The Lighthouse

It was a very enjoyable film and then the final 20-30 minutes killed it for me. Religious nonsense certainly has a way of ruining everything!!

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 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.

Atmospheric, moody, with the potential to be a great psychological thriller, but sadly degenerates into two men yelling at each other and drinking a seemingly inexhaustable supply of grog.

Without much back story for these dishevelled lighthouse keepers in a craggy outcrop set in 1801 it's hard to get emotionally invested in their plight when things start to go wrong. As it progressed I just wanted it to end. Plot holes appear very quickly and the timeline gets a little muddled. Initially they have a Kings banquet of food stores yet a mere month in they are down to rashuns. But always well stocked with grog... A brutal storm rages outside while inside the brooding characters quickly become bitter enemies fighting each other and their own inner demons. One uses his religion as solace while the other ridicules him constantly for using God as strength, an embittered atheist who becomes a very unlikeable character. And in a darkened atmosphere the descent into madness begins. And drags on. The night seems endless and here the movie descends into a frustrating mishmash of illusions and delusions and self loathing. And always the grog... It had potential to be good, and will always be compared to the 2019 version which was superior in most ways, so this will be forever be the lesser of the two 'Lighthouse' movies. I scored it mostly for the set and atmosphere. The weak story and unlikeable characters added little to this overly long movie for me.