Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: EMPIRE OF LIGHT [New Orleans Film Festival 2022 - New Orleans, Louisiana]
The context of movies and their reflection of time and society is not an unknown possibility. Director Sam Mendes for years has draped his films in this kind of perspective from "American Beauty" to "Road To Perdition" and even "Skyfall". "Empire Of Light", his newest entry, comes off as a more personal film that again lets Olivia Colman spread her wings with a character whose point of view is sometimes unclear but the pinpoint accuracy of her performance is not. The theater itself featured in the movie is a character and the workers that inhabit it are just tenants for a time. Some of the wonder when Colman's Hilary Smalls takes newbie Stephen (Michael Ward) up to the now abandoned penthouse where grand movie parties used to be done in the past, plays to a certain idea. The movie is set in the 1980s on the South Coast of England.
While the aspect of racism plays heavily (there obviously seems to be a historical context inferred), this does not take away Stephen's love of movies and one specific sequence when the projectionist (played with a light touch by Toby Jones) keys into Stephen's (and Mendes') love of film. But "Empire Of Light" is primarily the story of Hilary Smalls and her journey. Alot of it is left to mystery and inference which is both a little maddening and also part of the film's charm. Colman plays it from quiet to the hilt. One scene with her in her apartment is mesmerizing but not modulated as much as the rest of the film. Colin Firth plays Colman's opportunistic boss in only the way Firth can. After "The Staircase", he is seemingly integrating with less likable characters but Small's journey is cyclical like many which is the point. Mendes plays the plot almost dreamlike so the pace is obviously slowed way down which might not be as engaging for audiences. However, this likely resonates seemingly more personally for him. B
By Tim Wassberg
