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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Monday 21 october 2019
Pattinson and Dafoe shine in 'The Lighthouse'

By LINDSEY BAHR rings in your ears for days to with his winged tormentor).
Associated Press come. Director Robert Eg- Boredom, he says later,
Enter "The Lighthouse " at gers has made something makes men turn to villains.
your own risk. truly visionary — stripped All they have are their tasks
This is a stark, moody, sur- down and out of time — to keep them from go-
real and prolonged de- that asks the viewer to sim- ing mad. Naturally, mad-
scent into seaside madness ply submit to his distinctive, ness finds them anyway.
that will surely not be for strange, funny and haunt- The film becomes a kind
everyone. But those who ing tale of a pair of "wick- of phantasmagoria as you
do choose to go on this ies" in 1890 New England are left wondering what's
black-and-white journey tasked with keeping the real, what's imagined and
with Robert Pattinson and lighthouse running. whether or not that even
Willem Dafoe will ultimate- Pattinson and Dafoe make matters.
ly find it a rewarding one, for inspired casting choices Eggers, who broke out with
even if the blaring fog horn for this two-hander, with the terribly creepy "The
Witch," continues to prove
his unique ability to trans-
This image released by A24 Films shows Willem Dafoe, left, and port an audience to a dif-
Robert Pattinson in a scene from "The Lighthouse."
Associated Press ferent time. He relishes in
the language of the era
Pattinson as the rookie, back and forth across the is- and gives both his stars deli-
Winslow, a former timber land. Plus, he's been having ciously odd monologues to
man who was looking for a some increasingly demonic chew on and spurt out. The
different life, and Dafoe as and disturbing dreams, has dialogue may be minimal
the greying veteran, Wake, made an enemy of a taunt- — in fact it takes more than
who is determined to keep ing sea bird and also has to a few minutes for the first
things in order. Winslow is deal with Wake's constant word to be uttered — but
not exactly an eager stu- badgering and flatulence that bare bones approach
dent or subordinate. He (seriously). makes what is said even
wants the lighthouse to be But Wake knows that there's more impactful.
his as soon as he gets to the a reason for their back- "The Lighthouse" is a tri-
island. He does not have a breaking work, seemingly umph of mood and vision,
seafarer's attention to de- unnecessary chores and like the love child of Andrei
tail and is ill-equipped to ancient superstitions ("It's Tarkovsky and David Lynch
handle the endless drudg- bad luck to kill a sea bird," that knows that its actors
ery of keeping the house he tells Winslow, advis- are just a small piece of the
tidy and shoveling rocks ing him to stop quarrelling overall composition. q

Queens rapper Homeboy Sandman is

back with a classic

By JAKE O'CONNELL The hook on the infectious
Associated Press "Name" spells it out: "You
Homeboy Sandman, can't solve me."
"Dusty" (Mello Music Group) An existentialist who drops
Fresh off last year's ace col- science like earlier Queens
laboration with emcee and rapper Craig G, on "Won-
beatsmith Edan, Queens dering Why" he ponders
rapper Homeboy Sandman questions both trivial and
hits us back with "Dusty," a trenchant: "Why I don't
redefinition of Golden Age know the real ways just
hip-hop for the now. back routes?" He rhymes
A classicist who embrac- "panacea" with "Bill Laim-
es the future, Sandman's beer" and "Zambia," mak- This cover image released
blueprint is not calculated: ing it all look easy, at one by Mello Music Group shows
"There aren't any maps/ point plainly stating: "It's not "Dusty," a release by Homeboy
So I go my own way." On difficult." Sandman.
album closer "Always," he Like-minded guests Quelle Associated Press
finds "a place that you Chris and Your Old Droog the plush loops and tasteful
can't touch" — the space are also all about the percussion amplify Sand-
between back-in-the-day grammar, with Droog con- man's bars. Standout track
and a higher plane. cluding: "I'm above you like "Yes Iyah" pinpoints the
Always with respect to the the dots on umlauts." overlap between a tribal
art form, his rhyme struc- The production by Mono rain dance and a college
tures are studied but off the En Stereo is bananas. Gy- marching band.
cuff, like he's flipping out in rating vibraphones, jubilant Ill beats, tight rhymes, fly
measured tones. Versed in horn runs, elastic basslines samples and boundless
linguistics and the way in- and odes to Weldon Irvine charisma on the mic. The
flection changes meaning, all mesh. Dabbling in ev- formula is simple geometry.
Boy Sand can still "break- erything from lounge-rock And Homeboy's got the
dance without cardboard." obscurities to spiritual jazz, angle.q