The Lighthouse

The other night hub and I watched “The Lighthouse” together. I thought the movie was trippy and intense and–in general–great. My husband was not impressed. He described the film as “watching two guys drink for two hours.” The morning after we watched it I did a bit of reading up on the film and it turns out the director admits that he was “filming the same scene” over and over, so hub may have me there.

I guess that didn’t matter to me–I got swept up in visuals. Every frame of that film is a perfect black and white photo that will haunt your dreams. The mood is dark and tense and claustrophobic. I am embarrassingly obsessed with the ocean, so much so that I’ve had elements of nautical decor while living in homes in such seaside paradises as North Dakota and Oklahoma. So the shots of the ocean and the lighthouse and all that just speak to me.

I’m not sure I had the whole thing figured out but I’m comforted by the idea that apparently director didn’t want you figure it all out. Is it about toxic masculinity? Probably? Is there an undercurrent of homoeroticism? Sure, but on the other hand Winslow seems more interested in mermaids than men. Are the two characters perhaps the same person? I think there’s definitely a chance that could be so? It’s all so opaque. Hub thought the opaqueness made it bad. For me, it just made it more intriguing. I will be watching it again.

If you’d like to discuss the movie in detail, please use spoiler tags.