Empire of Light (2022)

Rated R for language and some pretty intense sexuality, despite not actually showing any nudity.  The big takeaway is the racial violence, though.  It's sad that I have to write that.  We've become so used to racial violence that I have to remember to tell people that we shouldn't be used to that at all. Tonally, the movie feels lighter than it is.  The scary parts are actually pretty upsetting though.  R.

DIRECTOR: Sam Mendes

I had a couple of movies in a row that weren't up for Academy Awards.  I don't necessarily know how to shift back into Oscar mode, so please bear with me.  We're watching them a little differently this year.  Maybe it is because of availability, but we're watching a lot of the lesser known movies first.  These tend to be movies that have one nomination. I think it is because it is more difficult to get a hold of movies that haven't been released for home video while simultaneously being parents to four children.  But when this showed up on HBO Max, I counted as a sign that we should immediately watch it.  Sure, it's just up for cinematography.  But "being up for cinematography" also means that the movie is going to look pretty.

Part of me wants this movie to be up for more than cinematography and part of me gets it.  My actual takeaway is that Empire of Light is a beautiful movie, but that doesn't mean that everything in the movie should be in the movie.  Mendes gives us this film that hits on a lot of emotional beats.  It's just that those beats are all over the place.  Everything I'm about to say is an oversimplification and I hate that I have to describe it as I do, but it's what my brain is allowing right now. Please know, I hate myself now.  Is this a movie about cinema?  Is this a movie about racism?  Is this a women about female exploitation or the stigma that mental health carries? Is it about age and sexuality?  Yes.  Is any of these points fully explored?  Probably not.  I should take the first question and leave it in the movie.  Is this about cinema?  Yes, and we witness the power of film through the lens of any one of these other points. I  would love to see a movie about cinema and racism.  I would love to watch a movie about cinema and mental health.  I would love to take any one of those talking points and combine it with cinema.  But all of those points?  Cinema is the element that takes the brunt of the sacrifice because the movie is the least clear about the role of cinema.

Realize that I really like this movie when I start to complain.  Sam Mendes is a really talented dude, but I think the near win of 1917 probably got to him a bit.  I really like all of the themes within the story. I  think there's something there that really needs to be explored.  But there's a certain element of Oscar-baitiness that might be hurting the elements of storytelling.  Why all the things?  All the things are fine in-of-and-in themselves.  But all of them combined.  Listen, I've been leaning heavily into racial politics ever since the Trump administration, so I'm naturally going to gravitate towards that message.  When the episode of Doctor Who about Rosa Parks came out (aptly named "Rosa"), one of the biggest criticisms that my friends and I had was the misconception that the UK is somehow devoid of racism. Watching Empire of Light, it was such a strong message to show how racism looks like in the UK and how both simultaenously similar and different it looks. But those moments are almost just moments against a larger tapestry.  It almost creates a shock effect against a larger story.

Do you know what's a really weird scene?  Let's just accept that I pretended to have any academic merit and just talk like people who watched a movie together, all right?  There's a scene pretty early on. Hilary is training Stephen and she may or may not have a crush on him at this point.  I don't remember.  Stephen, because he's full of youth and vigor, wants to see what is roped off from the public.  Trust me, Stephen.  I get it.  Hilary, against her better judgment, takes him to a closed off wing of the theater.  In that wing, we discover abandoned old screens and a piece de resistance, a fully blown dance floor and restaurant now inhabited by gross birds. (Also known as "birds".)  Why is this scene here?  I suppose, playing devil's advocate, it could be a commentary about the disrespect of cinema as time progresses, but that's not what the movie is about.  Isn't there a foreshadowing that they're going to fix up the upper floor and make the theater something spectacular?  It's just teasing me and there is no followthrough on the scene.  It's really weird.

The funny thing is, I really like the performances all around.  If I was to say that anything happened in this movie that rubbed me the wrong way, it's too much of a good thing and that my brain can't pay attention.  But these are honestly Oscar worthy performances.  If this was exclusively about a woman hiding her schizophrenia, the scene where Olivia Colman rants in her apartment at the police is spellbinding.  If this was a movie about race, the scene where Michael Ward is backing away from the White Supremacists who have broken into the theater is haunting.  If this was a movie about cinema, Toby Jones showing Michael Ward on how to change the reels is beautifully paced.  Or even the silhouette of Olivia Colman against the projection of Being There would have been a knockout.  But this is a movie that waters down all of these scenes.   Nothing in the movie is bad.  It's just all disjointed.  It's steak and ice cream and sushi and cotton candy and summer salad and White Castle and all of those things are great ("Even the White Castle?"  "Especially the White Castle." --Garak).  It's just that nothing gels.

Which leaves me to the point of this blog.  This is a movie that is up for an Academy Award for best cinematography.  It is a gorgeous, gorgeous movie.  But it also doesn't have a singular voice, even visually.  Because the movie is ten things, those are discordant voices at times. Also, and this is not Empire of Light's fault, but Bardo crafts each shot personally and initmately.  Nothing is used for function, but for aesthetic joy.  Sometimes Empire of Light takes the easy road and that means it probably won't win.  But who knows?  If the Academy actually voted for the movie most deserving (I'm not as cynical as I sound here), they might ignore that this this is a Sam Mendes movie and give it to another film.  But the name Sam Mendes might get this film some attention.  Also, I don't know if this is up against Avatar, which is somehow the best selling film that no one I know has seen.

It's very good.  I wish it was Cinema Paradiso, which it so desperately wants to be.  But it's not.  It's just a good movie that is shy of greatness because it is missing a singular voice.