• About Us
  • Advertising on Awards Daily
Monday, August 15, 2022
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
Awardsdaily
  • Home
  • Good As Gold
  • AD TV
  • Calendar 2023
  • Podcasts
  • Interviews
  • Follow us on Twitter
    • Awards Daily
    • Sasha Stone
    • Ryan Adams
    • Clarence Moye
    • Mark Johnson
  • All News
  • Home
  • Good As Gold
  • AD TV
  • Calendar 2023
  • Podcasts
  • Interviews
  • Follow us on Twitter
    • Awards Daily
    • Sasha Stone
    • Ryan Adams
    • Clarence Moye
    • Mark Johnson
  • All News
No Result
View All Result
Awardsdaily
No Result
View All Result

Cannes Dispatch – A Hidden Life / The Lighthouse

by Zhuo-Ning Su
May 19, 2019
in Cannes, featured, Film Festivals, News
1
Cannes Dispatch – A Hidden Life / The Lighthouse

Two of the most eagerly anticipated titles at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival premiered today and I’m happy to report that, as different as they are, both delivered the goods – big time. After winning the Palme d’Or ten years ago, legendary filmmaker Terrence Malick gets back in the ring with A HIDDEN LIFE, a ruminative, deeply spiritual biopic about Austrian conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter (soulfully portrayed by August Diehl), who refused to pledge his allegiance to Hitler during the Second World War.

The biopic label actually feels somewhat inadequate in this case. Sure, the film chronicles the life of a historical figure between 1939 and 1943. But Malick’s approach to profiling Jägerstätter is so far removed from the typical tropes of cinematic biographies to call it that seems to almost cheapen the effort.

Billed as a return to “narrative filmmaking”, A HIDDEN LIFE does boast more of a linear structure and substantial plot than, say TO THE WONDER or KNIGHT OF CUPS. We meet Jägerstätter in his hometown of St. Radegund, Austria, where he leads a life of modest, earthbound pleasures with his wife and daughters. When war and conscription reach the peaceful mountain town, young, devout, serious-minded Jägerstätter finds himself questioning the moral validity of following orders and doing something he believes to be wrong. After his family and friends unsuccessfully try to convince him to change his mind – if for their sake, not his – Jägerstätter would be sent away, imprisoned, tried, and eventually executed, his faith tested every step of the way.

This streamlined summary notwithstanding, people need to know and mentally prepare themselves that this is still very much a Terrence Malick film – straightforward, readily digestible it ain’t. Instead of watered-down central conflicts fed through expository dialogue, Malick relies on ample shots of nature and dreamy voice-over monologues to build characters over a deliberately-paced three-hour runtime. In the process, he asks sweeping, philosophical questions and engages them with great subtlety.

Does one man’s disobedience make a difference in the scheme of things? What’s the meaning of free will and are we really free to exercise it? Is anyone to judge what’s good and what’s evil or is it all part of God’s plan? Why would God stay silent and the world keep spinning without a care in times of atrocity? I’m not a devout person and Christianity has not been part of my upbringing, but I find Malick’s inquiries intellectually challenging and emotionally resonant. Like Scorsese’s SILENCE before it, A HIDDEN LIFE’s earnest examination of man’s crisis of faith is carried by a sincere, existential pursuit that transcends religion and touches me on a human level.

The film’s technical details are uniformly excellent. Malick is a poet of moving images. Not only does he always find the most stunning natural wonders to shoot (stern mountain ridges, rich, boundless fields, misty waterfalls), he also captures them with a lyricism that’s truly enchanting. And while the repeated cutaway shots might feel indulgent in his last few films, here they help inform the viewer of the protagonists’ state of mind and provide the story about one man’s struggle with a tender, timeless context.

Meanwhile, over at Directors’ Fortnight I saw the most ambitious and violently impressive film of the festival so far. Robert Eggers, who broke out four years ago with his critically acclaimed feature debut THE WITCH, really beat that sophomore slump and cooked up something wild, horrific and drop-dead gorgeous that will send cinephiles everywhere into orgasmic fits.

THE LIGHTHOUSE stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as an aging lighthouse keeper and his new underling who, in the late 1890s, arrive on a remote island for a scheduled four-week stay. The relationship between the two is contentious as the old chief habitually mistreats and demeans his young deputy. That it’s pouring and howling incessantly doesn’t make matters any better. As the storms and pent-up belligerence continue to fray the already stressed nerves of the two, secrets about them both will surface, curses and folklores will come alive and all sorts of craziness ensues.

Eggers’ vision for the film is intimate and incredibly grand at once. As a two-man show at a single, isolated location, it keeps you firmly trapped in close quarters with the same two characters and yet manages to always find new, unexpected places to go in terms of exploring the dynamics between the men and their distorted psyche under extreme circumstances. The second half of the film, which sees an increasingly unhinged Pattinson clinging desperately onto his sanity, soars to such raving mad heights it needs to be seen to be believed.

The principal crew behind THE WITCH, including DP Jarin Blaschke, production designer Craig Lathrop and composer Mark Korven, returned for the project and absolutely killed it. The art direction is superb, I especially appreciate the way they incorporate maritime legends into some of the most memorable scenes. The iconography and creature design deliver not just jump scares but trigger a deeper, inexplicable dread. Same goes for the mechanical, urgent, furiously bombastic score. Also apparently the film is shot with the same photographic equipment from that era. I don’t know how the technology works, but the images with their slightly grainy texture look intensely beautiful, creepily ancient and simply unlike anything you’ve seen.

Both actors are tremendous. Dafoe can morph from benevolence to seething evil right before your eyes and fires off long-winding monologues written with archaic seaman jargon like the boss that he is. As for Pattinson, I don’t mean to start the hyperbole, but honestly he is doing DDL-level work here. The way he inhabits this character, from the weathered look to the posture, inflection and every outburst of rage, rings true. And you have not seen someone lose control on screen like he does in a scene towards the end, when his character finally climbs to the top of the mysterious lighthouse. Blood-curdling.

To keep people’s expectations in check, THE LIGHTHOUSE is, if anything, very elevated horror. While I now count it among my all-time Cannes viewing experiences, it’ll be interesting to see how the one performs at the box office when A24 releases it later this year.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • WhatsApp
  • Print
Tags: 72nd Festival de CannesA Hidden LifeCannes 2019Robert EggersTerrence MalickThe Lighthouse
Zhuo-Ning Su

Zhuo-Ning Su

Berlin-based freelance festival journalist. Sees too many films for his own good.

Next Post
Interview: Christina Hendricks Talks ‘Good Girls’, Beth and ‘Toy Story 4’

Interview: Christina Hendricks Talks 'Good Girls', Beth and 'Toy Story 4'

Sign up for Awards Daily's Breaking News

* indicates required
  1. rufussondheim on Predictions Friday: As the Pendulum SwingsAugust 15, 2022

    Babe is just wonderful. Of the nominated films for BP that year, it was easily the best.

  2. Apple TV+’s ‘Severance’ Leads 2nd Annual HCA TV Awards Streaming Version with 5 Wins – Awardsdaily - Tech Tech App on Apple TV+’s ‘Severance’ Leads 2nd Annual HCA TV Awards Streaming Edition with 5 WinsAugust 15, 2022

    […] Supply hyperlink […]

  3. Tom85 on Predictions Friday – Best Actress and the Oscar StoryAugust 15, 2022

    True; people in prison don't have to pay rent.

  4. Cine2100 on Predictions Friday – Best Actress and the Oscar StoryAugust 15, 2022

    Hmmn. I just saw some things she tweeted and am interested in what else she has to say on the…

  5. SunnyDandThePurpleStuff on Anne Heche and What Should Have BeenAugust 15, 2022

    Didshe have an incident where she professed to believing in aliens? I know SNL referenced that

  • Predictions Friday – Best Actress and the Oscar Story

    Predictions Friday – Best Actress and the Oscar Story

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • How Best Actor Drives Best Picture

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Tyler James Williams On the ‘Abbott Elementary’ Episode That Scared The Shit Out Of Him

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Seth Meyers On the Rise of Wally and the Importance of Ridiculous Impressions of Political Figures

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Anne Heche and What Should Have Been

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

AwardsDaily Crew

  • About Us
  • Sasha Stone
  • Editor Ryan Adams
  • Editor Clarence Moye
  • Editor Mark Johnson
  • Contact Us

ADTV Crew

  • ADTV Home
  • Megan McLachlan, Editor
  • Joey Moser, Editor
  • Clarence Moye, Editor
  • Jalal Haddad, Senior Contributor
  • Shadan Larki
  • Ben Morris
  • David Phillips
  • Advertising on Awards Daily
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Oscar Podcast
  • AwardsDailyTV

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Good As Gold
  • AD TV
  • Calendar 2023
  • Podcasts
  • Interviews
  • Follow us on Twitter
    • Awards Daily
    • Sasha Stone
    • Ryan Adams
    • Clarence Moye
    • Mark Johnson
  • All News

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In