Almost four years after the acclaimed ‘1917’, Sam Mendes is ready to return to the big screen. But, unlike the projects he has developed in the last decade, the filmmaker returns to his origins with an intimate drama, ‘El imperio de la luz’. The film is intended to be an ode to his youth, marked by the profound social changes in England in the 1980s and by an incipient love for cinema.
“I wrote it out of instinct”, explains Mendes in an interview with eCartelera. The director acknowledges that the film has a lot from his own past, for which he has done memory work on his personal experiences. “I wrote about all the things that fascinated me from the time I grew up in”indicates, while pointing out how that time changed his life forever:
“It is the moment in which I built my musical tastes, my cinematographic tastes, also my political ideals… It was a time of great evil with the racial issue, and in turn it was a time when great music was made by multiracial, very diverse bands. It all led me to this. I have tried to make a portrait of that time and its people.”
‘The Empire of Light’ is the story of Hilary, a 50-year-old woman who works in a cinema and falls in love with a new partner much younger than her, Stephen. The protagonist is played by the Oscar winner Olivia Colman, who celebrates that these types of relationships can be seen on the big screen. “I love that it’s an older woman with a younger man, even though I was really embarrassed at first”assures. “It’s something that’s not represented too much and of course it’s something that happens. What’s wrong?”It is questioned.
From cinema of attractions to personal dramas
Colman is one of the hardest working actresses in the industry in recent years. To her credit she has from dramas like ‘The Empire of Light’ to successful series like ‘The Crown’ or the new Marvel production, ‘Secret Invasion’. “Sometimes a job in the theater means a lot but the next year you have to earn a little more money. It is a mixture between idealism and being practical.“suggests in reference to that constant change of record. “There’s something about splashing in the joy of something colorful. It’s liberating and can help you with other roles”Mendes defends about blockbuster movies.
‘The Empire of Light’ can now be seen in theaters.
Reference-www.ecartelera.com
