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In late February, Searchlight announced the start of production for a film calledEmpire of Light.
Yes, thats right: Sam Mendes is finally making hisRoma.
These days, youre not a real auteur unless you too have lovingly crafted a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age film.
OFTEN pitch the movie as your most personal film following a string of commercial projects.
OFTEN focus specifically on the dissolution of your parents marriage.
ALWAYS subordinate plot to mood and tone.
Youre aiming to conjure the Zeitgeist, not outdo Hitchcock.
OFTEN give hints to the way these early years foreshadowed your future development as an artist.
OFTEN be a dude.
OFTEN shoot in black-and-white.
HOPEFULLY win a bunch of Oscars.
How can we tell all these films apart?
Roma
The director:Alfonso Cuaron, a previous Best Director winner forGravity.
Do the parents get divorced?Yup.
Is it in black-and-white?Yup.
How autobiographical is it?Very!
Ultimately, heestimatesthat 90 percent of the film comes from his personal memories.
(Incidentally, this is also the weakest part of the movie talk about asuspect gear.)
And you have to figure Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe are just slightly better looking than their real-life counterparts.
Might Branagh have been better served by shooting the whole film in color as vibrant as his characters joy?
Do the parents get divorced?Something even worse happens.
Is it in black-and-white?No.
How autobiographical is it?In major plot points, very much so.
Apollo 10 1/2
The director:Richard Linklater, a previous Best Director nominee forBoyhood.
Do the parents get divorced?No.
In real life, Linklater did not go to the moon.
This isRomaas daydream: no plot, just vibes.
Do the parents get divorced?Nope.
Theyre two stiff, posh peas in a pod.
How autobiographical is it?Extremely.
These are strikingly tactile films, invested with the sense-memory of physical objects.
How much of aRomais it?A borderline case.
Rather than being the passion project she made after she was already famous, theSouvenirmovies were her breakthrough.
Empire of Light
The director:Sam Mendes, a previous Best Director winner forAmerican Beauty.
The world:A stately old cinema on the south coast of England in the early 80s.
How much of aRomais it?This is Mendess first solo screenplay credit, which sounds promising.
The world:Postwar Arizona, where the real Spielberg grew up experimenting with 8mm films.
Is it in black-and-white?Unknown.
If thats the case, could this finally be the film that breaks Williamss long Oscar drought?
