Following his critically acclaimed debut feature The Witch (2015), Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse is a haunting masterpiece. The film attracts you by its chillingly mesmerising sound design and stunning visuals, but also by the career defining performances from Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. Together, they push the story’s intensity and horror to its absolute limit.
Set in the 1890s, The Lighthouse follows Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson), a newly recruited apprentice to Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe), a mad lighthouse veteran. The pair is tasked with four weeks’ work on a remote New England island. As the film progresses, Winslow slowly submits to the hypnotic madness of the island as well as Wake’s strange behaviour…
The first thing about The Lighthouse that really stands out is how extremely atmospheric it is. By presenting the story in black and white and in a restrained 1.19:1 aspect ratio, Eggers displays the grittiness of the environment that our characters inhabit; as well as creating a claustrophobic feeling that traps the audience on the island. The sound design is impressive and helps enhance the nightmare-fuelled and haunting experience. From the lighthouse’s blasting siren to the seagull’s eerie squawks, the film drills those sounds into your mind and they will stick with you for weeks.
Saying that Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe are both phenomenal in the film is truly an understatement. From Pattinson’s portrayal of Winslow’s growing annoyance toward the bizarre events, to the point at which he starts to act out of his personality, and finally to his descent into madness, his performance is impressive. Willem Dafoe portrays his strange, intense and slightly insane lighthouse keeper to its perfection. The many tremendous monologues from Dafoe are expressed with such depth and emphasis, really putting us into Winslow’s perspective and terrifying us at the thought of what Thomas could do to him. The intensity they bring to their characters is brilliant.
Just like Eggers’ previous film The Witch, The Lighthouse slowly intensifies its creepiness throughout the film. One of the ways it does this is by having characters suddenly act dramatically around each other. On multiple occasions in the film, the characters are engaged in normal conversation when it turns to either an authoritative warning from Wake to a full confrontation between them. Surprisingly, the next thing we’ll see is the characters having a cheery dance or them getting drunk with each other. The unpredictability of the film really makes the audience so uncomfortable to a point where you don’t know whether to laugh or be completely shocked and terrified.
Another way that Eggers manages to create the uncomfortable tension in the film is by cutting to Winslow’s surreal dream sequences many times throughout the film. Eggers keeps the audience guessing as to what is real or what are just Winslow’s delusions. By doing this, the film leads the audience into this disturbingly hypnotic trip without losing any interest.
The Lighthouse delivers a truly unique horror experience. The captivating performances from Pattinson and Dafoe never fail to fascinate and amaze. With such strong entries in the pantheon of horror in recent years, this film firmly secures itself as one of the best in recent memory. Robert Eggers demonstrates himself as an exciting horror director to pay attention to for years to come.
Big Thief, Two Hands: Just five months after the release of what might be one of the best albums of the year, U.F.O.F., Big Thief have come through with yet another project, described as its “earth twin”. Two Hands is the indie band’s fourth studio album, and recording began just days after the completion of U.F.O.F. with production from Andrew Sarlo, who has worked on every Big Thief album to date. Singer Adrianne Lenker said in a press statement: “Two Hands has the songs that I’m the most proud of; I can imagine myself singing them when I’m old. Musically and lyrically, you can’t break it down much further than this. It’s already bare-bones.”
Blood Orange, Fields: Another artist dropping a second project within the same year, Blood Orange has come out with a new album following the release of his latest mixtape Angel’s Pulse. It’s producer and singer-songwriter Devonté Hynes’s first collection of classical music compositions, performed by the Chicago-based ensemble Third Coast Percussion. Fields is composed of a suite called ‘For All Its Fury’ that makes up the first 11 tracks of the album, followed by the compositions ‘Perfectly Voiceless’ and ‘There Was Nothing’. Hynes reportedly recorded the compositions in a DAW before sending the sheet music to the ensemble who arranged and orchestrated it. “This was the first time I’ve written music that I’ve never played, and I love that,” Hynes said. “It’s something I’ve always been striving to get to. Seeing what Third Coast Percussion had done with these pieces was magical.”
Kim Gordon, No Home Record: Legendary ex-Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon has released her debut solo album titled No Home Record. It was produced by Justin Raisen and features contributions from Shawn Everett, known for his work with Alabama Shakes and Kacey Musgraves, as well as composer/filmmaker Jake Meginsky. While this is Gordon’s first solo album since Sonic Youth’s split, she has also put out three records with Bill Name as Body/Head, the last of which, The Switch, came out last July. The album takes inspiration from “experimental hip-hop like RP Boo and DJ Rashid, but also No Wave bands and The Stooges”.
Richard Dawson, 2020: Singer-songwriter Richard Dawson follows up 2016’s critically acclaimed Peasant with his sixth solo album 2020. According to a press statement, “the album is an utterly contemporary state-of-the-nation study that uncovers a tumultuous and bleak time. Here is an island country in a state of flux; a society on the edge of mental meltdown.”
