The Lighthouse is a movie worth listening to

Robert Eggers' follow-up to The Witch is the best-sounding film in recent memory

The Lighthouse.
(Image credit: Illustrated | RaStudio/iStock, A24 Films)

More than it is salt and sea monsters, kelp and foam, the ocean is fury and it is noise. It roars, crashes, rumbles, groans, howls, booms, hisses, spits, and seethes. Sometimes, when you are lonely and cold, and there is no one else around, it might even seem to sing to you in the screeching pitch of a siren.

The Lighthouse, out Friday, is like the ocean: It is mad and threatening noise. It is a lot of other things too — vomit, rot, kerosene, semen, stone, lobster, rain, bedpans, glass — but above all, it is an achievement of sound. Critics often praise films by telling audiences to "see it big"; in the case of The Lighthouse, listen to it as loud as you possibly can.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.