The Lighthouse
Or: How Yossi Stopped Worrying And Loved the Meme

What I’m about to say will significantly date this review in about a month, but it’s critical because a meme, yes, A MEME helped me crack what the message of this movie is, and from what I’ve heard, the biggest gripe most people have is they don’t see any clear message.

Part way through this movie, Willem Defoe looses it and flips out towards Robert Pattinson, and it’s a whole big deal (you should know what I’m talking about, this is a spoiler review) and in my head I jokingly said “Ok Boomer”

And that’s it.

That’s the key to the movie.

See, I was struggling with the same thing. For the first 3/4ths of the movie I was thinking “well this is all well and fun, but what’s the message here?” Is it just a vague thing about masculinity? It seems too deliberate to be that vague. So I start thinking, why was this movie made today? I mean, it’s a miracle of a film, and even more so that it was made in 2019. So why do we need this film in 2019?

The Lighthouse is about the relationship between the Baby Boomers and The Millennials.

The ages work out between Dafoe and Patterson, but it goes beyond that.

-Dafoe is constantly criticizing Patterson for being lazy while Patterson defends himself and says he works harder than is reasonable.
-Dafoe questions why Patterson hasn’t settled down and gotten married yet.
-He questions why Patterson doesn’t have a steady job or a place to stay.
-He always acts like he is wiser and more in control than Patterson, ultimately just self aggrandizing

And on the flip side:
-Patterson criticizes Dafoe for his strict sticking to religion
-Patterson is angry that Dafoe acts so self aggrandizing
-Patterson sees Dafoe as an animal and archaic as though he is above that.
-Patterson thinks he knows everything, and desperately tries to prove it.

The message of this movie? 

Human nature never changes, and the generational differences will always be the way they are and have been.

We ultimately find out that our protagonists have the same name. They both accuse each other of being bad to women while acting like they know how to treat them, but only see women as monsters and resent them. They are drunk. A lot. 

At the end of the day, we, like our characters, are alone on this rock, surrounded by harsh darkness, and we don’t know what’s out there, there’s no way to communicate with anyone out there, the sea is rising and the climate is only getting worse, we think that there will be four years of Trump (four weeks on the island for Tommy) and it will be ok after that, but what if it never gets better, what if the older generation lies to us, what if they were right about us, what if we were right about them, what if there’s no hope for a happy family, what if we are haunted by the dead, what if we finally get to the top of the Lighthouse (a solid falick image as well as one for a space rocket) and find that what is there is beyond our comprehension and drives us mad. 

The Lighthouse is about all these fears we have in 2019, and helps us realize that they are fears that we’ve been struggling with for well over 100 years. At the end of the day, will all our work lead us to become the toilet of a bird, or the toilet of an angel? And are either of those destinies worth it?

Phew, safe to say I loved The Lighthouse. All the usual gushy stuff applies as well (acting, direction, cinematography, score, sound, yadda yadda) it’s truly a modern classic and I hope this review may help you find a satisfying meaning if that’s been your biggest detractors. It kinda blew my mind.