As 2019 winds to a close, before we look at what’s next, it’s a time for reflection. In movie terms, that means glancing back over the past year and taking stock of the films we saw. I’m fortunate enough to be a member of a couple groups of film critics, and one, the Seattle Film Critics Society, just revealed the results of the 2019 SFCS Awards.
It’s that time of year again. The calendar is running out, the holidays loom on the horizon, and every turns to the past year to reflect and examine. And for film critics, that means looking over the movie offerings and evaluating the haul. I’m fortunate enough to belong to multiple groups of like-minded film nerds, and one of them, the Seattle Film Critics Society just announced our nominations for our end-of-year awards.
Where to begin with The Lighthouse? If you go in expecting the creeping Satanic dread of writer/director Robert Eggers last film, The Witch, you’ll be let down. That’s not to say there’s no creeping dread, because there’s plenty, it’s simply of a different sort. The film edges up to the supernatural, but is more concerned with what lurks inside, deep down, waiting to emerge. It’s also, as my notes taken during the screening attest, “weird as balls.” Somehow it works. I’m not always entirely certain how, but it does.
Over the weekend, The Lighthouse, the latest from The Witch director Robert Eggers, played at the Toronto International Film Festival. I try to avoid early reactions for movies I’m excited about, like this one, and I don’t put much stock in the reactions I do see come out of film festivals. But this one appears to have broken some brains, and I count that as a win. To mark the occasion, A24 released a new trailer, and I’m still not sure what we’re about to witness.
Robert Eggers’ The Witch (or The VVitch if you’re one of those) is one of the best horror movies, and best movies, of the decade. That was his first feature, so what do you do for a follow up when your debut was one of the most acclaimed films in recent memory? You apparently make a black and white, Lovecraftian tale about two olde timey lighthouse keepers. One of my most-anticipated movies of the year, The Lighthouse now has a trailer.
Yes, this story about Robert Pattinson almost punching The Witch director Robert Eggers on the set of their new movie, The Lighthouse, is the best thing I’ve read all day. And as the world descends into chaos around us (hopefully less so after the polls close), can’t we all use a good pick-me-up? And there are also details about The Lighthouse, which sounds rad.
