Eve 1981, Southern England, the coastal town of Margate, on the coastline of which the Empire cinema rises. Its best days are long gone: only two of the four salons are working, the top floor is “naphthalene”, there are no houses for sale for a long time. But next year, cinema has a chance to breathe new life and return to the status that dictated its gorgeous modernist look: executive Donald (Colin Firth) He was able to negotiate with the distributors of Hugh Hudson’s “Chariots of Fire” to have a regional premiere of the film at “Empire” (even the mayor himself should appear). Maybe the upset manager Hilary will be able to start a new life. (Olivia Kolman) and charming newcomer Steven (Michael Ward of Steve McQueen’s Voice of Change)A touching relationship develops between them.
“These are all for those who want to escape. People who don’t belong anywhere else,” says driver Norman (Toby Jones)He is a heavy smoker who categorically opposes smoking in the hall during the screening because tobacco smoke spoils the perception of the film. He calls movies “the illusion of life,” but it’s a miracle made possible by a flaw in human vision: If you run a still-frame movie fast enough, your eye won’t be able to see the darkness between them. So in “Empire of Light” itself it is impossible to distinguish darkness: this is a surprisingly sensitive and piercingly gentle film about cinema. This is often called a “love letter to the cinema”.
Briton Sam Mendes’ debut as a solo screenwriter would indeed be appropriate to put it in the parlance: He was making history in the midst of a pandemic, when the film industry in general and cinemas in particular seemed to be about to come to a point. end. So in a way, Empire is a two-hour version of the AMC movie chain meme ad, minus Nicole Kidman and sarcasm. Although someone here has a buyer: If desired, the tape could easily be convicted of pretentiousness due to the regularly quoted poem and flashy title. It also copies the title of a series of paradoxical paintings by the surrealist Rene Magritte, featuring night landscapes under the day sky. That said, it’s worth going to the “rotten” section on Rotten Tomatoes for that (the tape has a somewhat surprising 45% freshness there), and this text was written from other desires and thoughts.
So, “Empire of Light” – yes, a love letter to the cinema, but at the same time they try to reflect on their own childhood (from Alfonso Cuaron’s Rome to Steven Spielberg’s Fabelmans). Worried about the fate of cinema during the pandemic, Mendes involuntarily immersed himself in the memories of the period when he discovered cinema, and this situation filmed the cultural and political landscape of England in the early 80s. On the screens – “The Blues Brothers”, “All That Jazz”, “Raging Bull”, on tape recorders – music 2 Tones, on Downing Street – Margaret Thatcher, on the streets – skinheads.
The heroine of Olivia Colman fits some of the features of Mendes’ mother, who also suffers from a mental disorder. And with the character of Michael Ward, who is willing to help him at all costs, it seems the director needs to get to know himself to some degree. On the one hand, happiness is nothing for Hilary. He is used to doing everything for others: after the necessity of duty, he dutifully drags himself to the office of the manager Donald to satisfy him, always smiling at all visitors, despite the fact that he is a cinema worker. let him watch the movie shown there. On the other hand, like any thinking being, it of course has its own desires, and this thirst makes itself felt regularly.
Hillary’s whole life flows in this constant conflict, unity and struggle of opposites (another theme from Magritte, author of the humorous painting “Hegel’s Holiday”): she enrolls in dance lessons, but does not dare to choose a spouse for herself. She is buying dinner at a restaurant with a book in her hand, but as soon as the boss walks in with his wife, a bullet shoots out of the book, she. These contradictions add to his already difficult mental state, which of course does not turn into anything good. Stephen, on the other hand, is well aware of this confusion: he didn’t go to college, so it’s not entirely clear what to do next, especially since Thatcher’s England didn’t fully try to give immigrants from Trinidad ample opportunities for self-realization.
All of this adds up to a soul-recovering story (thanks to the stunningly beautiful magic of cinematographer Roger Deakins and the heartwarming piano ambiance of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross). Yes, cinema too, but in the final analysis, the “empire of light”, it should be considered, is not meant by cinema, but by people – relatives, from whom one can find solace even when appearing. eyes no longer see anything but darkness.