Within the subgenre, or let’s call it Genre, so, with a capital letter, called love letter to the cinema, light empire and how The Fabelmans, by Steven Spielberg, the most recent update. It’s a movie about going to the movies, not streaming movies. yes when they saw Paradise cinema they cried, this is their film.
Sam Mendes first directed his own solo script (the previous one he co-wrote was 1917). Academy Award-winning director for american beautyand also director of sky fall, arranges for much of the shooting of his new film to take place in a theater. The protagonists are people from that complex, the Empire.
Mendes imagined, in the midst of the coronavirus lockdown pandemic and with cinemas closed, a story in which one secluded himself in a welcoming environment: a cinema, with art deco doors, and more than telling what one feels when watching films, sharing that space with unknown people, he chose to tell what those who work there live.
The manager Hilary (Olivia Colmann), who does everything from selling tickets to candy to cleaning the venue, surly manager Ellis (Colin Firth), projector Norman (Toby Jones), and assistants Neil (Tom Brooke) and Janine (Hannah Onslow).
Hilary lives alone and returns to work in films after suffering a silent collapse. It is 1981 and the Empire, in the coastal region of Margate, well east of London, is surviving as best it can. The recession is plaguing Britain – the complex has had to close two of the four cinemas it had, as well as the pigeon-infested upstairs bar – as much as racism.
A new employee arrives, Stephen (Micheal Ward), a young black man with other life and college interests, with whom the older Hilary strikes an instant affinity. Although she prefers to hide and hide it.
touching moments
Yes, light empireFor those of us who enjoy going to the movies, it’s a wonderful experience. Perhaps, more than the narrative thread of the film, what fascinates or seduces us is the set of moving moments that Mendes gives us.
From the anecdotes of the ushers to a certain final revelation of the projector (when Stephen enters his projection booth, which everyone was closed to, is perhaps the most emotional moment), the love story between Hilary and Stephen, with looks and tremors . Preparing for the premiere of chariots of fire -a separate sequence-.
It is also an acting film, in which all the performers are very good. Obviously Olivia Colman (The favourite, The crown, the dark daughter, The father) steals the show from this romantically frustrated character, who knows how to save from any cliché.
The film is beautifully lit by Roger Deakins (73), the Coen brothers’ favorite cinematographer, who with this film has his deserved… 16 Oscar nominations, an award he has won twice so far, for 1917yes, by Sam Mendes, e Blade Runner 2049.
Mendes chooses the Empire as a sounding board for racial issues and also for mental health, but I insist, what prevails is the love of cinema, and to watch movies at the cinema. What nothing can change.
“Empire of Light”
Romantic drama. UK/US, 2022. Original title: Empire of Light”. 115′, SA 13. From: Sam Mendes. With: Olivia Colman, Michael Ward, Colin Firth, Toby Jones. Rooms: Showcase Belgrano and Norcenter, Cinépolis Recoleta and Houssay, Cinemark Palermo, Hoyts Unicenter.
Source: Clarin
