‘The lighthouse’ (2019) is the latest film by Robert Eggers, who previously directed The Witch, one of my favourite films of the last few years. In ‘The Lighthouse’ we follow Ephraim Winslow (Robert Patterson), a trainee wickie for a lighthouse on an island off the New England coast run by Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe). With the isolated setting, paranoia soon starts to creep in.
I don’t want to get too much more into the plot, but it’s safe to say that this is one of my favourite films of the last decade. The black and white film, as well as the unusual 1.19:1 aspect ratio helps make this feel like a film from the 19th-centure, adding to the atmosphere. Both Patterson and Dafoe put in excellent perfomances, which is important when there aren’t realy any supporting cast. This film has me excited to see Patterson’s take as the Batman, having proved his range and firmly established himself as a serious actor outside of the Twilight franchise.
If you like psychological horror like ‘The Witch’ or ‘The Shining’, this is definitely a film to check out.
★★★★★