Taglines: There is enchantment in the light.
The Lighthouse, the second feature directed by Robert Eggers (“The Witch”), is a gripping and turbulent drama that draws on a number of influences, though it merges them into its own fluky gothic historical ominoso art-thriller thing.
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, with a radically old-fashioned 1.19:1 aspect ratio (a nearly perfect square, like that of an early sound film). That lends everything that happens a weird immersive clarity.
The entire film is set on a desolate island of jagged black rock, where a gnarly old sea dog, played by Willem Dafoe, declaiming his lines like Captain Ahab on a bender, is tending the lighthouse there for four weeks along with his new assistant, played with surly reticence — and then an aggression that bursts out of him like a demon — by Robert Pattinson.
The Lighthouse is a 2019 black-and-white horror film directed by Robert Eggers and written by him and Max Eggers. It stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. The film chronicles the story of two lighthouse keepers as they are faced with solitude, but start to lose their sanity and become threatened by their worst nightmares.
It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2019. It is scheduled to be released on October 18, 2019, by A24. The film received critical acclaim, with critics highlighting the technical aspects, direction, and the performances of Dafoe and Pattinson.
The Lighthouse (2019)
Directed by: Robert Eggers
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson, Valeriia Karaman
Screenplay by: Robert Eggers, Max Eggers
Production Design by: Craig Lathrop
Cinematography by: Jarin Blaschke
Film Editing by: Louise Ford
Costume Design by: Linda Muir
Art Direction by: Matt Likely
Music by: Mark Korven
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, nudity, violence, disturbing images, and some language.
Distributed by: A24 (United States), Focus Features (International)
Release Date: October 18, 2019
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