Movie Review: Empire of Light

Even though it may feel like an over-the-top lesson on the dangers of unchecked mental illness, there is a beauty and poignancy within the frames of Empire of Light, the new film from Academy Award®-winning director Sam Mendes, that transcends the typical constraints of this ilk and elevates it to something akin to a cathartic experience.

The film takes place mainly in an old cinema in a coastal town in England in the early 1980s and follows Hilary (Olivia Colman) as she struggles with her mental health and her various duties as a manager at the cinema. When a new employee, Stephen (Micheal Ward), joins the theater staff, a surprising and powerful relationship develops between Hilary and Stephen that strains each of them in their own way with regards to the reality of their times.

Writer/director Sam Mendes is on top of his game with the nuanced shadows and interplay between the machinations of cinema and the operation of the theater amidst the complex interpersonal dynamics between the staff that seems to operate more like a dysfunctional family than anything else. There is a subtle beauty to the way the majesty of the old movie house is portrayed, and Mendes treats it as though it is a character unto itself, which makes everything set within even more affecting.

Cinematography courtesy of Roger Deakins beautifully captures the production design of Mark Tildesley and gives the theater an ethereal quality that, again, allows it to inhabit the film as the largest supporting character in recent memory.

While Colin Firth’s portrayal of Mr. Ellis, the cinema’s manager, plays out as the pseudo-villain of the story, Norman (Toby Jones) takes on the guise of a spiritual guide of sorts and directs the events toward a cathartic conclusion. But it is Colman’s work as Hilary that shoulders the emotional weight of the film and allows it to materialize into something quite rewarding.

Sam Mendes has long been a filmmaker who successfully delivers an emotional experience with almost every endeavor, and Empire of Light is no exception. There is a resonance after the film ends that rings true in a very profound and satisfying manner.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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