Empire of Light (2022)

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 3 wins & 39 nominations total

Trivia
The actual Dreamland cinema in Margate (which stood in for the Empire cinema in this film) was opened in 1923. It changed hands several times during its lifetime and finally closed for good in 2007. It still stands, although empty, because it is a listed building and so cannot be demolished without parliamentary approval. The block of flats where Steven lives with his mother is not an optical effect: it is really is that close to the building (with Margate railway station being just 100 yards up the road).

Goofs
During a scene that takes place in 1981, Janine mentions she heard about a song from SPIN magazine. Spin magazine was not founded until 1985.

Quotes
Stephen: Amazin'.
Norman: It is amazing. Because it's just static frames, with darkness in between. But there's a little flaw in your optic nerve so that if I run the film at 24 frames per second you don't see the darkness.
Stephen: Wow.
Norman: It's called the Phi Phenomenon. Viewing static images rapidly in succession crates an illusion of motion. Illusion of life.

Connections
Featured in Amanda the Jedi Show: This Movie was Shockingly Terrible - Best and Worst of TIFF 2022 (2022)

Soundtracks
Asteroid - Pearl & Dean
Written & Performed by Pete Moore
Published by Sony Music Publishing
Courtesy of Pearl & Dean

An Ode to the craft of cinema...

...Well... at least that's what could have been. When the movie opens and sets us back into the late 70s and early 80s, seeing a classic cinema, with some craftsmanship behind it, that we forgot how to appreciate. With beautiful cinematography and lighting, this really makes you melancholic... that's the good part...

Unfortunately I checked my watch so many times during this movie, wondering when it would finally reach the 2h mark and therefore the end. It's easily 30mins to long and while it has a VERY important message that is still relevant today unfortunately, it somehow get's lost in its own melancholia, but not in a Lars von Trier way, just in "are we there yet?" way.

While it surely has its beautiful moments and lovely dialogues along the way, it did only drag me in for about 2, 3 mins and had me lost in the other scenes for some reason. It feels like this movie wants to be to many things at the same time and can't decide where to put its focus point.