Film No. 27 (2023) April 20th. 10:40 AM LUNA SX, Cine 4, Fremantle.
"Look around you. This whole place is here for people who want to escape. People who don't belong anywhere else" (Norman, the projectionist expounds his philosophy about the existence of a cinema and more particularly, The Empire).
NOMINEE : Best Achievement in Cinematography (Roger Deakins) The Academy (Oscar). WINNER: Best Production Design, BFDG Award.
There are some negative views circulating about EMPIRE OF LIGHT. I made the mistake of reading a few - it's why it has taken me some weeks to catch it on the big screen. I'm so glad I did. So, so glad!
Sam Mendes has always wanted to tell a very personal story relating to his mother and living with a loved one suffering mental health issues. As a child in the eighties, Sam observed his mum. It was a tumultuous time for him, his mum and his country. He needed to write and direct a film that was going to allow him to better understand this phase of his life. A life where he would escape to the cinema, giving him some separation from the real world and home life.
Olivia Colman is Hilary a duty manager at The Empire Cinema in a large seaside town on the south east coast of England. She is our anchor point to the story which depicts care and friendship, something Hilary needs as she traverses a life of loneliness and bouts of depression. Cinema manager, Mr Ellis (Colin Firth) offers a comfort while using Hilary to satisfy his sexual needs. Hilary sees these visits to his office, while wrong and unsatisfying, as opportunities for intimacy she'll never have in her world, encompassed by a small flat and The Empire.
Enter Stephen, (superbly played by Michael Ward) as a new employee (usher) to The Empire team. He is empathetic, intelligent and black, a breath of fresh-air in Hilary's claustrophobic world. He's always headed for study and a profession but the legitimate care both he and Hilary share for one another massages EMPIRE OF LIGHT into our psyche perfectly.
I'm not sure what Mendes was aiming for precisely. His mum was never a cinema duty manager. There is no depiction of a young boy watching movies. He has however captured a tender story of a time, the eighties, that shaped him, using themes of; racism (a U.K. epidemic at the time), mental health (a misunderstood strand of life), collegial friendship (The Empire crew) and care, leading to hope. Maybe the criticism of Empire of Light relates to the lack of "flesh on the bones" of these themes. I get that, but I was captivated by the convincing tender performances, giving Mendes yet another small triumph. 10GUMS.
No comments:
Post a Comment