Academy Award Winner Olivia Colman (Favorite) is the hero of this tender story that came to Star + after it was in theaters. The movie is directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty, 1917(The cast includes Michelle Ward, Toby Jones, and fellow Academy Award winner Colin Firth)King’s speech).
The story is set around an old cinema, called Empire, in an English seaside town, Kent, in the early 1980s, and tells the life of Hilary Small (Coleman), a cinema manager who struggles with her mental health. and Stephen (Ward), a new employee who longs to escape this rural town where he faces daily ordeal. Hilary and Stephen find a sense of belonging through their unexpected and tender relationship, and experience the healing power of music, film, and community. Their bond will be very special, and their love affair will be far from the classic that everyone expects.
Jones plays Norman, a movie projectionist, while Firth plays the story’s villain as Mr. Ellis, everyone’s boss. The cast is completed by Tom Brooke, Tanya Moody, Hannah Onslow, Crystal Clark, and more.
“They’re both loners and they find a form of solitude in each of them. But that comes from Stephen’s appreciation of how different Hillary is. You don’t spend New Year’s Eve alone watching fireworks, things like that. Actually, not a lot of people do that. They don’t communicate.” With everyone else, because he tries and sees that it’s not for him. So, he goes and spends time with this woman, with whom a connection begins to progress from that moment on.” This is how Ward himself expressed it in an interview with Infobae when the movie hit theaters. His character, Stephen, longs to study architecture, but says that because of the color of his skin he is forbidden to do so, so he resorts to joining this cinema.
The film deals with the issue of discrimination, the rise of neo-Nazi movements called skinheads, and sexual assault, among many other issues. It is a movie to analyze and reflect on once you watch it and also to rediscover your love for cinema.
Music is another important component of the movie. Songs featured in the film, such as “Do Nothing”, “Too Much Young” and “Mirror In The Bathroom” by The Beat, represent the two-tone music scene emerging at the time that was transforming the UK musically, culturally and politically. The film also includes Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Spellbound”, reflecting on the goth scene of the time.
The songs on the soundtrack not only provide the chronological setting for the story, but also traverse the characters’ lives and contribute to their characterization. Young Janine, for example, listens to Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The Cure. Meanwhile, Stephen loves the two-note genre, while Hilary enjoys music from the 60’s and 70’s at home.
Now you can have fun light empire on Star+.
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