Olivia Colman plays the manager of a movie theater in Sam Mendes’ new film “ Empire of Light .” It’s a cinema palace in a small town on England’s south coast that is showing its age.
There is an overwhelming melancholy to the whole endeavor, which is handsomely shot by Roger Deakins and feels like a farewell to something. Mendes, who also wrote the script, was inspired by a pivotal era in his own life. “Empire of Light” is set in the early days of Margaret Thatcher’s run as Prime Minister, when the culture in the country seemed to be fracturing in some ways, with increased violence and racism juxtaposed with some extraordinary art and music. He was a teenager at the time.
But this isn’t “The Fabelmans” or “Armageddon Time.” Mendes has not made his teenage self the protagonist, but instead a woman in middle age who is suffering from mental health issues, and a magnetic younger Black man, Stephen , who far too smart and vibrant for this provincial town. Hilary and Stephen become friends, then lovers, but, you know, it’s complicated and the film is a bit meandering in getting where it’s going.
“Empire of Light,” a Searchlight Pictures release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “sexual content, language and brief violence.” Running time: 119 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
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