Fragile relationships between flawed and frightened people in an era of authoritarian social pressure before instant judgment and shame became ubiquitous on social media. One of the year's best. Tune out the noise of the critics and watch it alone if you have to.

Great performances wasted on an aimless and unfocused screenplay. Sam Mendes is a much better director than he is a writer.

"To fuck, or not to fuck." Yes, that's an actual line from the movie. 'Empire of Light' shines the brightest with its dark yellow/goldish cinematography and performances. Other than that, this might be Sam Mende's worst movie. The whole movie talks about the "power" of cinema, etc. However, the power is sadly missing here. Incredibly dreary and tricky to pinpoint what the story is. It's all over the damn place. It follows the themes of mental illness, racism, forbidden love, and escapism. But those aspects are either underdeveloped or poorly executed. Not the worst movie ever made, but it's painfully bland.

Olivia Colman is awesome. Too bad her performance can't save this truly mediocre film.

Like a marshmallow and paperclip beef stew: there's a lot in it but it doesn't go together well. So, at first I thought the film was a tribute to the love of cinema and I was like, Oh, cool. But then I was like, Oh, the movie's about mental health issues, cool. But then I was all, Oh wait, it's about an unlikely romance, ok, cool. But then I was like, Hmm, I think it's an anti-racsim movie? And then I was like, I wish Mendes could focus on one subject and stop head hopping among characters. Whatever, I'll never pass up the opportunity to remind people what anti-vaxxer Eric Clapton said on stage in a concert during the period when this film was set: Do we have any foreigners in the audience tonight? If so, please put up your hands... So where are you? Well wherever you all are, I think you should all just leave. Not just leave the hall, leave our country... I don’t want you here, in the room or in my country. I think we should send them all back. Stop Britain from becoming a black colony. Get the foreigners out. Get the wogs out. Get the coons out. Keep Britain white! Watch the documentary White Riot instead!