Olivia Colman plays the manager of a movie theater in Sam Mendes鈥� new film 鈥� .鈥� It鈥檚 a cinema palace in a small town on England鈥檚 south coast that is showing its age. The once grand establishment used to play films on multiple screens on multiple floors. The top floor even had a large ballroom area, a piano, a stately bar and booth-style seating next to large windows looking out onto the sea. Going to the movies here, you imagine, must have been an occasion worth dressing up for. But now it鈥檚 just gathering dust and providing shelter to the local pigeons.
This is not a movie about people watching movies, however. Not literally at least. There is a wistful monologue about how projection works, from Toby Jones, and another about how the movies can be an escape and, of course, it鈥檚 all building to something. But movies are mostly just the glamorous backdrop to a dreary workplace. 鈥淓mpire of Light鈥� is instead about a few people who make the movie theaters run, who take the tickets and sweep the popcorn and other disgusting items people leave on the floors and seats.
Colman鈥檚 character, Hilary, doesn鈥檛 even watch the movies herself. Those, she explains with all the passion of a customer service representative working an overnight shift, are for the patrons. It鈥檚 unclear if she鈥檚 always been this way, or if it鈥檚 the lithium the doctor has prescribed her to take to regulate her moods, but her life is going through the motions, whether it鈥檚 setting up the sweets stand or going into the back room with her lecherous, married boss (played, upsettingly well, by Colin Firth).
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. 鈥淓mpire of Light鈥� is set in the early days of Margaret Thatcher鈥檚 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鈥檛 鈥淭he Fabelmans鈥� or 鈥淎rmageddon Time.鈥� 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 (an excellent showcase for Michael Ward), who far too smart and vibrant for this provincial town. Hilary and Stephen become friends, then lovers, but, you know, it鈥檚 complicated and the film is a bit meandering in getting where it鈥檚 going.
You have to respect Mendes and all of these masters of their craft, from Deakins to composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, for banding together for 鈥淓mpire of Light,鈥� which, even for the guy who made 鈥淪kyfall,鈥� seems like an improbable film to get made: Original, quiet, elegant. But 鈥淓mpire of Light鈥� is also easy to admire but difficult to love. Though Colman is always wonderful, Hilary still feels like a bit of an enigma. I鈥檓 not even sure what I鈥檓 supposed to want for her aside from better mental health care, which is probably not going to come in the form of stepping in the cinema, though it鈥檚 a romantic thought.
鈥淓mpire of Light鈥� may be a love letter to the movies, but it鈥檚 a sad one in which one of the parties, the local, independent movie theater, is fading away and possibly already gone.
鈥淓mpire of Light,鈥� a Searchlight Pictures release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for 鈥渟exual content, language and brief violence.鈥� Running time: 119 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
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MPA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
