A drama about the power of human connection during turbulent times, set in an English coastal town in the early 1980s.
The opening scene of Sam Mendes’ latest film, “Empire of Light,” already had me remembering my childhood. The movie takes place in Margate, an English coastal town in the early 1980s, and that is when I grew up, albeit across the water in Ireland, but England and Ireland shared the same candies and sweets. As Olivia Colman’s character, Hilary, the manager of the Empire Cinema, is preparing the cinema for opening, she fixes the sweets stand, and so many of their names came flooding back to me; Fruit Gums, Cadbury’s Brazil Nut, Minstrels, Poppets, Fizzy Lemmons, and Tooty Frooties, to name but a few. They were the sweets my friends and I would buy when we would make our way to the local cinema, so already Sam Mendes had me hooked.
The other aspect was the old cinema itself. Unlike the multiplexes that pop up almost overnight here in the US and have no personalities, the cinemas in England and Ireland that were operational throughout the 1970s and 1980s were built for one purpose; to watch movies. Unlike the multiscreen theaters of today, filled with TV screens, video arcades, and touch-screen soda fountains that can distribute whatever sort of drink you want, the cinemas of old had a ticket kiosk out front. Then inside, you had an old-fashioned confectionery counter where you ordered your popcorn, sweets, and drinks and then made your way into the auditorium. No stadium seating here, just rows of seats and no drinks holders; the floor was the final resting place for your food and beverages.
All of this in the first 10 minutes brought back many recollections from my childhood and what great memories they were. The film also delves into the magic of movies and how many people use them to escape their day-to-day obstacles and challenges. As the Empire Cinema opens up, we are introduced to the characters we will interact with for the next two hours. We slowly learn that Hilary, the middle-aged cinema manager, has been battling mental health issues for a long time and is a loner, keeping to herself, especially at work. When Stephen (Micheal Ward), a young black man, is hired, they form an almost immediate kinship that eventually leads to a clandestine love affair. Soon after that, Hilary succumbs to abnormal behavior and unpredictable agitation and is admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
Upon her eventual release, those around her have moved on, and she reverts to being a loner once more. As Stephen tries to break through the walls she has built up around herself, he must also deal with the surge in racism throughout England, especially after the 1981 Brixton riot and the New Cross house fire incident. After a group of skinheads attacks Stephen in the cinema, he decides it is time for him to leave town, once and for all, leaving his mother and Hilary behind. Now Hilary must learn to live again without the one person who helped her through one of her darkest and most destructive periods.
We learn early on that Hilary has Schizophrenia, and we see her taking her meds every day, but once she begins the relationship with Stephen, because she feels elated when they are together, she stops taking her medications, which is when her life begins to unravel. While the two are at the beach together, they get caught up in conversation, Stephen telling her about a girl he liked in school who broke his heart, but when he asks her about her past loves, she immediately goes berserk, claiming that all the men in her life have treated her poorly and starts thrashing the sand castles they built together. At this point, he has no idea what is going on, but when he learns of her condition, he is filled with compassion for her.
Sam Mendes has made a lot of eclectic movies; “American Beauty,” “Road to Perdition,” “Revolutionary Road,” “1917,” and the two James Bond movies, “Skyfall” and “Spectre.” He is a filmmaker who is not afraid to tackle whatever subject matter he chooses to go after, and “Empire of Light” is vastly different from his previous efforts, but he always leaves a distinct impression when the closing credits begin to roll. Here, instead of wrapping up the film with a pessimistic conclusion or a Hollywoodized happy ending, he achieves an excellent middle ground, a more realistic outcome that, while plausible, still administers a sense of loss and dolefulness that we have all experienced at some point in our lives.
Olivia Colman is breathtaking; she encapsulates a woman who, on the outside, appears to have everything under control but, internally, struggles to keep her head above water. Wanting so much from life but afraid to go after it, she is relegated to masturbating her sleazy boss Donald (Colin Firth in top form), or performing oral sex on him in his office whenever he’s in the mood. You can almost smell the pungent odor of cigarette butts that line his office ashtray, and when she finally snaps and scolds him in front of everyone, including his wife, it is a great feeling because he finally gets what he deserves. The rest of the cast is exemplary, and that’s where Mendes’ true talent lies; extracting terrific performances from his stars but giving his supporting actors individual moments to shine. As an ensemble, they are all near perfect. “Empire of Light” is a wonderfully touching story about the power of compassion and charity and will stay with you long after the film has ended.
In Select Theaters Friday, December 9th
