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| Source: posterspy.com |
I’m not sure if this dense and tense film was more of a psycho thriller or a mystery thriller. It was definitely arthouse cinema, though. What’s with Rob Pattinson ending up in weird slimy-sex films, anyway? He and Willem Dafoe were great. It clearly wasn’t just their characters egging each other on: They played really well off each other, pushing each other to the maximum in this intimate two-person play. It’s particularly gratifying to see Pattinson rise above his teenage fame a little more with every role he takes. He is a serious actor and certainly on the same level as Dafoe here, who is of course a true veteran of the craft. Seeing the madness grow in the unequal relationship between them is both terrifying and mesmerising.
The choice to produce this film in black and white as well as 3:4 ration definitely benefited the project, aiding the dreary, oppressive tone of the lonely, windswept lighthouse and the narrow radius of action the characters are confined to. The constant, ominous roaring of the fog horn in the background pressurised the atmosphere even more. Additionally, the minimal score was just as creepy. And the seagulls! I don’t particularly like them in real life and they are perfect as dark omens, harbingers of destruction and madness. Wardrobe and sets looked 100% authentic, too.
All in all, this film is tricky to rate. The production and performances are of exceptional quality and it is certainly a memorable one warranting a second viewing, yet it is quite heavy and does inexplicably lose tension in the second half. 3/5
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