Cinematic Point Of View

Mariya Saakyan‘s feature film The Lighthouse (also called ‘Mayak’) is a quiet, visually poetic look at how war affects ordinary people, specifically their memory. It’s one of the most unique pieces of war cinema I’ve ever seen.

The film follows the journey of a young woman named Lena (Anna Kapaleva) who travels from Moscow back to her rural Armenian hometown during a war. Once there, Lena attempts to convince her grandparents to leave and return to Moscow. She soon realizes that convincing them to escape the devastation is no simple task.

Lena’s journey is one of inner resilience as she struggles to hold on to her empathy and innocence in a town lost in the smoke of violence and destruction.

The cinematography by Maxim Drozdov is otherworldly. I felt transported. The film uses deep blues, greens, and browns to give everything a sort of faded memory feeling. It’s dark and rich and earthy. It’s full of a long shots filled with misty mountains, dark tunnels, flocks of blackbirds, and crumbling stone villages.

I find it difficult to express how captivatingly beautiful this film looks.

The musical score by Kimmo Pohjonen adds another earthy layer to this cinematic dream state. Never overbearing or played on top of an emotional moment, Kimmo’s score lives and breathes all around the story, helping shape these dreamy scenes, rather than fencing them in.

And then there’s Lena, played by Anna Kapaleva. Anna’s subtle performance is full of emotional depth and quiet restraint. She seems lost between childhood and adulthood, wandering back and forth through her memories, yet striving to move forward. She’s a survivor.

For a film that has large stretches with minimal or no dialogue, Kapaleva’s performance is a true testament to her skills as an actor, anchoring the film and keeping you invested in the outcome.

I picked up a copy of The Lighthouse on Blu-Ray from Second Run DVD.

The 2K transfer is gorgeous (I never use this word, but it’s true) and the extras consist of a 2003 short film by Mariya Saakyan, a visual essay about the film, and a director interview in the case slipcover.

The Lighthouse isn’t going to be a film for everyone. It’s an incredibly abstract work of art and could be a challenge for some viewers looking for more linear structure and character arcs. If you are a fan of Russian cinema, you will likely love it though. I’d say it’s Andrei Tarkovsky adjacent, but still truly it’s own unique vision.