Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!

Last week, I watched a bunch of Minnie Driver movies. Tina reviewed V is for Victory by Lissa Evans, the author’s second story about two British characters during WWII — Tina is hoping for a third.

Empire of Light isn’t a romance, but it does make a great date night movie for people who love films, movie theaters, and art deco architecture.

Hilary Small (Olivia Colman) is the duty manager of The Empire Cinema. Her only human relationships are with her co-workers, a quirky set of individuals. Most, but not all, of them are good souls who value Hilary on her own terms, although she struggles to feel that.

Hilary finds a solution to her loneliness and a distraction from her mental health problems in a new British Black employee, Stephen (Michael Ward).

We see 1981 arrive as the New Year. This story plays out in a backdrop of the rise of the skinheads and racial tension across Britain.

The setting for this film is Margate, a seaside town in Kent with beautiful sandy beaches. It’s a traditional holiday destination for Londoners. The Visit Kent website has a terrific article about Margate’s role in Empire of Light.

For next week’s post, I’m going to take a fantasy visit to Margate because I really fell in love with the place while watching this movie.

Here’s a trailer to get a taste of the movie and location:

Have you seen Empire of Light? Did its movie magic work for you?