From its first moments, in which an employee played by Olivia Colman opens the grand, golden Empire cinema for the day, "Empire of Light" feels like a love letter to the experience of moviegoing.
Although Colman's Hilary never actually has time to watch movies, "Empire" is filled with the kinds of things designed to make a cinephile's heart race. The projectionist, delicately played by Toby Jones, gets a heartfelt monologue in which he describes the magic by which the characters in movies appear to move. The climax occurs when the Empire is chosen to host a premiere of "Chariots of Fire" (the movie is set in coastal England in the early 1980s). Cinematographer Roger Deakins photographs the Empire so that it looks like a burnished Edward Hopper painting, all rich colors, shafts of light and loneliness. And there's even a secret theater within the theater, with dazzling midcentury architecture and spectacular Atlantic Ocean views.
Especially in an era when movie theaters are struggling, that stuff is irresistible. But you may have noticed that none of it sounds much like plot. "Empire," written and directed by Sam Mendes ("1917"), sounds like a British take on "Cinema Paradiso" but there's quite a bit more to it.
It's also a halting romance between Hilary and Stephen, a new employee played by Micheal Ward, and an attempt to show that both of those characters have woes that a couple of hours in the cineplex can't help them deal with. It gets to be a bit much, especially when "Empire" bumps up against the racism experienced by Ward's (Black) character in scenes that feel simultaneously too blunt and too reticent.
Mendes seems to have been unsure which of several movies to make and, when he tries to sum up the film with Colman reciting a (lovely, to be sure) Philip Larkin poem, you may wonder if he's really all that crazy about moving images. There are so many reasons why the central romance might not work — age difference, the racism that surrounds the couple, her mental illness, his ambitions, secrets they're keeping from each other — that even "Empire" doesn't seem to be rooting for them.
Colman is fantastic, as usual. Her character's wistfulness and manic episodes suggest a cross between "The Favourite" and "The Lost Daughter" but the actor keeps Hilary grounded and real. Still, I'm not sure what, exactly, "Empire of Light" is rooting for. Movies? Anti-racism? Mental health care? All are commendable, obviously, but is anybody against any of them?
Maybe the way to think of "Empire of Light" is more like a collection of short stories than a novel. It has many bright, powerful moments, most of them courtesy of Colman or Deakins, and perhaps that's how "Empire of Light" is meant to be experienced — as little pieces that capture bits of human behavior or conflict before moving on to the next piece.
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'EMPIRE OF LIGHT'
3 stars (out of 4)
Rating: R (for sexual content, language and brief violence)
Running time: 1:59
How to watch: In theaters Friday
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