The Lighthouse

Great reflection of a true story of two lighthouse keepers coping when a terrible storm struck. Well presented with a magical relationship between them albeit belligerent at times. It shows how difficult the life of a lighthouse keeper was and the good work they did to save lives of passing boats and ships.

A British drama; A story inspired by a true event in 1801 about two men in an isolated lighthouse on The Smalls, a forbidding cluster of basalt rocks 25 miles off the Welsh coast. It's glum and bleak, and the narrative leads to the macabre, but ultimately, it's a dour and disappointing drama. It's not difficult to create drama with a two-hander in a lighthouse, but the director makes hard work of it. The two characters are given a scant backstory, so the actors are left to give nuance, but they create what comes across as unexplained moodiness and skulking, which becomes tedious, and dialogue that adds very little and is telegraphed by their facial expressions. This is underscored by foreboding music that grates while it lasts a full half hour. Trite lines are repeated, like "until the job is done," referring to inclement weather, and "we have a job to do," which might seem ironic for a persevering viewer.

This really is a superbly cast and very well acted film, that psychologically grips us from imagining ourselves in the situations. I am shocked by the aggregate review; it ought to be much higher.

The film is based on a true story, but if you're looking for a light film this is not it.

It haunts so much that I still think of it 4 years after its release.

The Lighthouse: Based on a true story, the events occurred in 1801 when two keepers were cut off on an offshore Lighthouse for months by a freak storm. Atmosphere is everything in this film, the silence, then the quarrelling. Food runs low. One of the keepers dies but seems to haunt the other. Or is it just imagination/hallucinations? The surviving keeper already blames himself for the deaths of six sailors when he fell asleep and let the light go out at another lighthouse. Directed by Chris Crow and written by Paul Bryan. 7/10.

This film wasn't bad at all. Great acting, atmospheric and based on reality. I watched this wondering when Willem Defoe would make an appearance. Will watch that next. I don't know what some people expect from films.