Love’s Labors Lost and Found
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) when they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.
“You see, you can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson & the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)
Opening Chatter (no spoilers): I’m still making my slow journey to locate some Oscar nominees I’d like to see before awards are handed out on March 12, 2023—specifically, Living (Oliver Hermanus, 2022), The Whale (Darren Aronofsky, 2022), Women Talking (Sarah Polley, 2022) on streaming when they’re available (even though all are still playing in a few places somewhere in my vicinity), as I’m still being COVID-cautious about theaters—I was recently able to access Empire of Light on HBO Max (free to subscribers but there are other platforms where you can buy it) due to what I anticipated would feature another impactful performance from Olivia Colman as well as wallow in a story set in a movie theater, following up on equal fascinations with the cinematic-production-process as seen recently in The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022; review in our January 12, 2023 posting) and Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2022; review in our February 9, 2023 posting). I wasn’t disappointed with what I watched (unlike some hesitations with Babylon), but that does put me at odds with the critical community as I’ll explain below (I’m not much in harmony with them on Your Place or Mine either, but we’ll also soon get to that; for context on this romantic comedy, others of its ilk you might enjoy reading this article by Nina Metz; if nothing else, at least I finally reviewed a 2023 movie). Also, here are links for the schedule of the cable network, Turner Classic Movies, offering its extensive selection of older films with no commercial interruptions and the JustWatch site which offers you a wide selection of options for streaming rental or purchase. If you'd just want to see what reigned at the domestic (U.S.-Canada) box-office last weekend, go here.
Here’s the trailer for Empire of Light:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge it; activate
that same button or use the “esc” keyboard key to return to normal size.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
What Happens: We begin in late 1980 (then shift with some New Year’s fireworks a bit later into 1981) in an English south coastal town where the focus will be on some employees of the aging Empire Cinema, primarily Hilary Small (Olivia Colman), house manager of the venue, and new hire (originally an African immigrant whose mother’s a nurse in the local hospital) Stephen (Michael Ward). Hilary’s childhood with parents was traumatic, now she’s struggling with bipolar disorder (had to take a sabbatical recently for a stay in St. Jude’s psychiatric hospital to deal with it), not helped at all by the requirements of her boss, Donald Ellis (Colin Firth), to meet him in his office regularly for sex (it’s all about his pleasure, not shared at all by her; I’d hesitate to call this an affair even though he’s married). The theatre’s a large, stately place with just enough patrons for its 2 screens to stay in business for this small group of regular workers, but it’s obvious the place has seen better days (the same with several of its employees). Hilary’s life perks up, though, when Stephen arrives, is interested enough despite his young-adult-years (considerably fewer than hers) to show him the locked-off upper floors of the place where there are 2 more auditoriums along with a dilapidated-rooftop-ballroom, now housing a good number of pigeons (Stephen sees that one has an injured wing, wraps the bird in one of his socks, helps nurse it back to health, all much to Hilary’s delight).
She’s also delighted enough with this young man to add him to her sexual encounters (these they both enjoy, though), sneaking up with him to the ballroom (no puns, please!) with only co-worker Neil (Tom Brooke) fairly well aware of what they’re up to, which he’s not supportive of but keeps quiet about it. Stephen also keeps quiet about the abuse he sometimes faces from local fascist youths, but Hilary happens to see him one day from a short distance away as he’s being harassed by a few of these toughs. Suddenly, a huge event is chosen for this theater to hold a regional premiere of Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson [who just recently died], 1981; would go on to win Oscars for Best Picture, Original Screenplay [Colin Welland], Costume Design [Milena Canonero], Original Score [Vangelis], noms for 3 others, including Best Director) with some celebrities in attendance so Mr. Ellis wants the place spiffed up for the huge crowd to come, all of the staff to be on their best behavior in hopes a glorious night at this cinema will lead to numerous local patrons into the future.
His intentions are upended, though, when after he’s given his welcoming speech and heads to his seat Hilary suddenly walks on stage to deliver her own spontaneous, rambling welcome (references dance?), then goes back to the empty lobby (always busies herself with various duties, never slips into an auditorium to see what’s up on the screen). Ellis follows, angry at her intrusion, but when his wife, Brenda (Sara Stewart), comes along too, Hilary spills the beans about their sexual interludes, then storms off (we see no more of Donald and Brenda after that except to hear later he’s been relocated to another venue), not returning to work for a few days, which—because of her background of mental instability—leads to police and Social Services coming to her flat for legal sectioning (involuntary hospitalization) due to her previous episodes. On a lighter note, the reclusive, fussy projectionist, Norman (Toby Jones)—with his own problems, admits he left home when his son was young—takes a liking to Stephan because of his willingness to learn this new craft, do his job right, so he’s even allowed into the “sacred” projection booth to observe these demanding mechanics, necessary to be done properly for the audience’s undisturbed-acceptance.
⇒Hilary eventually returns to work only to witness another crisis as a huge march by the fascist National Front passing by the theater turns violent when some of these thugs see Stephen in the lobby, break through glass doors to get at him, severely beat him before running away; Hilary comes to visit him in the hospital, meets his nurse mother, Delia (Tanya Moodie), who says her son’s been asking about Hilary. Back at the theater at closing time, Hilary decides to ask Norman to show her a film which he does, choosing a marvelous study of misplaced-perceptions, Being There (Hal Ashby, 1979; Oscar for Best Supporting Actor [Melvyn Douglas], nom for Peter Sellers as Best Actor). After Stephen’s recovery, his dreams come true when he’s finally accepted for college, off to the University of Bristol to study architecture. Hilary’s devastated to see him go but finally gives him a farewell hug and a book of poetry as she's ready to settle into whatever may come in the next phase of her life.⇐
So What? Given the solid career of Sam Mendes—whose successes include the magnificent pair of American Beauty (1999; Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Actor [Kevin Spacey], Original Screenplay [Alan Ball], Cinematography [Conrad L. Hall]) and Revolutionary Road (2008; 3 Oscar nominations including the superb work of Michael Shannon as Best Supporting Actor), along with the James Bond movies Skyfall (2012; Oscar for Best Original Song [“Skyfall” by Adele, Paul Epworth], Best Sound Editing) and Spectre (2015; Oscar for Best Original Song [“Writing’s on the Wall” by Sam Smith, Jimmy Napes]), the WW I drama 1917 (2019; Oscars for Best Cinematography [Roger Deakins], Sound Mixing, Visual Effects)—I was determined to see Empire of Light at some point, glad it's finally available for streaming. I know Olivia Colman’s done a lot of TV work I haven’t seen (especially Netflix’s The Crown [2019-2020] which won her an Outstanding Leading Actress Emmy for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II), but I have watched her in a few films, primarily The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2018) where she took the Oscar for Best Actress as Great Britain’s Queen Anne (although, as noted in our February 6, 2019 posting, I would have dropped her completely from this category where my favorite was Glenn Close in The Wife [Björn Runge, 2018]); for me Colman’s at her best in Empire of Light although the Academy does not agree, with no Oscar nom for this role (she may still end up in my top 5 Best Female Actors for 2022, but I’m still working on my finalists, will have to decide something in these few weeks before those Oscars are awarded in early March).
For that matter, I’m also mulling over this film for inclusion in my Top 10 of 2022 but, as noted, hope to see Living, The Whale, and Women Talking before final decision time. One decision I’m glad Mendes and his production team made, though, was to shoot this film in the English coastal town of Margate on the Isle of Thanet (used to be an island, is now a peninsula) in the southeast county of Kent (although in the northeast tip of that county). As he and cinematographer Deakins explain in the interview found as the second item connected to this film in the Related Links section of this posting considerably farther below, they first were looking at a theater in the also-seaside-town of Brighton but couldn’t use the interior because it’s now a casino so instead they settled on the abandoned Empire Cinema in Margate where the exterior could flow into an interior they built in the same location as the Empire rather than a constructed studio set located somewhere else entirely.
As this film’s partially about the magic the projected-image-experience can create in a darkened auditorium, allowing us alternate-realities when the outside world throws debilitating-challenges at us as with the case of Hilary, Stephen, and Norman in the Empire … cast, maybe others too whom we don’t get to know as much about as we do these primary characters. (Well, in Hilary’s case, we have to be specific that the magic of movies is largely confined to actual screening rooms in the building because while the other locations can be spontaneously-marvelous—in her passionate encounters with Stephen in the abandoned ballroom—they can also be horrid—in the forced sex she endures in Ellis’ office. Fortunately, she finally gets to experience what regular patrons of the cinematic arts come to this building to enjoy with Norman’s help) His sacred space within the projection booth is another aspect of what satisfactions this building has to offer as he takes so much pride in his work, gets such a sense of accomplishment of what he provides for the audience, even though he gets to see little of what he’s showing (unlike Hilary who consciously never slips in to watch what’s up on the screen) because his attention must be on the constantly-running-projectors to provide unnoticeable-transitions from 1 machine to the other. (Each reel runs about 10 min. with the celluloid [remember, this takes place back in the 1980s when projection technology was still carrying on from decades past rather than the usual-video-projections in our contemporary theaters] flying past the projector’s lens at 24 frames per second so that a hefty reel of film actually takes minimal time to exhaust itself.)
Thus, when the reel’s almost done, the projectionist has to watch for a small dot in the upper right of the frame, the cue to start the other projector so when the second dot appears he flips a switch, blocking the light from the first machine, allowing the second one’s images to be seen, with this happening about a dozen times in a 2-hr.-film (or more, of course, for a longer feature). There’s also need to keep watch on the 2 carbon rods which are burning each other away after they’ve been ignited before the first image hits the screen, providing the intense bright light reflected by a mirror at the back of each projector out through the lens to illuminate the film stock onto the screen, so the projectionist must note this as well to make sure the rods don’t burn out too quickly, replacing them as needed, to prevent throwing the auditorium into darkness. All of this came back to me from watching it up close when I taught at Southern Methodist U. in Dallas (1977-’84) because at times I’d be up in the projection booth of the Bob Hope Theater (guess who donated it) as an observer of this process, fascinated to learn the science behind the magic. Yet, Norman (whatever the world’s done to him to force him to seek private solace in his filmic-cave) must have somehow seen a host of films anyway, indicated by the great number of still photos posted on his walls providing a visual history of the medium. If we hadn’t needed to spend so much necessary time with Hilary and Stephen as their stories intersected, it would have been further interesting to know more about Norma's lonely life too.
Bottom Line Final Comments: Whatever contributions you might like from Mendes and Colman in Empire of Light, the only notable recognitions it’s received so far from the major societies within the industry are nominations for Deakins’ cinematography from the Oscars and the American Society of Cinematographers (although, depending on how much credence you now give the Golden Globes, Colman was nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama [lost to Cate Blanchett for Tár]; further, the British Academy Film Awards also have noms for Deakins, Ward as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and Outstanding British Film). Empire ..., released domestically on December 9, 2022, has made little impact at the box-office with $1.2 million grosses, worldwide take not much better at $5.6 million (opened in only 110 domestic venues, only made it to 436, gone by late January 2023). If you want to see it now (I hope you do), it’s only available at HBO Max streaming or periodically on cable TV’s HBO (with some evening showings scheduled [at least in the U.S. west] during the coming week so check listings on a daily basis if you wish) although there are other platforms where you can buy it for $14.99 (see specifics at JustWatch), but at least it’s free to HBO subscribers. Given my interest in/support of this film (maybe that’s because of all the cinematic subject matter, a real possibility, but the nature of the story and the impact of the performances are not to be discounted either), you’ll either have to believe me or the OCCU (not quite as damning as you’ll see how they are for Your Place or Mine, but dismissive enough on this one) where the Rotten Tomatoes reviews are only 44% positive, the Metacrtic average score is somewhat higher for a change at 54% (more info on these critics’ accumulation sites always found below in Related Links).
I’ll let TIME’s Stephanie Zacharek be the spokesperson for what’s not being appreciated here: “the picture feels light and inconsequential, even when it strives to address some of the thorny social issues of its era […] people who love movies also know cornpone dialogue when they hear it. Empire of Light spells out lots of things that it might have conveyed with a glance, or a line of understated dialogue. It stumbles under the weight of its intentions, and not even its majestic setting can save it.” I, however, am more in agreement with The Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday who says: “In ‘Empire of Light,’ the theater is a great democratizer: a convener for misfits, loners and dreamers of every stripe. With this bittersweet gem of a film, Mendes has given spectators a modest but profound gift: the reminder that, at their best, movies offer us not just a refuge, but a way to join the thrum of life, in all its pain and ungovernable glory.” Maybe you should just judge for yourself by watching this anatomy of a scene (8:50) where Mendes, Colman, and Ward analyze at some length Hilary and Stephen’s initial trek to the abandoned ballroom as well as discussions of those pigeons who populate the place and the injured one Stephen helps rehabilitate.
I do encourage you to seek out this film (no matter those OCCU dismissals), but until you might find it I’ll leave with my usual wrap-up of a Musical Metaphor, this one from English pop star Cat Stevens (before his 1977 conversion to Islam, changed his name to Yusuf Islam, now calls himself Yusuf/Cat Stevens), “Wild World” (on his 1970 Tea for the Tillerman album) at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Jta56wBl7SM which seems to be about the singer warning his ex-lover of the hostilities she’s likely to face without him (has been interpreted by some as sexist [“I’ll always remember you like a child, girl” {could be an insult, could be taken as lovingly-sentimental}]—which hasn’t prevented it from being covered by a host of other artists—in the same way Mr. Ellis keeps Hilary around [despite her festering mental problems] for his own needs rather than hers) because I see these lyrics, at best, as a broken-hearted-sincere-plea for the woman to know “it’s a wild world / It’s hard to get by just upon a smile,” just as Hilary tries to bluff her way thorough her inherent depression problems while Stephen also has to constantly “remember there’s a lot of bad and beware.” There’s bad to be found in Empire of Light (definitely in content; some say in execution) but also redemption, with the movies as their own metaphor for how all of this might function within our complicated lives.
SHORT TAKES (actually short for a change!)
(spoilers also appear here)
After a brief (mutually-desired) sexual encounter 20 years ago Debbie and Peter have remained friends in constant close contact even as she’s become divorced with a 10-year-old-son in LA, he’s become a rich NYC consultant, so when she needs to come east for an accounting course he goes out west to babysit the kid but not in the uptight manner she’s employed, creating laughs and friction.
Here’s the trailer:
Before reading further, please refer to the plot spoilers warning detailed far above.
20 years ago in college Debbie Dunn (Reese Witherspoon) and Peter Coleman (Ashton Kutcher) had a pleasant one-night-stand; he was really interested but didn't say so, she assumed it was just casual sex, didn’t care he made no further moves, although they’ve become close friends as he’s become some sort of a consultant making big bucks, living in a lavish flat in Brooklyn while she’s a divorced-single-mom with an 10-year-old-son, Jack (Wesley Kimmel [ABC TV-late-night-host Jimmy Kimmel’s nephew]), working as an accountant in the kid’s LA middle school. She needs to go to NYC for a week for an accounting course (compressed learning!) leading to a better job but has no one to look after Jack (ex-hubbie’s actor-girlfriend Scarlet [Rachel Bloom] surprisingly wins a film role in Vancouver) so Jack volunteers to switch domiciles for the week, babysit Jack. Debbie’s a control freak who’s sheltered Jack from anything she thinks could be difficult for him (he’s also got some medical considerations) but Peter’s a much looser “parent” (his alcoholic dad died when Peter was 13) who ignores the casseroles left for them in the freezer, encourages Jack to try out for the school’s hockey team to ease up the harassment he’s getting from a couple of bullying-schoolmates.
In NYC Debbie meets Peter’s recent-ex, Minka (Zoë Chao), they go for drinks, Debbie connects with book publisher Theo Martin (Jesse Williams), then finds Peter’s written a novel which she shows to Theo, claiming to be a freelance editor. ⇒Theo’s impressed with the book, he and Debbie spend the night together, Peter’s soon made a sale he’s unaware of. When she returns to LA she’s at first angry about all the decisions made for Jack but soon warms to Peter as they finally admit their mutual love.⇐ This is a very predictable romantic comedy, although with some good lines at times and stars whom are a pleasure to watch throughout (Steven Zahn has a cute minor role as Zen, a rich ex-techie now surfing in the mornings, working in Debbie’s enormous garden in the afternoons). Debbie and Peter are only in the same location at the very end so most of what we see of their shared interactions are shown in split-screen-format while they have frequent phone conversations (yes, those devices can be used for something besides texting and photos of food). I found this to be a pleasant-enough-Netflix-streaming-diversion, although you don’t get anywhere close to such support from the OCCU as the RT positives are a mere 33%, the MC average score is surprisingly much higher at 51%. If you don’t care to devote almost 2 hrs. to this pleasant trifle, maybe you can just settle for my Musical Metaphor of the Beach Boys’ “Friends” (on the 1968 album of the same name) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-ECuo-XEXk because Debbie and Peter needed to solidify their extended-connection as chums (“We’ve been friends now for so many years / We’ve been together through the good times and the tears / Turned each other on the good things that life has to give”) before they could accept the reality that it was all a slow lead-up to becoming a couple.
That’s all for my critical commentary this week (which usually reminds me of some parting lyrics from Pink Floyd’s "Time": “The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to say,” or maybe R.E.M. knows me even better [from "Losing My Religion"]: “Oh no, I’ve said too much / I haven’t said enough”), but whether you agree with any of that stuff or not I’ll offer you one more opportunity to be in unity with an attitude that would benefit all of us, James Taylor’s "Shower the People" (on his 1976 In the Pocket album), because we should “Shower the people you love with love / Show them the way that you feel / Things are gonna be much better/ If you only will.” We’re now sailing through divisive times; it could be a smoother ride if we’d only help each other a bit more.
Other Cinema-Related Stuff: An extra item you might like: (1) Artisans from Elvis, The Whale, Avatar: The Way of Water, and other films share misconceptions about their crafts.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts* (scroll down to the bottom of this Summary page to see some additional info about you wacky critic, Ken Burke, along with contact info and a great retrospective song list). Overall notations for this blog—including Internet formatting craziness beyond our control—may be found at our Two Guys in the Dark homepage. If you’d like to Like us on Facebook (yes?) please visit our Facebook page. We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it unto us!
*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problem’s been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.
AND … at least until the Oscars for 2022’s releases have been awarded on Sunday, March 12, 2023 we’re also going to include reminders in each posting of very informative links where you can get updated tallies of which films have been nominated for and/or received various awards and which ones made various individual critic’s Top 10 lists. You may find the diversity among the various awards competitions and the various critics hard to reconcile at times—not to mention the often-significant-gap between critics’ choices and competitive-award-winners (which pales when they’re compared to the even-more-noticeable-gap between specific award winners and big box-office-grosses you might want to monitor here)—but as that less-than-enthusiastic-patron-of-the-arts, Plato, noted in The Symposium (385-380 BC)—roughly translated, depending on how accurate you wish the actual quote to be—“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” so your choices for success are as valid as any of these others, especially if you offer some rationale for your decisions (unlike any awards voters who blindly fill out ballots, sometimes—damn it!—for films they have never seen).
To save you a little time scrolling through the “various awards” list above, here are the 2023 Golden Globe nominees and winners (if you even care about them after all of their recent controversies) and the Oscar nominees for 2022 films.
Here’s more information about Empire of Light:
https://www.empirelightfilm.com/synopsis/ (click on the 3 little bars on the upper left for more information)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lfG-Z35bB4 (11:33 interview wit director-screenwriter Sam Mendes, cinematographer Roger Deakins, and actors Olivia Colman, Michael Ward, Tanya Moddie [ad interrupts at 4:00])
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/empire_of_light
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/empire-of-light
Here’s more information about Your Place or Mine:
https://www.netflix.com/title/81045831
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euSJWM13tEE (7:13 interview with actors Reese Witherspoon, Ashton Kutcher)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/your_place_or_mine_2023
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/your-place-or-mine
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