Cameron Wheeler

Without question the weakest of Eggers films so far, but the film is saved from receiving an abysmal score due to its fantastic cinematography, production, sound design and Egger’s mystical/ethereal sensibilities rooted in his A24 days. While this movie was marketed as a popcorn stuffing into your gullet blockbuster, I’d hardly call it consistently enthralling. The plot lulls too often, the characters are unworthy of becoming invested in and the romance is about as convincing as a middle school relationship formulated in the parking lot of a football game. Again, this movie is not an absolute stinker, particularly if you enjoy Nordic landscapes, Shakespearean prose, ambience building, cohesive sound design, Norse mythology and some decent acting performances, but I struggle seeing how most viewers would rank this above The Witch or The Lighthouse. That being said, the film is watchable to even slightly above average in a hungover cloudy Sunday type of way. I’m curious to see where Eggers ventures to next after mixed reviewed big budget film. (Go back to New England please.)