Im a little jaded having just recently watched "cold skin" and "The vanishing", both "lighthouse keepers go crazy" films. That said I was very enthusiastic about this unique, and supposedly timely take, staring patterson and dafoe. Man was I bored and disappointed. The black and white 4:3 filming adds nothing to the story and feels like a gimmic. Nothing about the characters, atmosphere or pacing lends itself to that style so instead it comes off as cloying, begging you for praise. Instead of any kind of build up of tension our two leads just scream each other for 2 hours until we get an oh so tiresome violent ending I couldnt bring myself to be upset over.

Im giving this a 5 because dafoe and patterson I think played their parts well, but frankly this added nothing to the genre and felt as disingenious as a mandatory highschool christmas play. Critics, I get it, youre feeling unloved because serial superhero films are in vogue again but just because something is abstract doesn't mean it should earn automatic oscars.