THE LIGHTHOUSE
Monday 27th April 2020
10.00 am and 6.30 pm
Directed by Robert Eggers
Drama/Fantasy/Horror
109 mins
Canada/USA MA15+
As the wavering cry of the foghorn fills the air, a former lumberjack, Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattison) and the lighthouse keeper, Thomas Wake, (Willem Dafoe) set foot in a secluded islet off the coast of late-19th-century New England for the following four weeks of back-breaking work and unfavourable conditions. Then, amid bad omens, a furious and unending squall maroons the beacon’s keepers, paving the way for a prolonged period of hunger; agony; isolation, and booze-addled visions.
Now, the eerie stranglehold of insanity tightens. Is there an escape from the wall-less prison of the mind? Set in the 1890s, and suffused with foghorns and epic gusts of wind, as well as a powerfully antiquated sense of myth and legend, the movie is shot in shimmeringly austere black-and-white, which lends everything that happens a weird immersive clarity.
“Two primal performances from Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson carry Robert Eggers’ second film to glory. Stunningly shot in black and white in the boxy format common in the silent era, The Lighthouse seeps into your bones with a power that won’t let go.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
“By turns funny, sinister, haunting, historically fascinating and mythical, “The Lighthouse” is one of the best films of the year.”– Sara Stewart, New York Post
“Best appreciated by those who relish a cinematic challenge.” – Leigh Paatsch, Herald Sun