Empire of Light: Film Review
The name Sam Mendes holds a certain cache, so I go into his films expecting great things but honestly, I didn’t go much on Empire of Light at all.
The film is set in the Empire cinema in the Kent seaside town of Margate in the early ’80s. It tells the story of deputy manager Hilary (Olivia Colman), a lonely woman with mental health concerns, and the bond she forms with a new employee, a young Black man named Stephen (Micheal Ward).
The movie is let down by the weak screenplay. I had no idea what this drama was about; I assumed it was a simple love letter to cinema, but that’s only a very small part of it. Mendes took on big themes – mental health and race – and possibly more than he could chew. You could tell that he was in over his head because those issues weren’t handled with as much sensitivity and nuance as they should have been.
I was quite surprised by the direction it went in and that’s probably because I didn’t fully understand the characters or believe some of their decisions. And that’s all down to the writing – these two aren’t fully realised people. There were also a few missed opportunities where the scene needed to have a more impactful or meaningful sentence or exchange but it doesn’t. It’s infuriating because so much more could have been made with this setup in subtler hands.
The cinematography and the work of good old Roger Deakins cannot be faulted though. I grew up visiting Margate and know the town very well so it made me smile seeing it on the big screen, with the familiar seafront transformed to its 80s glory (although I spotted some modern traffic lights!) I have no issue with the visuals, or how Mendes paid homage to classic films, old-school cinemas and traditional projection techniques.
We all know that Colman is brilliant and she certainly gives the character her all, but a performance can only go so far when the writing isn’t up to par. I didn’t know Ward’s work and I’ll keep an eye out for him in the future because he gave a considered performance. Toby Jones is brilliant in a small role as the cinema’s projectionist Norman and Colin Firth plays against type as their awful boss Donald Ellis.
There’s a reason why Empire of Light hasn’t been uttered much in awards season conversations – it is bland, confused and the characters don’t ring true.
In cinemas from Monday 9th January and on Disney+ from 1st March