MAN!!
Probably my favorite shot in The Northman : I love just how “staged” it looks (how unnaturally symmetrical). The whiplash of cutting from the film’s protagonist, Amleth, tearing out a man’s throat and howling to this almost contemplative, The Last Supper -ian image depicting the previously berserk raiders at rest is just great juxtaposition. I love the dramatic posing as well and the feelings that the figures’ posture and the overall composition evoke. There’s something unsettled—and not just physically exhausted—about the men post-rampage. They look if not exactly meditative, then quiet: drained. Alone with their post-battle clarity. Perhaps toxically masculine in some vague way. My current Robert Eggers filmography rankings (sans 2024’s Nosferatu , which I haven’t seen): The Northman (2022), The Lighthouse (2019), The VVitch (2015). In terms of his “The” trilogy, I think the one I watched most recently takes the top spot, though I will admit this is somewhat unfair to VVitch since I...