Empire of Light (2022)

Empire of Light is the first film that I saw at the cinema in 2023 and part of my ongoing mission to see more films at the cinema. I was a big fan of Sam Mendes as I loved his two Bond films with Skyfall being (in my opinion), the best Bond film ever. I also think that 1917 was a brilliant film that I wanted to see what he would come up with next and its fair to say that Empire of Light is about as different from 1917 as it is possible to get. Empire of Light is about Hilary (Olivia Colman) who gets romantically involved with Stephen (Michael Ward) whilst working in a cinema in the 1980’s. 

The performances in this film are brilliant. The sentence ‘Olivia Colman is really good’ is one that should be expected because I can’t remember the last time I saw her give a bad performance. She comes across as likeable and vulnerable. When she has her breakdown its incredibly sad to watch and it’s because Colman makes you care. Michael Ward is someone that I wasn’t aware of before this film and gives a superb

The cinema is a character and I wanted to spend a lot more time there because the way that it was shot made it feel like it was the sort of cinema that I would want to visit. The cinemas within driving distance of me are nice, clean and comfortable but they never feel like they have a personality. This film shows you how important these cinemas are especially in the post pandemic world.