The Lighthouse (2019)

[Drunk Monk]

Imagine being stuck on a tiny rock of an island manning a lighthouse with crazy salty Willem Dafoe. And there's a violent sea storm keeping you there and destroying your shelters. And there are Hitchcockian seagulls and nasty mermaids. And the world is B&W in old-school vintage ratio, like 35mm film. And you're Robert Pattinson (HP factor 1- Cedric)

This film received many international awards accolades - noms from the Academy, Cannes, and many smaller NA festivals. It's artsy for sure (B&W, 'nuf said, right?) and both Dafoe and Cedric deliver intense performances. It's a harsh journey into madness and alcoholism, where the lines of reality and hallucination get foggy and muddy. This was inspired by a Poe story, but it gets more Lovecraftian. I live within half a mile of a lighthouse and I'll look at it differently for a while after watching this.

No swordfights. Other weapons are used. I'm on the fence about the DOOM rec for this one. I'd say if you like Dafoe (and I do so I'm quite biased here) it's worth the watch.

[cranefly]

I'm on the fence about the DOOM rec for this one. I'd say if you like Dafoe (and I do so I'm quite biased here) it's worth the watch.

All of my recent Pasolini posts have been a slow build-up to a statement of intent to watch this movie.

Because I'm a big Dafoe fan.  I've liked him ever since he wrote Robinson Crusoe.

Actually, it only dates back to The Last Temptation of Christ (which I haven't seen; what's wrong with me?), where his depiction of Jesus offended the Christian right and prompted them to threaten to boycott films he starred in thereafter.  He lost several juicy roles as a result.  Still, he's rolled with the punches, taken his notoriety to heart, to star in Pasolini as Pasolini, and in Nymphomaniac: Chapter 3, edgy films about edgy characters.

So, yeah.  Need to watch Lighthouse.  But where?  Probably not streaming on Netflix...

[Drunk Monk]

Lingering thoughts - Dafoe's character is constantly farting. They don't have plumbing, so one of Patterson's daily errands is to dump the bedpans, which sit in their shared bunk space. When Patterson loses it, he goes off on the farting. It's hilariously harsh.

[cranefly]

Guess what popped up on Kanopy?

So LCF and I took a gander last night.

Not much to add to DM's assessment.  B&W, a boxy aspect ratio (not merely old TV 4X3, but 1.19:1 -- very nearly square).  Was that aspect ratio chosen to emphasize the film's central object?  Inquiring minds want to know -- from a safe distance.  Dark, very dark, atmospherically.  A man takes the ultimate job from hell under a horrid and unrelenting boss.  Inspired performances from Dafoe and Pattison.  Do they even speak anymore?  Then again, this shooting ordeal may have brought them closer together.

There were no subtitles, and even LCF felt the need.  Dafoe's archaic seafaring brogue scuppers understanding.  Thoroughly bilged on our anchor, we paused early in and did some soul-searching, and found a "Closed Captions" toggle in the Kanopy Settings menu.  Then we rewound and started again.  Dafoe does get clearer (or we got used to it) later on.

One oddity: I kept waiting for the creepy half-human creatures to start appearing among the ocean rocks.  But they didn't.  I'm confusing this with another recent release.  When I mentioned it to LCF post-viewing, she immediately knew what I was referring to.  But neither of us can recall the name of it.

Not really escapist fare, but something to be appreciated for its dark atmosphere, which ranges from Gothic to Lovecraftian (as DM mentioned).