What do you get when you take two fine actors, add some remarkable facial hair, lots of alcohol then stick them in a lighthouse for a month? This was really a silly question because it’s basically the plot of Egger’s film The Lighthouse.

The film follows Thomas (Willem Dafoe) and Winslow (Robbert Pattinson) who are stationed at this lighthouse. Thomas is the senior officer who manages the cooking and the night shifts of making sure that the light continues to shine and Winslow is the junior officer who’s left to do all the manual labour of maintaining the lighthouse and making sure the quarters is livable. We are given this hierarchical drama with a time bomb in place where we ask ourselves can these two survive the designated four week period that they must carry out their duties alone at this station?

It becomes a marvel to watch as Thomas pushes Winslow to madness and Winslow pushes Thomas to even further madness. Eggers makes sure to push our and each of these characters as far out as possible with a pinch of the worry for each’s mental state at the same time. We watch as Winslow stares in the ocean to find mermaids and Thomas gets drunk not just on alcohol but also on the lamp of the lighthouse at night. The rest is just great drama.

Have Winslow be frustrated by having to be at the bottom of this company ladder and no way to progress with Thomas not stopping to fight him. Thomas feels like a sailor straight out of the Verbinski Pirates of the Caribbean films. Winslow isn’t sure how far he can go. Or even how many farts are acceptable. Eggers knows how to make a scene be tense, funny and disgusting all within a two minute stretch and it’s fun to ride these roller coasters. I’ve not even gotten to the point of talking about the cinematography, which is amazing.

Overall the best film of the festival so far and can’t wait to see more of this ilk.