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Post by stryker on Feb 8, 2023 5:31:33 GMT
EMPIRE OF LIGHT (2022). My Rating: 9 out of 10. Poignant and powerful, nostalgia-inducing story of a once grand cinema in a British seaside town in the eighties. It's as much as about the misfits who work at the Empire as it is about the gorgeous old cinema itself, and the filmgoing experience. It's also about mental illness, an unlikely romance, racism, and writer director Sam Mendes' (Road To Perdition, 1917, American Beauty, Spectre) memories of his mother, the movies - and the way we used to watch them. Like The Fabelmans and Babylon, it's a celebration of films - and, in this case, the glorious picture palaces of old, which is highlighted by its technical excellence, the magnificent, Oscar-nominated cinematography of Roger Deakins and another astonishing performance by Olivia Colman - who should have been nominated for an Academy Award too. It's a towering, intense turn from Colman - whose range seems endless, but there are also splendid supporting performances from young British up and comer Michael Ward and screen veterans Toby Jones - as the lonely projectionist, and Colin Firth - who is terrific as the sleazy manager of the Empire. Empire of Light, which has been nominated for an AARP Movies for Grownups Award in the category of Best Grownup Love Story, is one of the best 2022 movies I have seen and is most HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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