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.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 24 October 2019 15:53 (four years ago) link
More on the location shooting here:
https://www.indiewire.com/2019/10/the-lighthouse-robert-eggers-period-production-design-1202184244/
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 24 October 2019 15:56 (four years ago) link
Well said, Ned.
I dug it, but I will definitely have to see it again to fully absorb it.
Bring a towel.
― Conceptualize Wyverns (latebloomer), Friday, 25 October 2019 04:32 (four years ago) link
splash zone in the first six rows?
― president of deluded fruitcakes anonymous (silby), Friday, 25 October 2019 16:43 (four years ago) link
this owned, ned otm
― gbx, Saturday, 26 October 2019 03:08 (four years ago) link
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.
― icy bike chain rain (zchyrs), Saturday, 26 October 2019 04:04 (four years ago) link
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.
― icy bike chain rain (zchyrs), Saturday, 26 October 2019 13:12 (four years ago) link
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.
― Subaru owners I have wordlessly loved (bernard snowy), Sunday, 27 October 2019 15:50 (four years ago) link
Going to watch it in an hour. Two of my local colleagues complained it wasn't worth the fuss. Veremos!
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 27 October 2019 15:52 (four years ago) link
And yeah this film on masculinity was... a lot. I'm still coming to terms with (finding the words for) it.
― Subaru owners I have wordlessly loved (bernard snowy), Sunday, 27 October 2019 15:55 (four years ago) link
― 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.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 27 October 2019 19:45 (four years ago) link
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
― icy bike chain rain (zchyrs), Sunday, 27 October 2019 19:47 (four years ago) link
Pattinson's been on a roll the last decade, but he was miscast: he can't be histrionic anymore.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 27 October 2019 19:51 (four years ago) link
‘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
― Conceptualize Wyverns (latebloomer), Monday, 28 October 2019 02:23 (four years ago) link
https://youtu.be/1si6M-vDEzI
― Conceptualize Wyverns (latebloomer), Monday, 28 October 2019 02:24 (four years ago) link
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
― na (NA), Monday, 28 October 2019 16:15 (four years ago) link
Fun, not weird enough. I just read moby-dick like last year and I actually want to pick it up again, ffs.
― president of deluded fruitcakes anonymous (silby), Thursday, 31 October 2019 02:53 (four years ago) link
so when a man gaslights another man I guess it's called lighthousing him
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Thursday, 31 October 2019 05:53 (four years ago) link
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
― flappy bird, Thursday, 31 October 2019 20:21 (four years ago) link
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.
― president of deluded fruitcakes anonymous (silby), Thursday, 31 October 2019 20:33 (four years ago) link
An intermittently fun Dumb and Dumber.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 31 October 2019 20:33 (four years ago) link
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
― flappy bird, Thursday, 31 October 2019 20:51 (four years ago) link
Really enjoyed this :)
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Thursday, 31 October 2019 21:04 (four years ago) link
oof that bird pulverization
pattinson's howling shaking gaping maw my favorite movie moment of the past year at least
― Suggest Banshee (Hadrian VIII), Thursday, 31 October 2019 22:22 (four years ago) link
deeply satisfying, i can't imagine not being into this at least on a purely audio/visual level
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, 31 October 2019 22:29 (four years ago) link
An intermittently fun Dumb and Dumber.― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, October 31, 2019 4:33 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
― 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?
― Anne Hedonia (j.lu), Friday, 1 November 2019 09:57 (four years ago) link
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.
― “Hakuna Matata,” a nihilist philosophy (One Eye Open), Sunday, 3 November 2019 04:37 (four years ago) link
This movie about two men drinking and masturbating in a lighthouse does NOT pass the Bechdel Test
― The Mandymoorian (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, 3 November 2019 05:09 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3-mjqQ6BIc
― jmm, Sunday, 3 November 2019 14:56 (four years ago) link
Me da just dropped this on me:
So Andrew tell me: why would there even be an ax at that lighthouse????
― handsome boy modelling software (bernard snowy), Sunday, 10 November 2019 12:06 (four years ago) link
For chopping firewood?
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 10 November 2019 15:23 (four years ago) link
All the stoves I saw were burning coal ...
― handsome boy modelling software (bernard snowy), Sunday, 10 November 2019 16:53 (four years ago) link
duh for chopping up old salts
― Suggest Banshee (Hadrian VIII), Sunday, 10 November 2019 16:56 (four years ago) link
axes are standard equipment for firefighting on ships, and presumably in lighthouses too
― Brad C., Sunday, 10 November 2019 17:19 (four years ago) link
* 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.
― jmm, Sunday, 10 November 2019 17:47 (four years ago) link
agreed, I too saw those coming a mile away, should have left them out
― Suggest Banshee (Hadrian VIII), Sunday, 10 November 2019 20:47 (four years ago) link
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
― “Hakuna Matata,” a nihilist philosophy (One Eye Open), Sunday, 10 November 2019 21:16 (four years ago) link
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
― “Hakuna Matata,” a nihilist philosophy (One Eye Open), Sunday, 10 November 2019 21:21 (four years ago) link
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.
― temporarily embarrassed thousandaire (Eric H.), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 17:23 (four years ago) link
ty for dn
― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 17:33 (four years ago) link
re: ahab -- what if ahab is an actual famous captain in this story?what if this... is in the moby cinematic dickaverse?
― Philip Nunez, Sunday, 17 November 2019 16:51 (four years ago) link
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.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Sunday, 17 November 2019 17:01 (four years ago) link
and that's how we got Trump!
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 17 November 2019 17:27 (four years ago) link
Upside is you’re going to love every single movie ever going forward.
― temporarily embarrassed thousandaire (Eric H.), Sunday, 17 November 2019 17:40 (four years ago) link
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.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Sunday, 17 November 2019 21:31 (four years ago) link
oh, you were serious? I thought we were joshing.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 17 November 2019 21:34 (four years ago) link
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.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 17 November 2019 21:39 (four years ago) link
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.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Sunday, 17 November 2019 21:40 (four years ago) link
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.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Sunday, 17 November 2019 21:43 (four years ago) link
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.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 17 November 2019 21:43 (four years ago) link
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
― Peach’s burner account (H.P), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 00:29 (six months ago) link
(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)
― Peach’s burner account (H.P), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 00:30 (six months ago) link