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With: Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Monica Dolan, Tom Brooke, Tanya Moodie, Hannah Onslow, Crystal Clarke, Toby Jones, Colin Firth
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Written by: Sam Mendes
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Directed by: Sam Mendes
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MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, language and brief violence
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Running Time: 113
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Date: 12/09/2022
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Palace in Wonderland
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Blessed with gorgeous, showy Roger Deakins cinematography, Sam Mendes's Empire of Light is otherwise a melodramatic trifle, silly and soapy, but it nevertheless gets a few bonus points from me. As someone who has worked in two different movie theaters, the movie really captures the specialness of these magic places. It really made me happy to be hanging out here, with these people. Beginning in 1980, the story involves Hilary (Olivia Colman), a middle-aged employee, who — we later learn — has a bipolar disorder. Her married manager (Colin Firth) invites her into his office every so often for one-sided, unsatisfying sex. One day, Stephen (Micheal Ward) is hired, and he and Hilary begin their own affair, sneaking up to the magnificent, abandoned second floor of the old palace. But Stephen's Blackness attracts the attention of local fascists, and they storm the theater, as Hilary's disorder spirals out of control. The movie gets less interesting as it grows more hysterical, but it ends with a magical moment. Toby Jones plays the projectionist, who protects the secrets of his job like a magician protects his tricks.
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