Empire of Light (Digital) review

[David Vaughn]

Studio: Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: February 7, 2023 (Digital), February 21, 2023 (Physical)
Rating: R
Film: 3/5
 
Plot
From director and writer Sam Mendes (“1917” and “Skyfall”), “Empire of Light” is a moving drama about the power of human connection during turbulent times. Set in and around a faded old cinema in an English coastal town in the early 1980s, it follows Hilary (Olivia Colman), a cinema manager struggling with her mental health, and Stephen (Micheal Ward), a new employee who longs to escape this provincial town in which he faces daily adversity. Both Hilary and Stephen find a sense of belonging through their unlikely and tender relationship and come to experience the healing power of music, cinema, and community.
 
My Thoughts
My wife and I sat down to watch this knowing nothing about the production but generally liking Olivia Colman’s work as an actress. The first act is quite slow—in fact, the movie as a whole is somewhat slow, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s a character study of how people cope with life’s struggles in their own way, and sometimes those ways are destructive.
 
At the end of the film, both of us felt entertained, but also somewhat depressed by what we just witnessed. There is a message in the film about the escapism that films off us, and I wholeheartedly agree with this as an avid movie watcher. It’s nice just to get away from the troubles that real life offers and go someplace else for two hours (or these days, sometimes nearly three!).
 

 
 
Conclusion
Both Searchlight and Disney aren’t sending out review discs, but just review digital codes. I will say that that video encodes have come a very long way the past few years and I’d be hard-pressed to notice the difference between Blu-ray and this HD feed from Movies Anywhere (via NVidia Shield Pro). Generally, it’s the audio that I can notice a major difference in, but on dramas such as this, the audio is secondary to the story, so I don’t feel I missed out on anything. Mendes is a very good director and while this isn’t his greatest movie, the performances are very good and it does have a compelling message.
 
 
Reference Review System:
JVC DLA-RS2000 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
(Calibrated with Portrait Displays CalMAN color calibration software & C6-HDR Meter from Portrait Displays)
Stewart Filmscreen - Firehawk 110” Scope Screen
Trinnov Altitude 16 Audio/Video Processor
ATI AT527NC Powering Bed Channels
ATI AT524NC Powering Atmos Speakers
Panasonic DP-UB820 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
System Controller: URC MX-990
M&K S-150 THX Ultra (R-C-L Speakers)
M&K SS-150 x4 (Surround Speakers)
Atlantic Technology IC6-OBA x 4 Overhead Speakers
SVS PC-Ultra Cylinder Subwoofer
HSU VTF-15H MK2 Subwoofer
SVS SB-3000
Mini DSP HD controlling all subwoofers
Audioquest and Monoprice - Audio/Video/Speaker Cabling
PureAV PF60 Power Conditioner

[SRW1000]

Just watched this one as a rare mid-Sunday matinee feature, and I largely agree with your review.

Colman’s performance was the highlight, with a brutally honest, compelling, and powerful portrayal of her character.  How this was overlooked by the Oscars remains a mystery. 

The other standout was Roger Deakin’s cinematography and the production values.  One could practically smell the interior of the theater, and the rich red and gold colors bring back the sense of grandeur that those old theaters had, in contrast to the drab, cold lifelessness of the rising multiplexes.  The film contrasts those bold grand colors with the dull, unkept rooms behind the scenes of the theater, supporting one of the movie’s themes.

Where it didn’t work for me was the script.  Lacking in subtilty, the heavy-handedness of the script really pulled me out of the movie.  While the message regarding escapism was there, I was hoping for it to be a bigger part of the story. 

It's tempting compare this with Babylon, which has a similar message at the end, but Babylon’s epilog was much more compelling and satisfactory of the two.

Empire of Light was worth the watch but won’t make it to our collection.

Scott

[David Vaughn]

Just watched this one as a rare mid-Sunday matinee feature, and I largely agree with your review.

Colman’s performance was the highlight, with a brutally honest, compelling, and powerful portrayal of her character.  How this was overlooked by the Oscars remains a mystery. 

The other standout was Roger Deakin’s cinematography and the production values.  One could practically smell the interior of the theater, and the rich red and gold colors bring back the sense of grandeur that those old theaters had, in contrast to the drab, cold lifelessness of the rising multiplexes.  The film contrasts those bold grand colors with the dull, unkept rooms behind the scenes of the theater, supporting one of the movie’s themes.

Where it didn’t work for me was the script.  Lacking in subtilty, the heavy-handedness of the script really pulled me out of the movie.  While the message regarding escapism was there, I was hoping for it to be a bigger part of the story.

It's tempting compare this with Babylon, which has a similar message at the end, but Babylon’s epilog was much more compelling and satisfactory of the two.

Empire of Light was worth the watch but won’t make it to our collection.

Scott

Thanks for chiming in Scott. It is a bit in your face, so to speak, and I agree that the cinematography was excellent.