Review: Empire Of Light

It's odd seeing a Sam Mendes film not being as heavily marketed as virtually all of his other films.

This seemed a lot more grounded and smaller in stakes with a lot of a personal touch.

The setting of a grand old cinema in a seaside town felt naturally appealing. Also with some amazing choices in casting, there was already a lot for me to draw me in.

The imagery just took me back to a previous life of working in a cinema, so the sequences shown felt very relatable and highly engaged.

But with it being set in the early 1980's, the addition of notable events at that time was coming into play. It did move the story into places I was not expecting. However, there were some aspects from the previous act that kept it moving along.

I'm not sure if the final act was satisfying. By this time, there is a lot it is trying to say and I'm not sure if everything worked.

Casting is solid on the whole. Obviously the star is Olivia Colman. Her talent is unmatched and we get a surprisingly troubled character where we witness polarising emotions from her.

Her chemistry with promising youngster Michael Ward felt natural and believable. Ward by himself felt caring in his execution and easily likable. I have never seen him in anything else. But I enjoyed what he gave to this and he deserves more projects of this calibre.

It was interesting seeing Colin Firth in a more antagonising character and of course Toby Jones always gives us some comfort in his performance.

The cinematography is by the iconic Roger Deakins. So as expected, it's really well shot and gives the whole film a mystical quality to its imagery. I think what made it effective was that it was never showy and made even the simplest of shots seem beautiful.

The same is said for composer's Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Their style of being unknowingly impactful worked well with this story.

I think even with the doubts I had with the second half, this was a pretty good watch on the whole. It covers topics such as the power of community and the influence music and film going experience have on us. When it comes to its intimate, more caring and simpler moments, it really works. There is a quiet magic that you can't take your eyes off.

But it also trying to cover a lot of moments that were topical around that time, and not all of them were pulled off. It's trying to be too much. It has its moments. But it doesn't quite fully focus on them to be justified on being in this film and almost becomes disjointed.

I think it's worth seeing at the cinema. But I think I can see doing better business on streaming. I know there are some people losing interest in films being made about films and them being marketed in a way that they are expecting you to like it as we are coming into awards season. But I hope this is enjoyed what it is.

Rating: 7/10