also get the aforementioned tentacled Lovecraft-isms that appear in a couple surreal scenes we well as conjurings of the cockle-shelled Lord Neptune and visions of a most vaginal mermaid I have ever seen.
Audio/Video: The Lighthouse (2019) arrives on Blu-ray and digital from Lionsgate framed in the original 1.19:1 aspect ratio, shot on film stock in black and white the monochrome image is quite lovely, giving it a proper period aesthetic, white and grays are well defined, with the blacks looking deep and inky, with wonderfully supportive contrast. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. It's not bombastic presentation by any means, this is a dialogue heavy film without any big action sequences to speak of, but the mix in complimentary to the surrounding, shifting tonally according to location, with the crash of the waves on the shore of the stony island and howl of the wind given god placement in the atmospheric surrounds.
Extras on the disc include a 38-min three-part making of doc, 5-min of deleted scenes and an audio commentary with co-writer & Director Robert Eggers, plus a selection of Lionsgate trailers and a digital copy of the film.
Special Features:
- The Lighthouse: A Dark & Stormy Tale 3-Part Featurette (38 min)
- Audio Commentary with Co-Writer/Director Robert Eggers
- Deleted Scenes (5 min)
- Lionsgate Trailers (7 min)
- Digital Copy
Egger's The Lighthouse might not be for all tastes but for me the Lovecraftian-leaning, slow-burn arthouse psychological thriller was completely and utterly engrossing from start to finish, if any of that sounds like your cup o'tea this comes highly recommended.
