Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

The Lighthouse
2019
****
Director: Robert Eggers
Cast: Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson, Valeriia Karamän, Logan Hawkes

In the end of the 19th century, a grizzled lighthouse keeper and his new assistant arrive in a remote lighthouse off the coast of New England. When a storm strands them on the island, the isolation and heavy drinking begin to take a heavy toll on their sanity and sense of reality. Like The Witch, Robert Eggers' second feature is an unusual and unsettling horror-tinted drama. This highly original film delivers a mix of shocks and laughs, some wonderfully archaic dialogue, and two towering performances. Jarin Blaschke's stunning cinematography, which uses an almost square aspect ratio, adds to the feeling of claustrophobia.