Review: Empire of Light

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Set in a coastal town in England during the 1980's, Hilary (Olivia Colman) works at the Empire theater, but has little joy in it. She's on new medication for her mental illness, she's having an emotionless affair with her boss, Mr. Ellis (Colin Firth) and she just doesn't see the beauty in movies. They're for the customers. Then a new hire, Stephen (Michael Ward) comes along and changes her life drastically. 

There's that saying "Don't quit your day job" and Director Sam Mendes should never stop directing. I'm always interested in this films, but after viewing this...maybe screenplays aren't his thing. This movie is kind of a mess story wise. All the trailers have you believe it's about the magic of cinema. They all have that long Toby Jones voice over in the projection booth and that lovely shot of Olivia Colman in a theater all by herself, but none of that is actually the focus of Empire of Light. 

Maybe it wanted to be about that, but the film also attempts to tackle racism and mental illness. I say "attempts" because it shifts perspectives in a way that never allows the film to fully commit to either. Especially tackling race. Stephen suffers greatly from it, but it's used more as a catalyst for Hilary than anything which made me quite uncomfortable. 

And it's a shame the screenplay is so weak because everything else works so well. Roger Deakins' cinematography is always perfect. This is easily one of the best shot films of the year. Olivia Colman gives an outstanding performance and runs the full range of emotions and she deserves a better movie. Michael Ward does too. Stephen is the light of this film really, and he has to stay happy yet stoic throughout. It's a very layered performance that again, deserves a better movie.

I feel like I'm quite generous with the rating despite its screenplay problem because of how well some of the other things work.

B-

Comments

  1. BirgitDecember 19, 2022 at 11:06 AM

    I love Olivia Colman snd this looks good to me. It looks to me like a romance film with other issues attached. Now I know the issues

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 20, 2022 at 9:49 AM

      The romance is a head scratcher too. It's very rushed, then kind of dropped.

      Delete
  2. ruthDecember 19, 2022 at 3:36 PM

    So we end up feeling the same about the screenplay. I gave it a much lower rating as I find the whole thing so insincere despite the good performances. But yeah, Roger Deakins' cinematography is always perfect!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 20, 2022 at 9:49 AM

      I probably should have rated it lower but the cinematography was so good lol

      Delete
  3. thevoid99December 19, 2022 at 6:50 PM

    I read the script is a total mess as it wants to be a lot of things but never finds its center. Shame considering the amount of talent in and behind the camera that is involved including Roger Deakins and NIN.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 20, 2022 at 9:49 AM

      It really is. It wants to talk about so many things and mendes is not equipt to deal with it all.

      Delete
  4. AnonymousDecember 20, 2022 at 1:22 PM

    I wanted to love this so much. I think if Mendes had settled on a couple of storylines and themes (instead of five or six) that this could have been really good.

    ReplyDelete

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