Michael Ward and Olivia Colman
(Picture: Handout)Cinema is dying. In a post-pandemic world, streaming reigns supreme and fewer and fewer people feel inclined to put “bums in seats” when a smorgasbord of content is available right at home on a multitude of platforms. In early September Cineworld, the world’s second-largest chain of movie theatres filed for bankruptcy and now its fate hangs precariously in the balance. To dedicated filmmakers and movie-goers, this presents an ever-looming existential threat of losing one of the last communal spaces we can go to appreciate the art form.
Sam Mendes is the latest in a long line of auteurs that include Kenneth Branagh (Belfast), Alejandro G Iñárritu (Bardo) and Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans) doing everything in their power to jumpstart a medium that is on the point of flatlining.
