By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 2.75 | 3.5 cats
Director: Robert Eggers
Starring: Robert Pattison | Valeriia Karaman | Willem Dafoe
Country: brazil, canada, united_states
Year: 2019
Running time: 109
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7984734/reference
Chris says: “Enjoyed this a little more than THE WITCH–it’s just as silly, but Eggers’ Lynch/Maddin pretensions are finely tuned and wrought, and a sense of encroaching madness forever drives things forward. DaFoe/Pattinson is also an inspired pairing, and where else could one possibly imagine the latter bellowing to the former, “Oh, you are such an old bitch!“? 3.5 cats”
Thom says: “This award-winning studious classic was, for totally bogus beliefs, a not want to see for me, which can only be attributed to feeble-mindedness. What didn’t it have going for it: nominations for 3 Chlotrudis Awards (Director: Robert Eggers; Production Design: Craig Lathrop; & Cinematography: Jarin Blaschke); one Oscar nomination: Cinematography; & probably, most noticeably, #7 on my Bucket List is to spend 6 months isolated in a lighthouse, providing I had enough p rovisions to exist. So when it popped up free on PrimeVideo I’d run out of befuddled excuses; then, lo & behold, it took me only a few minutes to become mesmerized by it’s stunning and breathtaking black & white cinematography, and its two-character psycho-study brought forth by two powerful performances that literally leap off the screen into my consciousness. The always reliable Dafoe plays Thomas Wake, the grizzled, old lighthouse keeper who’s been there, like, forever. Pattinson plays former lumberjack Thomas Howard taken on as an apprentice by wizened Wake, in late 19th century off the coast of New England. During a storm of epic proportions they go through every conceivable emotion and experience that fills a human life, while enduring tasks that require superhuman strength and will. Pattinson has a very strange accent here but I enjoyed him more than I ever have. The intensity this film provokes is powerful and very disturbing. Fantasy works hand-in-hand with horror. By the way, the main reason I initially avoided the film was because Eggers first film was THE WITCH (2015) which rated a dismal 1 CAT, so bravo to his spectacular rise.
Michael says: “I guess you don’t hire Willem Dafoe if you’re going for subtlety. I suppose it’s an examination into the dark spiral into the depths of madness, with lots of sea imagery or sound design, from crashing waves and buoy bells, to mermaids and bilge. A fairly unpleasant film to sit through — not because it was scary, it was just rather unhygienic. The acting was B-I-G, and largely confined to Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattison — who started off pretty good before he decided that he needed to match Dafoe in the histrionics departments. I much preferred Eggers’ previous film, THE WITCH, and while the film was nominated three Chlotrudis Awards (Best Director, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography) I do note that it was not in the acting or writing categories.Direction is dubious as well, from my point of view. 2 cats”