Why Empire of Light Flopped at the Oscars
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
- Last year, Empire of Light appeared to be a major Oscar contender, but then it all went wrong. What happened? In this first video of my new series Oscar Fiasco, I explore why the Sam Mendes drama starring Olivia Colman crashed and burned at the Academy Awards. #academyawards #oscars #empireoflight #sammendes #oliviacolman #oscarfiasco #brianrowevideo
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I can't wait for more of the Oscar fiasco series! it sounds a bit like This Had Oscar Buzz, another oscars analysis series I love
Thanks so much!!
Please don’t let this (thoughtful) analysis keep you from seeing this film. I went into this film blind, and I loved it. This film will always have a small contingent of super fans. For me, it was like a series of gorgeous poems with a sufficient plot through line.
Interesting, glad you enjoyed it!
I wonder if knowing absolutely nothing about the film changes the way you view it. Didn't know the film existed and came across it while flipping the channels. The music at the beginning is what caught my interest. Ended up loving it, though I tend to like slow, quiet movies. Have told several friends about it and they enjoyed it as well. Had no idea it had such lofty expectations heaped upon it. Interesting upload 👍
Very interesting, thanks for watching!
So looking forward to future additions to this series
Yay!
Fiasco or not, I'm going to give it a try. After The Favourite I vowed to watch almost everything starring Oliva Colman. Having said that, I loved your video and I'll go into it with low expectations.🤭
Thanks for your interest!
I still can't believe Top Gun SHOULDA WON, got snubbed, but Empire Light got in?!?!?! Empire of Light is pretty. TOP GUN WAS MINDBLOWING in its cinematography
I know!!
Your sum-up of why EoL fell short is exactly how I felt about Babylon. Very pretty, great performances, but something just felt off the whole time. That's not to say it's totally without brilliance, just not one of the "greats" from my perspective.
Babylon was simply too long. It could easily have been 30-60 minutes less with no problem. The whole thing with Toby McGuire was just bad, to put it simply.
@@LouiseAndersen1991 THANK YOU OHMYGOD someone else said it! That Toby McGuire scene should have been cut completely.
Excellent point!
This might not quite fit in the category you've outlined for Oscar Fiascos or Omissions, but I would love a look at The Misfits. It's known today largely as the last movie from Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe (and for fans of Marilyn, the movie that put the final nail in the coffin of her marriage to Arthur Miller), but it's so under-seen and under-appreciated. It's one of my absolute favorites and the fact that it had John Huston directing, Arthur Miller writing, Gable, Monroe, Clift, Wallach, and Ritter as the actors, and Alex North scoring, it seems to me a sign that it could have been made partially with the hope of a fair showing at the Oscars, from which it was totally (to me, explicably) shut out. Be Kind Rewind did a great video on it focused largely on how the movie plays around with Marilyn's persona, but I think a more Oscar-focused look at it would be very interesting.
Also, I shrieked out loud when you mentioned Pearl as a possible Oscar Omissions video- yes, please! I'm still mad about Mia Goth not being nominated
Interesting idea, thanks for watching!
It sounds like this should have been a tv series, instead of a movie, with multiple threads that need space to breathe before fitting together. This is also only the second time I've ever heard of this movie.
Haha, thanks for your interest. That’s a great idea for the TV series!
Great analysis hope you can also do The Son, which imo is the biggest Oscar fiasco of the last year. Also maybe worth mentioning from last 15 years: Hillbilly Elegy, Respect, The Son, Big Eyes, Babylon, Freeheld, J. Edgar, First Man, She Said, Nightmare Alley, Wonderstruck, Film Stars don't die in Liverpool, Albert Nobbs(i know it got nominated but Glenn was the frontrunner along with Meryl before the film was seen), Loving(it was predicted all over the place before awards season kicked in), Labor Day, Nine, Victoria and Abdul, Suffragette, Wonder Wheel, The Butler, Ammonite and many more.
Love these fiasco ideas, thanks!
This is my thing. I'm exhausted of Olivia Coleman, my bias aside of Glenn Close being robbed. I'm sick of the narrative she's the new Meryl Streep and everything she does gets nominated.
1) she is not good enough for 4 oscar noms on 5 years
2) She plays the same older broken woman, with some kind of mental instability and has a major scene of her yelling Britishly with a finger point.
3) Every year she gets "career-best" reviews. Those reviews mean nothing when it's done every year. When Blanchett was given career best it was earned and no one used that term for her since Blue Jasmine.
She's good, but not that good like Film Twitter tries to make her out to be. You looked at last year and how competitive the race was and Riseborough and Blanchett destroyed her performance on the acting level. If Coleman wants to keep an audience engaged, she has to offer a lil more variety, or something we weren't expecting. I had plenty of friends who saw it and said "she's good but I wouldve preferred watching something else"
its a shame because I think the best work of her career is her TV and some of her earlier comedies. She is really spectacular in those, it seems like she's been getting pigeonholed recently
It's Colman not Coleman, and I completely disagree with you. Her acting is effortless, and she is far more versatile than you give her credit for. She is definitely on the level of Riseborough and Blanchett, and has many great performances ahead of her. Just watch.
@johnnolan5579 if it was so effortless I should see her doing more things than a british scream with a finger point in her Oscar films
@@SoulKnightKing Whatever.
"yelling Britishly" SCREAM.
Would love to see a video on what happened with Babylon and awards season. I loved that movie and thought it was a great Hollywood story with a great cast. We need that video!
Awesome, I’ll definitely make it!
Hahaha, I don’t know why, but I was shocked when you said you’re based in Reno. Much love from Vancouver BC!
Thanks for watching!
Speaking on Being the Ricardos; its crazy that that film's best performance, Nina Arianda, was the only main cast member not nominated. Stupid.
I know!!
COLD MOUNTAIN
Probably my fav Oscar fiasco
Hey Brian! When you mentioned Pearl, I had a thought that I’d love to see a vjdeo about the Oscars’ history with horror movies. Idk if you’re a horror movie person, but I would love to see someone break that down!!!
Sweeeet, will definitely do this, I love horror!
Great video, spot on. I can’t stand Sam Mendes, a very entitled establishment figure who has sucked the life out of British cinema. Michael Ward is excellent in Top Boy so when I saw him on the Empire of Light poster my reaction was ‘I want to see that’ but then I saw Mendes’ name and thought ‘no way’. ‘American Beauty’ had a great screenplay that I read before seeing Mendes’ film and my reaction was just disappointment then because of changes Mendes made. I hope you do ‘The Goldfinch’ or ‘The Color Purple’ at some point.
Thanks so much!
Excellent! I'm excited to see your analysis of Babylon-- LOVED that film, surprisingly flopped. I still think it will develop a cult following over the years, and will be studied by film students in the future. Great video!
Thanks! Will definitely get to Babylon!
I watched Empire of Light mainly because of Olivia Colman and I watch whatever projects she has (even the upcoming MCU series Secret Invasion!). She holds a compelling presence, even if she’s not like Meryl or Cate when it comes to accent skill (an example is the film Them That Follow, one of the few Olivia films where she plays an American. It’s an average film at best, and she doesn’t have a lot of screentime. Its plot is very niche and didn’t have much mainstream traction even among the Colman stans). My main problem with Empire of Light is that their premise/USP when they were promoting the film was that it was a “love letter to cinema” - but turns out it’s mainly a story about employees at a dying movie house. Olivia’s character Hillary and Micheal Ward’s character Steven have interesting arcs, but it would have been much better if they were separate movies instead.
You were not able to mention this, but I think of another factor why Empire of Light flopped at the Oscars was its underperformance at the BAFTAs, even when the longlists (that are more of shortlists before the finals) were announced. And, aha, Olivia Colman was SNUBBED! At the longlist! She made it to the longlists for The Father and The Lost Daughter, only to be snubbed in the final 6.
I stand by this ongoing theory that since The Favourite launched Olivia to Hollywood stardom, the BAFTAs started to hate her. How so? She kept on getting snubbed for nominations from both her TV and film work post-The Favourite - The Crown (her turn for both seasons 3 and 4), Fleabag (season 2), The Father, The Lost Daughter, Landscapers (although she got a BAFTA TV nomination as one of the executive producers, but not Leading Actress!), and now Empire of Light. Her BBC/FX show, Great Expectations, isn’t really making buzz, unfortunately.
The BAFTA snubs, and as well as the Olivier Awards, is also applicable in some instances of other alumni of The Crown. It doesn’t help that Prince William is the BAFTA president - Emma Corrin and Elizabeth Debicki were snubbed for their turns playing Princess Diana, Claire Foy and Matt Smith were both snubbed for their leading performances in the play Lungs, when it was eligible at the Olivier Awards (it was staged in autumn 2019 and eligible for the 2020 nominations, where it was shut out despite Claire’s WhatsOnStage win), Victoria Hamilton for the play Albion when it was eligible for the 2017-18 Olivier season. Even The Crown this season underperformed again at the TV BAFTAs. Although it depends on circumstance and the clout of the actor if being in The Crown helped raised their profiles in their other projects on stage or on screen.
Interesting, thanks so much for your thorough comment!
A great start to what I believe will be a great series. Babylon next!!!!
Yes!!
I 100% believe if EoL was a foreign language film, people would be hailing it as a classic.
Interesting!
For me, the relationships in the movie never worked. The writing overall was its biggest downfall.
Exactly!
@@TheAwardsContender if Olivia Coleman can’t make your dialogue engaging, then that says a lot lol
This season especially seems like we get many big directors to work with no restraint. Which is great on the one hand, but sadly also shows us that filmmaking tends to be a collaborative effort that also needs people questioning your decisions and reigning you in to some extent. Babylon, Empire of Light, Beau is Afraid ... I just hope that these movies do not largely ruin the director's careers and help them get on the succcessful movie path again ...
Interesting point!
I felt the same with Bardo, Blonde, and Tenet
I saw the film and it was beautifully shot but the film was kinda dull. FABLEMANS was the film that academy wanted to honor more than Empire of Light and there wouldn’t competition. And there has been an oversaturation of Olivia Colman even though she’s been doing great acting opportunities
Yep, good points!
Will you make an video over oscar fiasco of Bardo. Everyone thought in august that this would win International feature and maybe director & cinematography (were it for nominated was…)
Good idea!
I thoroughly enjoyed EOL, but there’s only so many slots available at the Oscars for nominations. It probably just bubbled under getting some key nominations I would imagine. Sam Mendes is really more a theater director now (look no further than his multiple Tony wins), and I think there are certain actors where fatigue sets in. Colman has been riding this huge wave since her Oscar win. I think (just imo) there’s this conscious or subconscious thing where everyone goes oh not them again! This might’ve been part of the reason Colman didn’t make the final five, but it was a crowded field with many runners up ahead of her most likely. That’s why I think Frances McDormand won’t probably win another Oscar. At least anytime soon. She’s been rewarded a lot. Even Streep hasn’t been nominated in five years, but her film projects have slowed down a bit.
Yes, I agree with all these points!
Thanks for another excellent, informative episode, Brian! You are a worthy successor to Roger Ebert. Thank God for you!
Thank you!
Part of me does think it would've been more of an awards contender had it come out the year before, its lament for community and the cinema going experience would've probably struck a bigger chord prior to Top Gun's success. With that said, the movie is a bit hokey but I really do enjoy the atmosphere of it.
Yes, agreed!
One film that has always stuck with me as a film trying hard to win and oscar failing is Pay It Forward
YES OMG
I just saw this film yesterday via a Philippine Airlines flight from Manila to Vancover with 2 other noteworthy films you mentioned here, The Fabelmans and The Whale. I watched also, I, Leslie (I think) - great performance by the lead actress. If the 3 movies Empire is the best for me. The Whale seems the most boring - is it based on a play since the setting is mostly in the living room?
Interesting!
Brian you got a great channel going, im really loving your videos and tone etc! keep up the amazing work 👏 🙌🏻
Yay, thanks, Dustin!
Love this!!! Great idea for a on-going series. Ever year we have shoe-in-Oscar-bait movies that totally fall flat.
😅🍿🏆♥️
Yup. Thanks for your interest!
Great series! House Of Gucci would have been perfect to cover during 2021-2022.
Yes, I would love to explore that one!
American Beauty and Spectre are the only Mendes films with pop sensibility, which is something that The Fablemans has which keeps it from tipping altogether into bathos.
There’s nothing wrong with using nostalgia as a selling point, but it’s eighties pop nostalgia that has been in, and worked well in Bones and All last year, and not the British middle-high brow nostalgia, like a character quoting Tennyson.
The ‘love of the movies’ theme is also a niche middlebrow sentiment that doesn’t have much substance when just straightforwardly stated.
Good points, thanks for watching!
Great video. I look forward to seeing more of this series.
Yay, glad to hear it!
I did see Empire of Light in theaters. I liked it, but there were too many threads to tie together cohesively. Olivia Coleman gave a tragic performance. Deacon’s cinematography didn’t wow me like what he’s done and won for in the past. I don’t quite agree that it was a fiasco but a muddled Oscar bait that didn’t get critical teeth to sink into it. It was fine. I don’t think it was a laborious watch to get through, but it does keep you wondering what the sprawling thesis was. I just think it was more on the lines of a slice-of-life film that couldn’t get across what the filmmaker wanted to articulate and express cohesively. An Oscar’s fiasco was snubbing Danielle Deadwyler, for sure, but I suppose this is a launching pad for this series. Interested to see how this evolves and grows.
Awesome, glad you liked it!
This is the kind of movie that I think will work for people who haven't seen many similar films. We've seen all of this before in so many shapes and sizes, but if a casual viewer gives it a try because they like Olivia Colman, and they maybe don't know much about recent history of racism or mental health in Britain, or who haven't heard the inspiring speeches about how film works, it could really work. It just doesn't give enough to people who already know all of that. I'm sure I would have loved it if I was fifteen.
Interesting perspective, thank you!
I think it helps to have lived in England for an American to really enjoy and "get" the film. I taught at a comprehensive school in the midlands during the Thatcher years when EOL took place. One thing I really liked about the film was that the group of the people were ordinary & supported each other - didn’t feel the need to have ‘characters’. Also thought that Olivia Colman was superb at showing her manic state. It rang true to me.
That’s great, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Modern films find it hard to recreate eras now,the clothing,the language is always off,they don't seem to reaerch properly,they could look at UA-cam and see what it was actually like,instead they are lazy and sticking a few 80's posters and snacks in the cinema lobby are suppose to scream genuine 80's.
Story had way too much going on,like the they stuck a load of issues in a blender then filmed them,Olivia Colman was fine but the other actors looked like TV actors trying out the big screen.
Agreed, there’s a good movie in there, but it just tried to do too much. Thanks for watching!
great that you are doing a different series with fiasco... the elusive oscar was good, but making other series keep us interested, well done.
Awesome, thanks!
Here in Canada I remember it checking theatre sites and seeing it screening once as well, except it was at 11:45. Almost. at. midnight. I had heard it got dumped in theatres after the festivals but god, Searchlight really just gave up on the movie
They totally did!
Gli Oscar 2023 sono stati uno scandalo su tutta la linea.Hanno privilegiato il business, le ragioni ideogiche di equità sociale(sic...),a scapito della spontaneità creativa e della bravura degli attori. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
So many possibilities with this series: All the King's Men, The Soloist, Ready Player One (ha), Pocahontas...really, there are plenty to choose from!
Yes, absolutely!
So many films flopped at this years Oscars- Fablemans, Elvis, Tar ... As Everything Everywhere swept up way too many Oscars...At 7 Oscars it (supposedly) makes it one of the greatest films ever...
Very true!
I’m now watching this video while recovering from covid - thanks for the distraction and discussion
You’re very welcome! Feel better!
No or few nominations at the Academy Awards shouldn’t be a measure of how good or successful a movie is… that’s highly subjective…
True!
10:10 AM? Didn't even know theaters anywhere even played movies that early. They may not have even bothered showing it at all. As an Oscar fiasco how about for example The Turning Point (1977) or The Color Purple both of which were nominated for 11 (!) Oscars and won nothing. There may be a couple of other Spielberg Oscar-bate-y movies that ended up on this list as well.
Great idea!
Honestly the only reason I watched this movie was because of Roger Deakins. It was wonderfully shot, but the movie itself was just okay. I think there was a better movie somewhere under the hood, even with Mendes’ direction and screenplay.
Also kinda funny how one of the scenes and even the title of the movie are a reference to how movies are projected on film, but yet it was shot digitally.
I watched this and i loved it! It had everything in it! Here's to Olivia Coleman and Sam Mendes plus Supporting Cast!❤
I enjoyed EOL, I don't agree with a lot of the criticism but admit that it is not Mendes at his best. Quintessentially English Film, perhaps it doesn't travel well. For me it was definitely better than that mess EEAAO. But tastes differ.
Interesting!
I actually enjoyed this film more than you did, and more than several of the films nominated for best picture (Elvis anyone?), and I thought Olivia Colman was far more deserving of an Oscar nomination than Michelle William's over-the-top Mama Spielberg.
Thanks for your interest!
Thanks for shining light ( no pun intended ) on this movie, Brian! I will definitely have to watch it 😊
Thanks for your interest!
Had Danielle Detwiler had been nominated at the Oscars for Till, would you have predicted her to win or would you still had Michelle Yeoh to win? This question is actually to Brian Rowe.
Good question. I’d like to know the answer to that as well.
There is no chance Till could win any award. Film was mediocre and low on buzz. Deadwyler failed to win any one of the major awards leading to the Oscars. She’d probably be the 4th or 5th contender if she had been nominated.
Imo, it would've been Cate Blanchette. She was always the front runner until Yeoh gained steam at the very end. Deadwyler's film is also meh which doesn't help her chances.
@@jonathanvelazquezph.d.2719 Cate Blanchett has no "e" at the end of her last name.
No, it was always between Blanchett and Yeoh. Would’ve stuck with Yeoh.
I am glad to hear analysis why some films failed and was it warranted.
Great!
I'm not surprised when mediocre movies get acting nominations and wins . A crappy movie can have good acting.
Yup
This is a great series idea!! I'll have to go back and look at lists of Oscar nominated movies to see if I have my own suggestions but I feel like The Fabelmann's is another fiasco. Sorry Spielberg but not a damn thing about that movie was interesting to me. And with Empire of Light I had no idea about this movie and it looks boring as all hell.
Thanks, I’m thinking of doing Babylon next!
Everything I heard about this movie kept comparing it to Cinema Paradiso. That's a tough bar to reach.
The only thing Empire of Light had going for it was the amazing Olivia Colman. Sam Mendez is an asshole director too.
Edit: I SO need an Oscar omission video for Mia Goth in Pearl(not just the movie which is fantastic but her performance was phenomenal! Justice for her and Danielle Deadwyler 😢)
Thanks for watching!
The very definition of a bad movie is one that's made for completion and not for audiences.
Thanks for watching!
If Sam Mendes can’t win an Oscar for 1917, he’ll never win a second Oscar.
I don’t know, I still think he can win again!
I’m not a Sam Mendes fan. Actually, I hate most of his films. But this movie is pretty good. Not perfect, but emotionally satisfying and worth a watch.
Interesting!
I know not many people liked this movie but I loved it... and am scared to watch it again. I was a mentally ill manager at a small movie theatre absolutely saved by the community I found there about a decade ago. Totally related to Olivia Colman's character (thankfully minus the shenanigans with my boss). Saw it in 2022 thinking "whoa, I can really relate to this based on my past". 2023 hits and I have another horrible mental breakdown and end up picking up a side gig at the theatre... which once again saved my life. So yeah, I think it would wreck me even harder if I watched it now. I do agree it tried to tackle too much, the racial conflict and sexual harassment kind of felt thrown in there to make it more serious.
Emilio Estevez’s huge ensemble epic “Bobby”. The Film was Slated for oscar greatness, and then, silence.
Good idea!
I can't be the only one who said What's the Empire of Light?
😂😂😂
I watched Empire of Light after watching this and I think Kermode got it right. It's way overstuffed with too many stories. What is it about, really? Plus, you would think someone would have done a release date check on the movies showing at the Empire, they were wildly inconsistent but that's picking nits. What could have been a real tribute to film and theatres it's a muddled mess. Unfortunate.
So interesting that you watched the film after watching my video. Thanks for your interest!
@@TheAwardsContender Sure thing. Your videos are very insightful and I enjoyed your Ocar coverage this year. Great work!
I actually quite liked the movie. It’s flawed. The writing was a bit on the nose. However Coleman is great and I thought it had real heart.
Yes, it had some things to admire for sure!
waiting for video about Little Children
Good one!
I was convinced this was going to be one of my favorites of the year. Man what a let down. It's not a terrible movie but it's so disappointing.
His last two films were huge duds, yet nominated for Oscar's
Love this new series!
Yay!
EOL among my TOP # FAVE FILMS OF THE YEAR!
Interesting!
I absolutely love this movie. I love the feeling of watching it. I hope it ends up a cult classic.
Hey I LOVE being the Ricardos, that movie make me cry every time, some respect please
😃
@@TheAwardsContender
amazing movie 10 out of 10
The Fabelmans being nominated for a tons of Oscars because it's a very subtle gay coming of age story lol 😂
That prom hallway scene is so gay.
You got that vibe too? lol.
@@johnnolan5579 I just expected them to kiss at the end lol... also it's kinda weird seeing Sammy obsessed with his bully's sweaty abs 😭
🤔
Yeahhhh not gonna deny I felt some of this too.
Are these fiascos or are they just really obvious Oscar bait?
Haha both!
BABYLON was STUNNINGLY BAD -- OH MY GOD, I am glad I didn't try to watch it in the cinema. Cinematic masturbation at its worst. Some compelling sequences but far less than the sum of its parts.
I don’t think that I’d enjoy having lunch with you
Bitter much
You know the movie's rough when people say the nomination of Roger Deakins, one of the best DPs out there and possibly of all time, was questionable this year
Haha, exactly!
How about "Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool" and "20th Century Women". Two almost certain Oscar nominations for Annette Benning that didn't happen! Also. "The Front Runner" with Hugh Jackman.
Yes, great ideas!
This was a film I didn’t hear too much about until the awards season and even then it sort of just went away in conversation like it just came and went. Thank you for giving your thoughts on this film Brian, keep up the great work and have a great day!
Thanks, Jared!
Is the best film I’ve ever seen, Olivia Colman should have won the Oscar but it’s fixed
love how you're calling brother bro by his nickname
how can you not like early morning showtimes? lol they're perfect for doing a double feature and I feel those early showings attract avid moviegoers who are actually there for the movie (and not on their phones the whole time)
Good point, I was just peeved in not having a choice.
Could you do an Oscar Fiasco video about Till?
The movie is SOOOO BORING!!!!!!!!!! Nothing happens
Pretty slow, yes.