Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 34 wins & 138 nominations total
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWillem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson stated that they barely spoke a word to each other on set and were too exhausted to hang out together after a day of shooting because filming was so physically demanding due to the miserable weather conditions. While Pattinson stayed at a normal hotel with the rest of the film crew during the shoot, Dafoe lived in a little fisherman's cottage in solitude. On set, on the other hand, Pattinson would tend to eat and stay by himself during filming breaks, while Dafoe stayed with the crew. Both stated that they liked each other very much as soon as they had their first real conversation a few months later.
- GoofsOne of the folk songs used during one of the drunken sessions in the film is 'On a Monday Morning', written by Cyril Tawney in about 1966 - but the film is supposedly set in the C19th.
- Quotes
Thomas Wake: Yer fond of me lobster aint' ye? I seen it - yer fond of me lobster! Say it! Say it. Say it!
Ephraim Winslow: I don't have to say nothin'.
Thomas Wake: Damn ye! Let Neptune strike ye dead Winslow! HAAARK!
Thomas Wake: Hark Triton, hark! Bellow, bid our father the Sea King rise from the depths full foul in his fury! Black waves teeming with salt foam to smother this young mouth with pungent slime, to choke ye, engorging your organs til' ye turn blue and bloated with bilge and brine and can scream no more - only when he, crowned in cockle shells with slitherin' tentacle tail and steaming beard take up his fell be-finned arm, his coral-tine trident screeches banshee-like in the tempest and plunges right through yer gullet, bursting ye - a bulging bladder no more, but a blasted bloody film now and nothing for the harpies and the souls of dead sailors to peck and claw and feed upon only to be lapped up and swallowed by the infinite waters of the Dread Emperor himself - forgotten to any man, to any time, forgotten to any god or devil, forgotten even to the sea, for any stuff for part of Winslow, even any scantling of your soul is Winslow no more, but is now itself the sea!
Ephraim Winslow: Alright, have it your way. I like your cookin'.
- SoundtracksTis Brasswork
Based on the Poem: "Brasswork: The Light-Keepers Lament" by Frederic W. Morong, Jr.
Melody by Mark Korven
Performed by Willem Dafoe
The narrative isn't much to talk about, but the tone and tension is what works - if it works for you. The manner of delivery of this is an oppressive approach, making the viewer feel uncomfortable and not giving space to get away from it. I thought this aspect of it was done well in many different ways. The selection of the ratio, keeping the shot tight no matter what shot it was; the noise of the sea and sight of the waves; but even the dialogue - which was distracting in some ways but effective in others. The fruity accents and gruff delivery makes it hard to catch every word, but it did cause me to lean in. The performances come with an intensity and realism that sells the film even when so much of it is hard to accept on the face of it.
I do think that for a lot of viewers it will be a reasonable reaction to be put off the film - mainly because feeling uncomfortable for several hours is not an easy experience to sell. For myself I felt a bit of that - at the end that I more appreciated what it did well and how it did it than I actually 'enjoyed' the film as a film. One of those where I'm glad I watched it but am really unlikely to ever watch it again.
- bob the moo
- Aug 15, 2020
- Permalink
Every A24 Horror Movie, Ranked by IMDb Rating
Every A24 Horror Movie, Ranked by IMDb Rating
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- El faro
- Filming locations
- Cape Forchu, Nova Scotia, Canada(Lighthouse and buildings exterior movie set)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $11,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $10,867,104
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $427,797
- Oct 20, 2019
- Gross worldwide
- $18,129,854
- Runtime1 hour 49 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.19 : 1
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