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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated The Lighthouse (2019) in Movies

Jun 18, 2020  
The Lighthouse (2019)
The Lighthouse (2019)
2019 | Drama, Horror
9
7.2 (26 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
The Lighthouse is destined to be one of those polarizing art house films that splits opinion straight down the middle, and it's easy to see why. I found it captivating, but I imagine some people would find it boring. I found it relatively haunting, but I imagine some people found it pretentious, and that's ok, I can see why.

It's bleak and minimalist, boasting a cast of two for 98% of the films runtime, it's completely open for interpretation, and poses more questions than it answers, and after a fair bit of thought, I think I actually loved it.
Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson are unarguably fantastic. There is nothing less than full commitment to what they're trying to do.
Robert Egger's shooting style is great as well. The whole movie is presented in a black and white 4:3 ratio. Some of the grainy framing shots littered throughout echo of old 40s and 50s horror classics, and everything else presented to us feels fresh and new, whilst being fed undertones of Greek mythology and H.P. Lovecraft.
The script is modest and subtle with flashes of intensity, a particular highlight is Willem Defoe's terrifying monologue after his cooking is criticized...

As for the plot, it's anything but straightforward. As I said, open for interpretation, but what starts off as a slightly off-feeling drama snowballs dramatically into something quite disturbing and tense. This is aided by a sporadic but great music score, and the constant noise of the lighthouse engine room (reminded me of the logging mill from Twin Peaks!)

The Lighthouse certainly isn't for everyone, but if you like a challenge with your horror then make sure you check it out.
  
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ClareR (6192 KP) rated Lightseekers in Books

Feb 23, 2021  
Lightseekers
Lightseekers
Femi Kayode | 2021 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Lightseekers is a fantastic thriller set in Nigeria. I love books set in other countries (i.e. set outside the UK), in the hope that I’ll learn something about the people and the culture - and I think that was exactly the case for both me and the main character, Philip Taiwo in this book. He has lived in the US for long enough to forget how things are done in his home country of Nigeria, and for long enough to be considered an outsider. Luckily for Philip, he has a competent helper in Chika - a man employed as his driver who is clearly much more than just that. There’s a lot of mystery surrounding Chika’s capabilities, and he certainly has a way with people that Philip needs to talk to. Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes not so much.
This isn’t a straightforward, easy investigation. There’s corruption at every turn, and the mob mentality and fear of being caught on the wrong side of that, radiates off the page. It was pretty difficult at times to work out who was on the side of ‘good’ and who wasn’t - the lines were so blurred. It was pretty obvious that social media in this case contributed negatively to what had happened, and how easily its users were manipulated - I’ve been seeing this a lot in books recently, and as a user of Social Media, I can see where these authors are coming from!
I really enjoyed reading this on The Pigeonhole, and I think Femi Kayode is going to be an author to look out for if this book is anything to go by. Thanks Pigeonhole for serialising this, and Femi for joining in the chat in the margins!