Empire of Light: As colourful as it is confused. ⭐⭐1/2

By Rob Ryan

Empire of Light is the new film from Sam Mendes, a former west-end director who in the past 20+ years has had one of the most assured directing careers in Holywood, from his debut winning best picture to working on two Bond movies. His previous film, the WWI epic 1917 which I found to be a solid piece of work also garnered him another oscar nomination for best director.

Now he's back with a new project with one significant difference as he is solo on the script and directing chair. Most of his projects have been penned by other scriptwriters and 1917 saw him write with Kirsty Wilson Carnis, and that disconnect is very apparent when you sit and view a very beautiful-looking but very vapid movie that has no idea what it want's to be or what it wants to say.

Let's wind back, the story is set in the British coastal town of Margate in the early 80s. We follow Hillary (Olivia Coleman) a middle-aged assistant manager at the (now defunct) Empire cinema who is going through a deep depression after only recently being released from the hospital, We see her going about her mundane schedule which only reduces her to numbness, from opening up the venue to a chat here and there to her fellow employees and occasional sexual favour from her boss and duty manager (Colin Firth). She is clearly lonely and running on autopilot until one day a new employee is introduced to the staff.

He is Stephen (Michael Ward) a young black man who wins the approval and friendship of the staff due to his charismatic nature as well as his willingness to learn, It doesn't take too long for Hillary to completely fall for him after the two make a connection which then blossoms (if you can even call it that) to a romance (if you could even call it that as well) when Hillary kisses him on the roof during New Year's. The two frequently start hooking up on the abandoned top floor of the cinema but when he starts to realise that maybe this might not be a good idea, Hillary's mental health slowly starts to deteriorate with unpredictable results.

The film opens with promise during the first 20 minutes but as the whole relationship between these two characters starts to develop the movie losses its footing and can't really decide on what the choices these characters make mean for them. There is such a lack of clarity with regard to how any of these characters think or feel about their affair or even their friendship, It doesn't help that the movie doesn't seem interested in addressing the power dynamics at play here, Such as Hillary being a higher status in the workplace compared to Stephen as well as Hillary being an older woman and Stephen seemingly not being any older than early 20s.

Worse still, there isn't any gradual buildup to their friendship becoming more or even Stephen deciding to break it off. Why are they having sex? Why does Hillary like him so much? is it because he's such a nice guy? Why does Stephen decide to break it off? is it because he's realised that an affair with an older woman at his age is not the ideal situation to be in? Or has he come to realise the moral and ethical implications of having sex with a woman who is mentally unwell?

I'm not saying that you can't be subtle and unspoken, you can convey so much with so little with just the right presentation, One of the best movies of the year Aftersun about a man taking his daughter on a Holiday to Turkey is a very quiet film where much can be deciphered from just a few facial expressions and the right amount of dialogue but when the film wants to deal with subject matters as such as affairs with massive age gaps in such a tentative way and in a way where the characters don't get room to explore these feelings internally, we are missing any sort of emotional and empathetic connection to these people that would make us like or understand them in any meaningful way.

This is also true when the film tries to venture its fingers into other difficult territories, not only with regards to Hillary's mental condition but Stephen's experience with racism during the early days of Thather's rule and skinheads becoming more widespread. This element of the film feels very tact on and incredibly bare-bones. One scene, in particular, is when Stephen walks out after being intimidated by a customer (Ron Cook) who wants to eat his chips in the cinema, when Hillary attempts to comfort him, he lectures her about recent happenings in terms of racial hate crimes, which just feels like Sam Mendes listing off a bunch of event's that had happened that he read from Wikipedia.

It doesn't help that we don't get much room to explore his life outside of work nor is he a very fleshed-out character in spite of Ward giving a solid and likeable performance, this is probably down to the fact that most of the second half is focused on Hillary but even then we are given very little detail about what led her being this way in spite of Coleman giving it her all and being a perfect mixture of sweet and tender one minute to being intense and captivating next. Is her wanting to be with Stephen a product of her mental health and loneliness? if so how why not have her learn to value herself regardless of finding an attractive young man to save her? If you want to explore these subjects at least go all the way with it but the end result is a film that feels like it's walking on eggshells.

Yet I wasn't bored as I was watching this. As listed before Empire of Light is one of the most beautifully produced movies I've seen in a while, the cinematography from Roger Deakins is a feast for the eyes. especially scenes involving night, the production design from Mark Tildesley beautifully and effortlessly replicates 80s Margate and the music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is one of the most comforting scores I've listed too in a long time, better conveying the feelings of the characters then what the screenplay can offer. which is ultimately the biggest failing of the film, by the end, I was left feeling impartial and with nothing to go by in terms of messages or general points that Mendes was trying to make. The movie is well-made and acted but leaves little to be desired beyond the surface.