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Finally watched both the Witch and Lighthouse. I’m ready and excited to hear that the 90 million movie still feels like his weird style/taste.
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Apr 17, 2022 07:04
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 03:59 |
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Watched the Lighthouse again last night but with the Eggers commentary. Pretty interesting as he has some good stories and lots of technical insights. Would have been nice if his dp was with him though. Other thoughts: Lighthouse really needs a 4K release. Crazy that he got such a large budget for the Northman after these two excellent but niche films.
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Apr 20, 2022 01:05
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Just got out of it, so gotta sort my thoughts still but this was insane and as good as his other films. The Viking setting feels so foreign but real like he has done with colonial times or sailors. The action was all brutal and shot clearly with the raid scene reminding me of the revenant. The film definitely questions the whole quest for vengeance with all the child murder and culture of slavery. it’s a culture of violence starting from their central religion that scars each generation. There was definitely little if any studio interference. Eggers was not afraid to do weird dreams or drugs chants for extended periods.
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Apr 22, 2022 21:28
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I dunno, maybe your theater was lower quality? That fight looked great to me, was clear and atmospheric. Saw it on the amc Dolby cinema which I guess is supposed to be higher def at least.
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Apr 22, 2022 21:49
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I will concede the point. If you wanted swinging, sweaty full front dong. You might be disappointed. Otherwise it’s a good watch.
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Apr 22, 2022 22:25
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There’s a possible happy ending of sorts where Amleth goes off with Olga and has a family. But as soon as he realizes he has a family he think he now must go back to battle fight off a future killer like himself. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy. Obviously Fjord or his sons will come after Amleth because that’s what Odin loves and what Amleth would do. It’s ridiculous to Olga and outsiders. Instead he goes back and kills some men and frees the other slaves. They have control (burning the long house). He could stop here, but yet goes looking for fjord and ends up killing his mother and the young child who looks just like Amleth as a kid. The movie doesn’t lingers here and we see Amleths regret. Then we watch Fjord slowly drag the dead child and dead mother away. The camera does not shy away here. And again, Amleth could leave but agrees to volcano fight. We then see amleth again show his regrets for killing the two as he honors the kid and mothers body at base of volcano. He promises to meet her in Valhalla. This should be an interesting reunion though with everyone betraying and killing each other. This zealous belief in Odin and blood pacts just ends up with everyone dead, except for the one smart woman who decided to leave it all.
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Apr 23, 2022 01:16
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The animal theming has a an appropriate end. In the beginning, Amleth is called a puppy and cub crawling and learning to bark from his dad. Then we see him hunting under a wolfs skin and even ripping a man’s throat out with his teeth. In Iceland, he howls with the cubs (?) to drive the dogs mad. Finally he mates with Olga and once he learns that he has passed on his genes, he leaves her to hunt once more just as a bear would.
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Apr 23, 2022 02:52
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I think the supernatural is reality for this movie. You could interpret the birds really just being Olga returning and freeing Amleth. But I see no reason to assume mean viking gods are not just messing with the lives of humans like Greek tales or the devil in the witch. There’s also that scene of Amleth and the fox (?) howling and making all the other dogs insane.
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Apr 23, 2022 17:58
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Marc Maron has a decent interview with Eggers on his podcast. Just skip to like minute 15 or so to get to the Eggers portion. Eggers talks about how he feels like needs to be very authentic to history and mythology for his movies in order for him to connect to the project. He doesn’t think it makes them better, but just what works for him.
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Apr 24, 2022 23:56
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Hand Knit posted:I liked this movie quite a bit, but in so many dimensions it invites comparison to The Green Knight, and I think the Green Knight is better in nearly every case. I felt like this was particularly true in how the films weaved in the fantastical, mythological imagery. Green knight seems to be about a coward learning what the true value of a knight is and the strength of honor. But here in the Northman, honor is much more dangerous as it is a driving force of revenge. And Amleth does not choose to end the violent cycle. He knows it will end in tragedy but continues anyways. I guess for comparison, it’s like if Sir Gwain has his vision of keeping the belt and the doomed future, but keeps it anyways as he decides it must be fate.
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Apr 25, 2022 02:47
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Eggers states the simplicity is intentional. He assumes most people know the basics of a revenge story and hamlet, and in this way people could just absorb the weird mysticism and viking setting.
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Apr 25, 2022 17:53
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Memnaelar posted:While the life they had wasn't great, they're all almost certain to be killed by starvation, animals, or other slaveholders. So, even that minimal good is questionable but, hey, agency. We see the former slaves burning the long house and cheering indicating a successful rebellion. I guess you could assume they died, but that’s like assuming that somehow they cannot survive without their rulers.
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Apr 25, 2022 23:32
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I mostly agree there. People do seem to suffer brutal ends over and over. I guess just that and some of the other scenes ,like viking ball do show Amleth has some potential for a “good” path, but he believes too strongly in fate.
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Apr 26, 2022 00:03
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Perhaps Amleth didn’t like hurting women after seeing his mom kidnapped and his home quest to save him. There’s also this long Reddit thread on Vikings and killing women from their askhistorians subreddit. Take from it what you will. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...utm_name=iossmf But nonetheless Amleth is never really a moral center like Disney tried to make Simba.
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Apr 26, 2022 03:44
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Odin wanted that night blade to feed. Yeah the gods seemed to love violence here, which I guess is a reflection on their believers.
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Apr 27, 2022 01:33
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Yeah that was the second condition. Atmosphere is really important for Odin when it comes to revenge duels.
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Apr 27, 2022 03:42
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Interesting story, cool to see source. Seems Eggers went with more of Hamlet for this. Which makes sense as he wanted more familiarity and tragedy. Glad he added viking drugs.
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Apr 27, 2022 22:22
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I don’t see what fake madness adds when they are already real mad with revenge. Besides you get plenty of other “madness” with all the dreams, drugs, and shrunken Defoe head .
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Apr 27, 2022 23:50
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Eggers did say in a recent interview he wanted penis again and couldn’t. He was also forced to cut erect penis from the Lighthouse apparently to avoid nc 17. He conceded that point as he was already getting everything else he wanted
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Apr 28, 2022 18:11
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We can only hope their is a deleted scene roll of swinging dongs on the physical release
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Apr 28, 2022 20:14
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One thing I go back to that I really like is how during the Viking bar-mitzvah, Amleth’s father stresses to Amleth that should he, the king die, then it’s Amleths duty to hunt down the killer and avenge him. He doesn’t stress that he should be a good king and take care of his people. Or go marry some princess of Norway for an alliance. Just avenge him. It really shows the culture of violence. And his mother acknowledges this later by saying she insisted Amleth be killed to avoid the revenge cycle. And then we see Amleths nephew start stabbing Amleth after killing his mother. .
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May 2, 2022 01:19
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Yeah Olga is really the only one who wants out of this cycle. Maybe Defoe as he’s just slinging jokes helping people get high.
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May 2, 2022 01:45
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Krom vs Odin, who wins.
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May 2, 2022 04:58
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Eggers thing, at least with Northman and Witch, is to take a historical subject and try to make it as authentic as possible. So what meaning develops is often part is that history: violence with Vikings, patriarchy with witch, etc. And of course what he chooses to depict in that story will also inform any messages/subtext.
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May 2, 2022 14:11
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The Viking rituals(barking, wolf howls and skins, bears) show the Vikings becoming more animal like an attempt the be more pure killers. Such animals can kill without hesitation or regret like the raiders But animals don’t seek revenge. That’s purely a human thing.
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May 4, 2022 20:28
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The Kingfish posted:The parts of the movie that felt incongruous to me all had to do with Amleth’s reluctance to cross certain moral lines. His behavior during the raid, his comment about not killing women, and killing his step brother in self defense all felt at odds with who he should have been as a character. Some of this is history based. I linked a Reddit thread earlier where some historians discussed old Viking tales where they thought it was dishonorable to kill women. But it is the internet so it could just all be lies. But I dont think it’s incongruous behavior so much as just some character complexity. People and religions always have these moral justifications (don’t kill civilized, or killing sinful). Plus it just adds to the tragedy. Like you can see there is a part of him that could lead a less savage life. These moral lines tie in with his chance to leave with Olga. But the anger wins out.
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May 10, 2022 02:26
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Drug fueled Volcano duel for next presidency.
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May 16, 2022 23:46
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I dunno, Amleth kills very effectively during the berserker raid. In fact his first big moment as an adult is catching a spear and throwing it back. He is also shown to be quite effective at Viking ball. I think it’s just that Fjolnir the Brotherless is quite an experienced fighter also. We did see him first coming back from war after all.
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May 24, 2022 18:00
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Amleth is shown to be a very capable fighter. Again, his first big move is that cool spear catch, and then him killing many men. Yes other raiders are there, but we see Amleth is action in the foreground with the other raiders often in the back. Thematically it’s important that Amleth can fight. After all, he’s been so consumed by revenge that he’s dedicated his life to learning to be a warrior. Also there’s an aspect of the culture and religion only allowing the strong to survive. After first obtaining the Night Blade, Amleth tries to ambush Fjolnir and kill him, but a dog interrupts. Amleth interprets this as meaning he can’t break the prophecy. He believes fate governs all and it his fate to fight his battle at the Gates of Hell. So he cannot kill Fjolnir before then. He then decides that while he waits for destiny he will make Fjolnir suffer like he did for years. Then the Night Blade feeds begin. It’s not about weakening the minds of his enemies. It’s about revenge and fate .
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May 25, 2022 15:29
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Momentum loss in Iceland? What? The Nightblade feeds then.
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Jun 11, 2022 00:14
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 03:59 |
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Didn’t realize the physical release was out. Good to know
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Jun 12, 2022 16:27
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