Eggers for Breakfast
Robert Eggers' *The Lighthouse* at night, viewer's delight! Eggers' shorts in the morning...actually, also a delight!
I only saw Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse (2019) once when it first came out. I remember leaving the theatre thinking “So that’s that, huh?” After it was recently brought up on a podcast I listen to (the person talking about the movie did so in the most ridiculous way possible), I decided that now’s as good a time as any to give it a rewatch.
And so last Friday night I did just that, and I loved it! It’s unquestionably beautiful, running at the level of “every frame’s a work of art.” It’s a bleak tale, but also funny! I didn’t see the humor the first time around, but it caught me this time and got me pretty good. Maybe knowing what’s coming but not remembering everything about the movie helped, but who can say for sure?
I woke up the next morning in a state of wanting for more Eggers. It turns out that three of his early short films are just sitting there on YouTube waiting for folks to enjoy, so that’s what I did - what a nice little Saturday morning I had!
Hansel and Gretel (2007)
The earliest of the three is Hansel and Gretel, and it certainly feels like early work. There’s a vision here, to be sure, but it’s also clear that Eggers’ style had not yet been fully formed. Still worth a watch to see where it all began, just know that things were still fermenting.
The Tell-Tale Heart (2009)
Next up was The Tell-Tale Heart, and whoo-boy - what a difference a couple of years made! Bob really gets to cooking on this one. (For the record, I’ve never read the source material, but I understand that Ed Poe has his fans, and there’s no question that Eggers is among them.)
This is brimming with atmosphere and tension. Where Hansel and Gretel feels unpolished and amateur, Tell-Tale feels like it was filmed right alongside The VVitch (2015). I hate to be the guy that’s all like “there’s a visual identity that is on display here that one can see carries over to some of Eggers’ later works,” but here I am, being that guy.
This was my favorite of the three by a mile (1.61 Km).
Brothers (2015)
Allegedly, Brothers was created to secure funding to get The VVitch made. Not that Brothers is bad - it’s fine! - but I don’t know how anyone could watch Tell-Tale Heart and need more, or not already think that Eggers didn’t have the chops to pull off a feature-length film like The VVitch.
My feelings aside, it does do a pretty good job proving that he knows how creepy the woods can be and how to shoot ‘em.
Regardless of where you find yourself at the moment, there’s a lot of worse ways to spend the next hour of your life than grabbing a drink of whatever and taking in a few of Robert Eggers’ earlier shorts. Whether to see the humble beginnings of the modern auteur, or just to enjoy what’s left of spooky-season, it’s time well-spent.
Current Mood: Refreshed!
Listening to: Skye Riley (“& Naomi Scott”) - New Brain