Well... there is certainly some artistic merit here. There are times when black and white works and it does here (in combination with the out of focus and grainy shots). There are times when a narrow frame works too, and I expected to bring up A Ghost Story and how that uses it to greater effect than this but by the end I was happily sold and do not feel the need to compare. 

Besides Pattinson’s wack accent, I thought both his and Dafoe’s work to be outstanding. So much craziness in just their eyes. And the way the two of them (and Eggers) played the direction of their gaze and their stature with the camera angles was fun, giving the film a directional intensity that never ends.

But, you can’t have a great movie without at least a good script. And I’m not sure what the hell I just watched. I fully leave open the possibility that I do/did not have the analytical capacity to appreciate the plot (I’m avoiding “message” or “meaning” here intentionally), but I just don’t think it was a very good one. It was a great set-up and a pretty mediocre finish that I think will end up being forgettable for me. Forgettable because I can’t really appreciate something if I don’t know in the slightest what the something is.