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The Light Between Oceans



The Light Between Oceans (2016)

Director: Derek Cianfrance
Writers: Derek Cianfrance(screnplay), M.L. Stedman(novel)
Cast
: Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz
Genre: Drama Romance


About: A returning World War 1 veteran (Michael Fassbender) takes on the lonely task of a lighthouse keeper on a remote island off the coast of Australia. During a visit to the mainland, he meets and marries a young girl (Alicia Vikander). The two of them return to the lighthouse to face life together. That life changes when they discover a baby adrift on a lifeboat.

Review: I found The Light Between Oceans to be a mediocre movie. Visually it was artistically beautiful, with it's muted earth tone colors and soft diffusion look. The story premise too, of a man and his wife alone on a remote island tending a lighthouse, was very promising. This is the type of movie I love.



But the director/writer never really made me feel like I was privy to the lives of the couple. I never felt their emotions (at least for the first half of the film anyway). We see snippets of the character's lives but the moments in between, that are so important for developing finesse, are often missing. I never felt a connection to the characters as the scenes are too brief and mainly function on a surface level. I wanted a deeper existential film and this ain't it.

Real life couple
Michael Fassbender & Alicia Vikander, are the leads, playing husband and wife...surprisingly they didn't have much chemistry. I did like the performance by Michael Fassbender, but didn't care for Alicia Vikander in this.