Every critic out there seems to be dazzled (as much as Pattinson in the final scene) by the undeniably beautiful cinematography (every shot an artistic photography for an art gallery exposition) and the solid performances by the two only actors on scene.

However, undeniable too is the fact that this is one of the weakest stories put on a film lately. Yeah, I know, the important here is the atmosphere of abandonment and claustrophobia... the symbolism of the lighthouse as a phallus... the combination of old sea myths with the Prometheus' thing... ok, but either you are able to make (at least) a little sense of all this and deliver a minimally believable and coherent story or you just ellaborate a pastiche, and in the end this is what the film mostly turns out to be. A pity, since the photography is truly remarkable and the natural stormy place chosen for the filming is great.

And one last recommendation for Mr. Eggers, it's not really necessary to put such amount of disgusting stuff (farts, sewage even in drinking cups, semen, feces...) on the screen to transmit the idea of filthiness and squalor... other directors have been able to convey this atmosphere in ways that did not make many people abandon the theatre halfway through.