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The Lighthouse (2019 film) - Say whatever you want about it - Spoilers obviously

lunanto

lunanto

Banned
Dec 1, 2017
7,648
Just finished watching this movie and while it is original and has really great performances from both Willem and Robert, the story did nothing for me. I ´m not trying to look for a meaning in it, I think this is a collection of funny and weird situations that Robert Eggers wanted to put together, but with very little cohesion here. I mean, it is clear that Robert´s character is punished mentally by its past and Willem´s character is a dumbass in the end, but what´s the point of the sciencie fiction elements? Is it all due to the madness?

Photography is the biggest value in this film for me.

What do you say?
 
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DevilMayGuy

DevilMayGuy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,579
Texas
I enjoyed it for the performances. That was the focus of the film, though. There wasn't some deep plot underpinning it all, so it doesn't seem like a bad thing that the performances were the strongest aspect, as it seems like that's what the movie was going for anyway.

*Farts
 
Moppeh

Moppeh

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,538
It would be impossible for me not to love this. It's a 4:3, black and white horror comedy with Greek mythological elements. It's so unique and weird. Honestly, by the end of it, I felt as mad as the characters. This movie is a fucking trip.
 

Deleted member 11637

Oct 27, 2017
18,204
Why'd ye spill yer beans, Tommy?

Why'd ye spill yer beans?

Whyyyyyyyy'd ye spillllll yer beansssssss?
 
Vincent Alexander

Vincent Alexander

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,760
Fookin' loved it. Some folks have some awesome theories in the spoiler thread that made me love it more. Some random tidbits:



With the idea that Young and Old Tom are the same person:
Arkeband said:
If they're the same person, technically he chased 'himself' with an axe.

As far as whether it's cosmic horror, like Stinkles brought up, the crux of that genre is whether the threat is both fully knowable and conquerable. Cosmic horror requires one of these to be "no".

This wouldn't qualify because they are in a Grecian purgatory, meaning their situation could be explained to them. And if this situation is knowable, they can conquer it if Young Tommy would stop making the same mistakes like killing the gull. Purgatory is ultimately a test to determine where you end up. (Technically, they could conquer it without knowledge, but it'd be easier if they knew they were being judged.)

The only argument in favor of it being cosmic horror is that the lighthouse beacon's forbidden knowledge fries your brain. It has Lovecraftian elements but it's not cosmic horror.

Contrast this with The Witch, which has no Lovecraftian elements but is cosmic horror, because the threat is knowable but is NOT conquerable. That family is 150% fucked.
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Or:
Arkeband said:
It's a hodgepodge of different Greek tales - Sisyphus with him dragging the lamp oil up the stairs only to have to bring it down again, you've got old Tom as Proteus, young Tom as Prometheus.

I'm still trying to figure out who the real Ephraim's actor was. He looked familiar.
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Or:
HotHamBoy said:
My take:

The entire movie is a metaphore about living with addiction, specifically alcoholism. I don't think any of the film's events are literal.

These thoughts are a bit scatter-shot since i just saw the movie a couple hours ago:

Pattinson got sick of trees. Forests of brown bottles. The man who's identity he is carrying? That's the man he was before he was washed away by the logs. He stood there and did nothing while he watched himself drown.

I think Pattinson is trying to dry out. 2 weeks to detox. He's isolated himself with his addiction, represented by Dafoe's old sea dog who pines for the days he sailed free on the sea and harrasses and berates him all day long, barking at him and demanding respect. At night, his addiction cozies up and tries to be friendly, tries to tempt him. To act as a balm for the "long night ahead."

Only two weeks...

The one-eyed gull represents the spectre of Tom's former addiction, or maybe his fear of addiction. They host the souls of "dead sailors" drowned at sea. Sometimes sailors call the ocean "the drink." After he chooses to eliminate their warning he gives into the literal drink. The weather changes.

He missed the boat right at the end. Downward spiral. Storms blow in. Ocean gets aggressive.

"Recommends severence without pay" despite working so hard? = all the pain and suffering of detox just to slip up at the end

The Lighthouse's light is the ultimate high the addict is forever in chase of. Knowledge of the Gods.

The final scene of Pattinson getting eaten alive by gulls is a specific reference to Prometheus, who's liver was eaten by eagles, only to be regrown and consumed again each day. In this case, the booze is eating Tom's liver.

The reason it turns out Dafoe and Pattinson are both named Tom is because they are two sides of the same person. It's living with your addiction. Pattinson wants to be straight and sober and Dafoe wants to get drunk and worship the god (the high) in the lighthouse. At the end, he has his addiction on a leash and he thinks he has control of it, thinks he can bury it. But he can't and it attacks him and when it does he is basically on a damned path.

The duality of the mermaid, beautiful and monstrous siren of the treacherous ocean, plays into this too. I'm still not clear on the symbolism of jerking off to the mermaid totem but Tom think's he's free of Dafoe's control when the human half that lives on land splits from the fish half that lives in the ocean.

My thoughts are still evolving but this is where I'm at right now.
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overcast

overcast

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,427
I think it's a generally style over substance film, but it fired on every cylinder as far as aesthetic and performance is concerned
 
Aurongel

Aurongel

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
7,065
Bad luck to kill a sea bird.

Best ta leave em be.
 
SolidChamp

SolidChamp

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,867
I loved the film. I've been working it over in my brain ever since I saw it and as soon as it ended I wanted to see it again (and I did a few days later thanks to iTunes).

It is one of the most visually striking and memorable films I've seen recently. I don't think a film always needs a "cohesive" story, so long as the characters are fully realized and with the quality of those characters you can make strong inferences and draw up your own conclusions. That's why The Lighthouse is so brilliant; it opens the door to so many different emotions and ways of looking at the implied meanings.

I really needed a "palette cleanser" after Rise of the Skywalker, and boy oh boy was The Lighthouse (and First Reformed) effective as fuck at giving me something real to chew on. It was so goddamn great to just soak in this movie's atmosphere, with so many great shots just taking their fucking time.

This is a near-masterpiece of a film with one of the best performances of the last 10-20 years. It'll be a goddamn travesty if Dafoe gets snubbed all the way through the awards season.
 
SolidChamp

SolidChamp

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,867
Also, this deserves it's own post:

"THOMAS" is recorded in the Greek New Testament as the name of Thomas the Apostle (one of the twelve apostles of Jesus). It is ultimately derived from the Aramaic personal name תאומא /tɑʔwmɑʔ/, meaning "twin," and the English spelling Thomas is a transliteration of the approximate Greek transliteration, Θωμάς.
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sapien85

Banned
Nov 8, 2017
5,427
It's my second favorite movie from last year. It doesn't need to have a traditional story to be a good movie anyway. Willem DeFoe was amazing and it was a gorgeous movie full of surprises. Love movies set fully in one location like that.
 
lasthope106

lasthope106

Member
Oct 25, 2017
922
Iowa USA
Best movie of 2019 for me. It was abstract and funny. You can interpret it however you want. And to have an actor of the stature of Willem Dafoe reciting his lines while getting real shovels of dirt thrown into his face is one of the finest pieces of acting ever committed to film.
 
Jedi2016

Jedi2016

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,694
I really want to see someone do a breakdown of all the symbolism and metaphor in the movie, because it's practically dripping with it.

I just wish Amazon would figure out the whole supply & demand thing, I still haven't gotten my copy yet.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,623
Absolutely amazing film and such a ambitious next-step from The Witch. Descent into madness two-hander immersed in the visual language of silent film and German expressionism, equal parts dark comedy and gorgeously haunting psychological horror, dripping with texture and bellowing with incredible dialogue sequences. The Witch is scarier and more dread-inducing for sure, but this is much more entertaining, deliberately so

Eggers on The Lighthouse said:
The Lighthouse was designed to be a black comedy and not just have moments of black comedy. The Witch takes itself very seriously, but I think that there's something kind of film student-y about how serious it takes itself
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Jedi2016

Jedi2016

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,694
More_Badass said:
That scene (you know the one) was amazing to watch in a packed theater. The sudden hushed gasp, that slowly became chuckling and laughter as the beatdown just went on for like two minutes.
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He destroyed two prop birds during that scene, and by the end of it, he was literally just swinging a rubber chicken that the prop guys had done up real quick.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,623
Anono said:
Just finished watching this movie and while it is original and has really great performances from both Willem and Robert, the story did nothing for me. I ´m not trying to look for a meaning in it, I think this is a collection of funny and weird situations that Robert Eggers wanted to put together, but with very little cohesion here. I mean, it is clear that Robert´s character is punished mentally by its past and Willem´s character is a dumbass in the end, but what´s the point of the sciencie fiction elements? Is it all due to the madness?

Photography is the biggest value in this film for me.

What do you say?
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Science fiction? You sure you saw the right movie?
 
Jombie

Jombie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,392
Absolutely love it. The atmosphere, the setting, the writing, its humor and self-awareness. I can't believe it's Eggers' second feature film, it's next-level shit.
 

rude

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,812
I just saw this and I thought it was kind of shit. Really boring plot that didn't really go anywhere other than its logical conclusion of everybody going crazy.

Hate to say it because I've enjoyed all of his recent performances, but Pattinson was out of his depth here and it felt like he knew it too (that accent...). Heavily outclassed by Dafoe who gave a career defining performance. Kind of reminded me of how Daniel Day Lewis made DiCaprio and Diaz look like amateurs in Gangs of New York. It was that bad.

Liked the cinematography and sound design. Funny exchanges too.
 
Masoyama

Masoyama

Attempted to circumvent a ban with an alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,648
Saw it couple days ago and loved it. Haaaark!
 
Man with Knife

Man with Knife

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,316
Germany
I don't think I've ever seen Willem Dafoe half-ass a performance, even in bad movies. The guy somehow seems motivated and chill as fuck at the same time 24/7.
 
FTF

FTF

Member
Oct 28, 2017
28,422
New York
More_Badass said:
Science fiction? You sure you saw the right movie?
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Ha may be thinking of this scene?

Hypnose_%28Schneider%29.jpg
 
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hendersonhank

hendersonhank

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,390
Just watched it. Perfection. I was sure I'd be letdown somewhat like I was by my other most anticipated movie (Midsommar) but nope. Delivered on all fronts. Even on sound, which I thought would not be a strong point.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,623
hendersonhank said:
Just watched it. Perfection. I was sure I'd be letdown somewhat like I was by my other most anticipated movie (Midsommar) but nope. Delivered on all fronts. Even on sound, which I thought would not be a strong point.
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Funny anecdote: I thought the foghorn was an Inception-style soundtrack effect for at least a third of the movie
 
Chuck Noblet

Chuck Noblet

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,090
Damn ye! Let Neptune strike ye dead Winslow! HAAARK!

Hark Triton, hark! Bellow, bid our father the Sea King rise from the depths full foul in his fury! Black waves teeming with salt foam to smother this young mouth with pungent slime, to choke ye, engorging your organs til' ye turn blue and bloated with bilge and brine and can scream no more -- only when he, crowned in cockle shells with slitherin' tentacle tail and steaming beard take up his fell be-finned arm, his coral-tine trident screeches banshee-like in the tempest and plunges right through yer gullet, bursting ye -- a bulging bladder no more, but a blasted bloody film now and nothing for the harpies and the souls of dead sailors to peck and claw and feed upon only to be lapped up and swallowed by the infinite waters of the Dread Emperor himself -- forgotten to any man, to any time, forgotten to any god or devil, forgotten even to the sea, for any stuff for part of Winslow, even any scantling of your soul is Winslow no more, but is now itself the sea!
 
hydruxo

hydruxo

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,441
Chuck Noblet said:
Damn ye! Let Neptune strike ye dead Winslow! HAAARK!

Hark Triton, hark! Bellow, bid our father the Sea King rise from the depths full foul in his fury! Black waves teeming with salt foam to smother this young mouth with pungent slime, to choke ye, engorging your organs til' ye turn blue and bloated with bilge and brine and can scream no more -- only when he, crowned in cockle shells with slitherin' tentacle tail and steaming beard take up his fell be-finned arm, his coral-tine trident screeches banshee-like in the tempest and plunges right through yer gullet, bursting ye -- a bulging bladder no more, but a blasted bloody film now and nothing for the harpies and the souls of dead sailors to peck and claw and feed upon only to be lapped up and swallowed by the infinite waters of the Dread Emperor himself -- forgotten to any man, to any time, forgotten to any god or devil, forgotten even to the sea, for any stuff for part of Winslow, even any scantling of your soul is Winslow no more, but is now itself the sea!
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Alright, have it your way

I like yer cookin
 

Deleted member 1726

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,661
That was a trip and a half! And I thought Midsommer was fucking nuts...

there's so many quotable moments here. I laughed out loud reading your guys posts in this thread. 🤣

HARK!!
 
Landawng

Landawng

The Fallen
Nov 9, 2017
3,247
Denver/Aurora, CO
Anono said:
Just finished watching this movie and while it is original and has really great performances from both Willem and Robert, the story did nothing for me. I ´m not trying to look for a meaning in it, I think this is a collection of funny and weird situations that Robert Eggers wanted to put together, but with very little cohesion here. I mean, it is clear that Robert´s character is punished mentally by its past and Willem´s character is a dumbass in the end, but what´s the point of the sciencie fiction elements? Is it all due to the madness?

Photography is the biggest value in this film for me.

What do you say?
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Click to shrink...

giphy.gif
 
Hokey

Hokey

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,164
I was my favourite film in 2019 - I can still hear Pattinson's voice in my head when he discovers the log that was kept on him.
 
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