I saw "Empire of Light" last night, and I absolutely loved it. It spoke to me as a huge movie geek and a film studies student. It's pretty meta to watch a movie about the power and effect of movies in a movie theatre, and it absolutely works. Even though we make fun of the AMC Nicole Kidman clip, she's right. Well, whomever wrote those lines for her is right. There is something about the dark room and the beam of light that so many of us find mesmerizing. Stories that are familiar to us, stories that are alien to us because they involve cultures and situations that we don't know about, stories that are alien to us because they're set on other worlds and times.
It's a very quiet movie but don't take that to mean that it's boring. It's very contemplative in its quiet moments, and it gives us a chance to meet and get to know everyone in the film.
Not surprisingly, the leads, Olivia Coleman and Micheal Ward, are outstanding. But the film is also an ensemble piece, and the supporting cast is absolutely at the same level of being vital to the success of the film. In particular, I think there are two supporting parts that add so much more heart to the film, but I won't name them so that you can discover them for yourself.
One of the things this film reminded me of is someone I used to know that I met when I was in college. Among other things, he was the projectionist at the movie theatre on campus, and we became friends. Sometimes, I'd hang out in the booth with him during a movie. Occasionally, it was to watch bits of a movie, but oftentimes, it was just to hang out with him, to chat with him for the periodic minutes of free time that he had in between reels. Back then, like in this film, there were big cannisters of reels of film, and he would show them to me, and he would have to inspect them. Those old projectors were massive, and the sound of them as they were running was a thing like no other. Through a peculiarity of circumstance, I had learned to see the dot on the upper right hand corner to signal a reel change, and back then, it was a manual reel change, so he and I laughed about the fact that I knew all that, and I got to watch him do it.
In more modern machines, the reel change was no longer done manually but had become automated, so projectionists no longer had to push switches to change to the next reel. In current times, of course, with digital projection, there are no reels. That also means they likely have one projectionist who monitors multiple screens, but that means there isn't someone always watching to make sure nothing goes wrong. BTW, are they even still called projectionists? Because of digital projection, are they now called techs or something else? I would love to learn more and even have the chance to visit what a modern projection booth is like and the process of showing films.
The other thing that "Empire of Light" makes me appreciate are old-school movie houses, like the one in the film. Multiplexes are great to provide a wider variety of films to watch, but I love the grandeur and beautiful decor of places like El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood and the Paramount Theatre and Grand Lake Theatre, both located in Oakland.
There are so many other subjects that are brought up in the film, but I can't talk about them without providing spoilers. There are many moments that are a joy to watch, but there are also some that are incredibly difficult to watch. In any case, I highly recommend this movie.
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