Maybe it is because I have spent years working in retail. Perhaps it is also having lived with a roommate for a spell that was as crazy as me. Might have even been crazier. Regardless, even though I wasn’t a big fan of Robert Eggers’ The Witch, I really liked his follow up, The Lighthouse. I am willing to give The Witch another chance, if only because I didn’t quite realize what I was getting into. Honestly I had no idea what The Lighthouse had in store, which is part of the fun. I did see both of Eggers’ movies in theaters, so I clearly am drawn to his unique, bizarre style.
It also helps that both films have good casts. The Lighthouse features Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as two people working on an island. What begins as two men working together descends into madness and leads to events that I am not sure were really happening or not. My favorite thing about this movie is how events spiral out of control. All which happens in the beginning very slowly, and then shockingly quickly.
Oh and Pattison and Dafoe have marvelous chemistry together, acting as if they have done a movie together before when in fact this was their first time working with each other. Eggers uses Pattinson’s smoldering intensity and anger to contrast Dafoe’s older sense of responsibility and steadiness. Naturally both of them crack, yet it seems that Dafoe does first, spewing out a monologue that I wish to memorize.
If you asked me what happens in the end or what the ending meant, I have no idea. I wish to ask Robert Eggers that question. Some aspects of the movie unravel towards the conclusion, however I think I loved this mad tale of two nutters stuck on an island. Tis bad luck to kill a seagull, and to disrespect the ancient elder gods of the deep waters. Also your coworker might be a touch more balmy than you be, aye indeed.
Down The Rabbit Hole 