I was drawn to Empire of Light for a number of reasons - the cast, mainly Olivia Colman and Toby Jones, the director Sam Mendes and that it's set in a cinema, in the 80s and a lovely old cinema at that!
Finally managed to catch Empire of Light on a very cold Sunday afternoon, after my long run of just over 10 miles. Escaping to the pictures was very much needed!
As the poster says, yes, it's a really lovely film. Performances all fantastic, especially of course from Olivia Colman. She's made for these kind of parts and goes through the full range here - happy, funny, sad, traumatised, elation, depression. Yes, this film takes you to all those places and not just for Olivia's character.
I don't recall seeing Micheal Ward in anything before, from the IMDB he's mainly been in TV, however, his performance was also superb and one to watch in the future definitely.
To be honest I could have watched Toby Jones explain the cinema projectors for a couple of hours and been happy with that! I loved all the old cinema stuff and wish that a box (yes, a box!) of Maltesers was still 20p! The segments in the film about films and cinema really did reach me. Sitting in that dark auditorium in front of the silver screen is one of my favourite places to be and a few tears welled in my eyes. Can you have a tour of a projector room?!
Some reviews have described the film as confused about what it wants to achieve and a few different films in one. I can see that point, but from my perspective it's about the trials and tribulations of a few different people's lives. How are they all connected? By the cinema and their love of films, of course. It certainly drew me in and connected me too. Lovely indeed.
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