Premise: Two people working at a movie theater in 1981 southern England form a bond and navigate their assorted hardships.
Empire of Light didn’t make enough of an impression on me to want to say much about it. It’s two ill-fitting stories put together inside the nostalgia of old movie houses in the 1980s. Both the story of Hilary (Olivia Colman) coping with her mental illness and Stephen (Michael Ward) dealing with racism is Southern England are clumsily inserted into the movie. You could name the scenes in the movie dealing with those stories even before you see it. Nothing revolutionary there, and it doesn’t go into either deep enough to really work.
Where the movie sings is the relationship between Hilary and Stephen. Even without the romantic aspect, I love stories of two unlikely friends positively impacting each others’ lives. And I love that it is all centered around the beautiful old movie house they work at. I get the sense that that is what Sam Mendes connected with the most in this. Even back in 1980, the theater had seen better days. The industry has always been a work in progress in that way.
The less Empire of Light tries to do, the better it is. Unfortunately, it tries to do a lot.
Verdict: Weakly Don’t Recommend
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