I sat down to watch this picture without knowing anything about it. Now - 2 hrs later - I realize that I knew almost everything there was to know about this movie. There isn't anything ground breaking about the film; the story is told in a moving manner; the cinematography, art direction, sets, costumes all all skillfully executed; the acting is good, but since the story contains no deeply emotional moments, good is about all you're going to get. I worked in theatres for 20 years. All the characters I could relate to someone in the 30-35 theatres I worked at. The projection booth was very realistic in that it was usually a fairly grungy place that had a lot of movie stuff like pictures and posters on the walls. The one thing I will take exception to is this: in 1981 the use of carbon arc projecting was on the way out: it was expensive and needed to be replaced every 60 mins of playtime. Also this was a twin theatre, carbon arcs in a multi auditorium set up was long gone - they were using xenon bulbs where you didn't do film changeovers every 20 mins. I will say, the changeover sequence is very realistic, just not for a twin theatre. Other than that, the picture was satisfying on HBOMax; had I paid $10-$15 to see this in a theatre, I might feel a little let down.
Review of Empire of Light
