Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are taking a break from our joint Comfy, Cozy Cinema this week, instead both choosing our own movies to watch and write about. We will be back next week with …. Which I hope you will all join us in watching and blogging about. We will have a way for you to link up if you are joining in.

This week I decided to write about a cute movie I started a few weeks ago and forgot to finish – The Lightkeepers.

This was a film that was released in 2009 and starred Richard Dreyfus, Blythe Danner, Bruce Dern, Tom Wisdom, Mamie Gummer, and Julie Harris.

The film is set in Cape Cod, 1912 and tells the story of a lightkeeper and a young man who washes ashore and becomes the lightkeeper’s assistant.

Seth Atkins, the lightkeeper, is a very abrasive and cantankerous character and while I kept expecting him to soften up during the movie he really didn’t for most of it. That irked me a bit only because I wanted to slap him more than once for his behavior. At the same time I liked that he stayed the same and didn’t change simply to make the movie more comfortable to watch. Seth’s character did make me uncomfortable because of his bluntness, but that’s what made him – well, him.

The story was fairly simple with a fairly weak plotline, but it was still sweet. I fell in love with the subdued nature of Tom Wisdom who played Mr. Brown/Russell Brooks and couldn’t help but root for him to find some happiness.

I needed Seth to find some happiness as well since he seemed like such a grump. I knew that deep down he really wasn’t though.

Both Mr. Brown and Mr. Atkins are self-proclaimed women-haters and the movie starts out with Mr. Atkins telling his former assistant how much he hates women. In fact, he tells anyone who will listen that he hates women.

This becomes an issue when two women come from Boston to stay at the cottage down the hill from the lighthouse. He wants nothing to do with them and warns Mr. Brown away from them as well.

Staying away isn’t easy when they call for help on their first day there because there are bees inside the cottage. It also isn’t easy when the young woman, Ruth, decides to go swimming and invites a brooding Mr. Brown to go in with her. He reluctantly does and a friendship develops. It’s a friendship he does his best to keep a secret from Mr. Atkins since he agreed to stay away from women while working for him.

Incidentally, Mr. Brown arrived at the lighthouse when Mr. Atkins found him washed up on shore. Mr. Brown/Russell has a very distinct and proper British accent and it’s clear right away he doesn’t have a clue how to work with his hands or really work at all. He does his best, however, to become a real workman and as the movie progresses, we find out why he was in the ocean, why he wants to work hard, and why he “hates” women.

This was a very light watch and a nice escape for a couple of hours. I rented it through Amazon but I am sure it is available other places as well – maybe even your local library. (Update: Elizabeth let me know in the comments it is currently free on Tubi, with ads but still free).

Have you ever seen The Lightkeepers?

Next week Erin and I will return with The Lady Vanishes.

If you want to watch it as well and then blog your impressions, please do.

Here is the rest of our schedule for October and November:

Strangers on a Train (Oct. 19)

Rebecca (Oct. 26)

Little Women (November 2)

Tea with The Dames (November 9)

A break for Thanksgiving

And

Sense and Sensibility (November 30^th)