I went to see the movie “The Lighthouse” on Friday
night. It’s taken me this long to be able to write about it because it is, to
use the vernacular, “chuffing mental.”
At times, I would love to be a film critic. Imagine
being paid to watch three or four films a week and then write out an appraisal
of them. You can’t get it wrong, either – it’s always just a matter of opinion.
But then I see a film like this one and think ‘how
the Hell am I supposed to review it? I can’t even tell you what was going on,
much less what it was about.’
I have to say, though, that I absolutely loved it.
It’s mad, but it’s brilliant. For a start, it looks like a movie that was made
in the 1930s – black and white, great use of shadows, not a great deal of
camera movement – and I’m guessing that was a deliberate choice, as the picture
itself is set in the late 1800s, so the grainy look gives it an angle of
accuracy. It’s a weird combination of supernatural thriller, romantic comedy
and a psychological battle of wills. Imagine that ‘Silence Of The Lambs’ had a
baby with ‘Nosferatu’, then that baby grew up and married ‘Rosemary’s Baby’,
and then they in turn had a child that grew up to marry a film whose parents
had been ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ and ‘Carrie’. This film might be the result of
that weird family tree.
The acting is terrific. A surprisingly watchable
Robert Pattinson does a good impression of someone trying to do a good
impression of Daniel Day-Lewis in ‘There Will Be Blood’, but is still impressively
unique. Willem Defoe, however, is uniquely impressive. He is simply excellent.
Mad As A Box Of Frogs, without being caricature or panto. Delivering complicated
speeches (a lot of research was spent on providing authentic, historic dialogue)
that are almost Shakespearean with a believable, modern-day feel to them, he
owns the whole screen in a way I’ve not seen for years. The one-take shot where
he drunkenly invokes a curse on Pattinson may be my favourite close-up in the
entire history of cinema.
If you’re a fan of superhero, blockbuster, CGI,
games-based, action fare then you’d best stay away. But if you love film and
filmmaking then I suggest you see it soon; and see it in the dark on a big
screen, don’t wait for it to turn up on Film4 or Netflix, where the ratio will
make it seem too small and where they’ll intercut it with adverts.
Hard to get your head around, but too good to miss.
RC 10-2-20
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