EMPIRE OF LIGHT

Review: Set in an English coastal town in the early 1980s. About a duty manager of a seaside cinema who struggles with her mental health and forms a relationship with a new employee.
Director: Sam Mendes
Actors: Colin Firth, Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Toby Jones, Tom Brooke, Tanya Moodie, Hannah Onslow, Crystal Clarke, Monica Dolan, Ron Cook, Sara Stewart, Justin Edwards, Roman Hayeck-Green, Dougie Boyall and Spike Leighton
Year: 2022
Genre: Drama and Romance
Conclusion: 3/5
Watching this it did remind me of the film Away We Go (2009) in which the two films are both very personal on so many levels. In Empire of Light when Sam Mendes created Olivia Colman’s character he apparently based her on his own mother. One story element that I enjoyed the most was to do with the cinema projection. I thought that this was the strongest story plot of the whole film. There were bits of the story that I didn’t enjoy or felt they didn’t quite go together in the film. I did feel that Sam Mendes was trying to create too much story narrative in the film. I love the cinematography done by the wonderful Roger Deakins. Fantastic cast especially the great Toby Jones. I did think that Colin Firth would be in it a lot more and have more of a leading role. This film reunites Colin Firth with Toby Jones after Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and also reunites Colin Firth with Olivia Colman after Mothering Sunday (2021). Watching this film I almost got the feeling that this is a love letter to cinema and a labour of love from Sam Mendes himself.