Film Review – Empire of Light

Three years ago, director Sam Mendes attempted to recreate the madness of war with “1917,” using filmmaking tricks and a large budget to immerse the audience in violence and panic. It was an epic picture that attempted to overwhelm viewers with sound and visuals, capturing a specific sense of confusion. Mendes goes much smaller for his follow-up but largely remains interested in human psychology, offering a more internalized tale of instability in “Empire of Light,” which examines the pains of mental illness and the power of connection. Mendes goes solo in the screenwriting department, and while his focus is on characters and their issues, he’s also inspecting the power of cinema in other ways, setting the story at a movie palace reaching the end of its lifespan. “Empire of Light” is unwieldy and a bit melodramatic at times, but it does retain sharp technical achievements and performances that capture what the helmer is looking for, creating sensitive moments as life carries people in different directions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com