The Lighthouse (2019)
Really not having the best of luck with my choices lately of otherwise highly rated films. This is a case of it simply not working for me at all, even though I can’t exactly point to anything specific it does wrong.
I might as well as everyone else praise both Dafoe and Pattinson here for their intense performances. The cinematography is well worthy of high marks, with its beautiful high contrast and deep black levels. The sound work effectfully sets the atmosphere as well.
The thing is, I just don’t feel the creepy or intense atmosphere that it creates. I see lots of people saying they find it really interesting to try and understand what is really going on, what every symbol or subtext means. I simply don’t care at all. It was fairly flat and simple to me. Two men getting island fever from the isolation, with some added hallucinations or perhaps supernatural elements. The supernatural elements with the mermaid and sea creature weren’t present enough for me to think it was noteworthy to ponder much over, and the psychological meltdown of the two didn’t really lead to anything profound. Having a handful of crazy, weird and shocking scenes doesn’t cut it by itself.
When it comes to this newer trend with psychological horror movies, especially put forward by A24, I am just not connecting with it. I would rather watch some Bergman for that kind of thing.
Rating: 2.5