rpatz, and tentacles, and mermaids, oh my!
- Books + Brie
- Aug 3, 2019
- 2 min read
We need to talk about The Lighthouse.
If you don't already know, The Lighthouse is Robert Egger's sophomore flick, starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as two lighthouse keepers (named Thomas Wake and Ephraim Winslow, respectively) slowly losing their grip on sanity.
Watch the trailer and educate yourself, if you need to.
Ready? Let's dig in to the one minute, 45 second trailer.
Immediately noticeable is that the film was shot in a 1:1 ratio on black-and-white 35mm. Without a doubt, this adds to the atmosphere and mood; however, we will have to wait and see if it's more than just a gimmick. Additionally, the stark, high-key lighting is reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman's films, specifically The Seventh Seal.
A24 veterans Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) and Robert Pattinson (Good Time, High Life) team up in The Lighthouse, and I'm so excited. It goes without saying that Dafoe is a great actor. Pattinson, on the other hand, tends to be overlooked. When he was cast as Bruce Wayne for Matt Reeves' The Batman, an insane amount of people whined: 'but he's the guy from Twilight!' People complained that Heath Ledger is the guy from Brokeback Mountain when he was casted as The Joker (we're not going to dive into the sexism and homophobia behind those statements today), and see how that turned out. Also, Twilight is a great movie and sometimes I want to scream from the rooftops: 'Robert Pattinson is a really, really great actor and has been in a lot more movies than just Twilight!'
In the trailer, we mostly see Wake grasping for sanity. He's constantly questioning Winslow's intentions, asking 'why'd ya spill yer beans?'. (Also, I know it's *sea talk* or whatever, but I just cringe every time I hear that line). In addition to Wake's paranoia, he is losing his sense of time, assumedly because of to the mundanity and repetitiveness of his days. At the end of the trailer, Wake begs Winslow: 'How long have we been on this rock? Five weeks? Two days? Help me to recollect.'
However, there is more to the story than just the lighthouse keepers.
The only other actor listed on IMDB is Valeriia Karaman, who is billed simply as 'Mermaid'. Look closely at the bottom of the poster, and you can see a mermaid's tail.
And, of course, you can't forget the tentacles.
My absolute favourite sequence in the entire trailer. Seriously, I could write a dissertation just on these two shots. Right now, I'll let this Barbara Kruger-referencing Tumblr post speak for me.
This wouldn't be a Books + Brie post if I didn't bring up fashion in some way, shape or form. I just adore the turtleneck Pattinson wears in one shot. Seriously, where can I cop a look-a-like? American Apparel, Uniqlo, maybe? Fingers crossed The Lighthouse ushers in a fisherman chic trend.
When the film premiered at Cannes, it was met with high praise and Oscar talk for the leads and director. On 18th October, we'll get to experience what A24 describes as 'visionary' and 'hypnotic' for ourselves. If anything, The Lighthouse will assure many that having only one other person and the sea as company is the stuff of nightmares.
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— Milly xx
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