Empire of Light

The movie "Empire of Light" is filled with metaphors about human relationships. Writer and director Sam Mendes does a beautiful and sensitive job of bringing two socially marginalized individuals together through the art of film, music, and poetry.

Hilary (Olivia Colman), a movie theater manager is suffering from mental illness and Stephen (Micheal Ward), a movie theater helper is suffering racial discrimination in the community. Two worlds apart that together manage to understand each other's pain.

Olivia Colman's interpretation is once again absolutely perfect, she manages to convey all the pain of her character without uttering a word, only through her body language.

A beautiful soundtrack that helps enhance the mood of the movie.

...Well... at least that's what could have been. When the movie opens and sets us back into the late 70s and early 80s, seeing a classic cinema, with some craftsmanship behind it, that we forgot how to appreciate. With beautiful cinematography and lighting, this really makes you melancholic... that's the good part...

Unfortunately I checked my watch so many times during this movie, wondering when it would finally reach the 2h mark and therefore the end. It's easily 30mins to long and while it has a VERY important message that is still relevant today unfortunately, it somehow get's lost in its own melancholia, but not in a Lars von Trier way, just in "are we there yet?" way.

While it surely has its beautiful moments and lovely dialogues along the way, it did only drag me in for about 2, 3 mins and had me lost in the other scenes for some reason. It feels like this movie wants to be to many things at the same time and can't decide where to put its focus point.

Empire of Light is such a beautiful piece of cinema, oozing class, poignancy and power.

The story follows Olivia Coleman's Hilary, who forms an unlikely bond with Micheal Ward's Stephen whilst working together at the Empire cinema in Margate.

This style of story is right up my street. A mismatched pair who find solace and comfort in each other. It is beautifully done and packs in so many themes and different angles. I do think that some of the themes are dealt with in a bit of a ham-fisted way, and a bit more refinement would have been welcome but this is a relatively minor criticism. On the whole the story is very well crafted.

The performances are top notch. Olivia Colman really shines and is pushed to the limit by the layers of her character. Micheal Ward is a more than worthy opposite for her with a great leading performance.

With the cinematography in the hands of Roger Deakins the film was always going to be a visual treat. There is a melancholic majesty to the cinema set that Deakins captures which is gorgeous. As always he photographs the characters with such sympathy and feeling.

To top it all off the soundtrack perfectly compliments the themes of the film and brings even more emotion to the piece.

I'm surprised this film isn't getting more love as it really blew me away and has so much power and emotion to it. Empire of Light is a real triumph in my opinion.

Writer/Director Sam Mendes has made some good movies, and his recent "Empire of Light" is now amongst them. This is a multi-faceted drama that seems to take on maybe too large a scope in some ways, but that's a small quibble to what's good in the movie, which is its core focus to love, romance, and friendship between the main characters. Set in England during the 80s, the movie has a great look about it that reflects the past marvelously without focusing too much on it. Its an enhancement. There's also much reflection on time and space in a cyclical way, being older and younger, accomplishments and regrets to name a couple. Michael Ward has star written in bright lights - Mendes and he create an 'Old-Soul' character. I liked the movie with nice accompanying soundtrack. 7/10.

If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free thoughts, please follow my blog to read my full review :)

"Empire of Light works best as a love letter to the art of filmmaking and the theater experience. Brilliant performances. Astonishing to behold. Emotional to listen to - score is the technical highlight. Not so captivating narratively, considering that Sam Mendes' first solo script lacks depth in the most important themes.

It's a beautiful tribute to the magic of cinema that cinephiles will enjoy, but for viewers less passionate about the 7th art, it might be difficult to genuinely care."

Rating: B-