Empire of Light (2022)
Roger Deakins and Sam Mendes make a gorgeous piece that falls a bit short.
Presentation:
Roger Deakins really demonstrates how you can make any location beautiful with lighting. My only problem is some shots look too stylized, too good, which is a bit jarring when juxtaposed with outdoor scenes with natural lighting. It looks like a Roger Deakins film, which is beautiful, though not always appropriate for some shots. I found the beauty to even be a bit distracting at times. Deakins evolves into large format and wider Arri signature primes, the clean visuals making it a bit unclear as to which time period the film takes place.
Story:
The story takes place at an English theatre during a time with racial tensions. The are some criticisms that the racial elements were unnecessary and sprinkled in as an afterthought, that the film would be fine without it, but i think it actually really humanized the supporting lead. Olivia Colman gives another class performance with masterful presence. I personally really enjoyed their relationship and didn't find racial elements to detract from the story, though the focus is definitely spread thin. Ultimately the movie hinges on the relationship between the lead and supporting lead, which I found genuine.
Conclusion:
It may not be for everyone, but this beautiful drama might move you if you can look past the shortcomings.
Sort by
- action 42
- adventure 23
- animation 4
- biographical 16
- chinese 5
- comedy 26
- coming of age 12
- crime 42
- culinary 3
- detective 8
- documentary 4
- drama 125
- driving 5
- experimental 13
- fantasy 17
- french 6
- heist 3
- historical 8
- horror 30
- japanese 3
- korean 6
- lgb 3
- music 5
- mystery 30
- norwegian 1
- psychological 12
- romance 24
- satire 4
- sci-fi 21
- spanish 4
- sports 4
- superhero 2
- suspense 13
- swedish 1
- thai 1
- thriller 55
- war 4
- western 4
- zombie 1
- ๐ถ 2
- ๐ถ๐ถ 20
- ๐ถ๐ถ๐ถ 69
- ๐ถ๐ถ๐ถ๐ถ 90
- ๐ถ๐ถ๐ถ๐ถ๐ถ 39
Luca Guadagnino challenges what we know about filmmaking.