.
(SPOILERS) The Lighthouse is a fascinating look at what happens when two men are stuck on a tiny island for too many weeks in a row. Set in New England in the 1890s, Ephraim Winslow shows up to tend to the lighthouse with the cantankerous and flatulent curmudgeon, Thomas Wake.
Wake quickly becomes a harsh and terrible supervisor and the two men begin to squabble about anything and everything. Throw in some superstitions, a few tall tales, vivid hallucinations, a bunch of masturbation, rampant alcohol abuse, hearty rounds of sea shanties and a couple dead seagulls and you've got yourself an epic tale of growing intensity where there's still not much actually happening.
Pretty soon a storm takes hold and the relief vessel doesn't arrive, the rations go bad and finally the gin is all gone. You're sure these two are going to hump each other or kill each other and you're not exactly wrong. Once they start drinking turpentine you know it's close to the end.
The acting is superb and the dialogue here is amazing, including the soon to be lyrics: "Goddamn your farts! You smell like piss. Like rotten dick. Like curdled foreskin. Like hot onions fucked a farmyard shit-house!" A chilling descent into madness that isn't quite a horror film, The Lighthouse is still very effective for a period piece, but it's most definitely not for everyone. 8 vivid hallucinations out of 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment