The Lighthouse
Where the DNA of The Lighthouse travels
Films that shaped it
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We were looking at Bergman a lot, Persona, Hour of the Wolf, Shame.
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My father is a Werner Herzog scholar, so I grew up on Herzog. I mean, my dad showed me “Fata Morgana” when I was a teenager. I've rewatched it 10 times or something. So yeah, I'm certainly influenced by him.
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In terms of cinema, Expressionist cinema is obvious, but Cries and Whispers was something that was definitely on my mind and was helpful, especially the way that he uses black and white, even though it’s a color film. But also the deep focus photography and the strong contrast and the lighting. Yeah.
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He cited, for instance, Nicolas Roeg’s ‘Don’t Look Now’ (1973) and Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’ (1980), as well as a range of films by Ingmar Bergman and Carl Theodor Dreyer.
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Tarkovsky is a huge one. Mirror is a film that I revisit often. The way he constructs a sense of dread and beauty, often from very mundane things, and the way he uses natural elements... it’s just incredible. I think 'The Lighthouse' definitely has some of that Tarkovsky bleakness and atmosphere, even though it's much more grotesque.
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I was looking at a lot of Herzog, particularly Stroszek and Aguirre, for the way he captures this raw, desperate human condition. The feeling of being trapped, both physically and psychologically, in 'Stroszek' was a huge touchstone for The Lighthouse.
