Reflections on a cinema

Ever since I started going to movies down here in Columbus, I've had a soft spot for the Drexel Grandview Theatre. This theatre, about a twenty minute walk from my apartment, is your basic old-school neighborhood movie house. Whereas other theatres in the area offer everything from sandwiches and alcohol to stadium seating and IMAX, the Grandview is a no-frills operation, serving just your basic concession items- popcorn, candy, soda, and your requisite snacks- and more often than not is staffed by two or three people, one to sell tickets and run the projector, the others to sell concessions and clean up. Hell, they don't even have their own parking lot. But all these things are part of the charm. At a time when multiplexes tend to resemble Vegas casinos or alien ships, there's something comforting to visit a theatre with a tiled lobby and upholstered walls. They still use the old roll-style ticket stock, and they don't accept credit cards, but it's a small price to pay for a relaxing setting in which to watch a movie.

And yet the relaxation I get from the surroundings is twinged with more than a little sadness, as the place has more than its share of problems along with its comforts. One of the sadder ones is the seats. Now, I love the seats at the Grandview- the old-fashioned padded, folding theatre seats that have just enough padding in the butt cushion and just enough give in the back to be really comfortable. But it's a good thing I habitually arrive early and sit in my same seat, otherwise I might have a hard time find a seat that (a) has both of its armrests, and (b) doesn't have torn upholstery. To cite one example, the seat next to my regular seat has been torn for years. I'm not sure if nobody has noticed, or nobody has cared to fix it. I'd wager it's the ladder.

In addition, there are some pretty glaring presentation problems to reckon with. The sound system is pretty old and probably hasn't been fine-tuned in years (one reason why I sit in front). But even worse is the picture quality. The masking around the screen doesn't adjust, which wouldn't be a big deal except that the projector's aperture plate is visibly dirty, which isn't a problem on flat movies but is really distracting on 'scope. In addition, some of the masking is torn, and on a flat movie it hangs down into the image.

However, the biggest problem I have is a design flaw that probably dates back to the theatre's construction. The projection booth is almost directly above the box office, and so the image is projected out of the booth's port glass, through the high-ceilinged concession lobby, through a second window, and then over the audience onto the screen. Not ideal, but not terrible, except that the directly under the second window sits the theatre's popcorn popper, which when it's turned on expels steam from its exhaust vent, which then travels directly through the path of the projected image. When this happens, it's plainly visible onscreen, and is highly distracting. Imagine watching a movie in a sauna and you have the idea.

The Drexel Grandview shows mostly arthouse-oriented movies, and because of the prevalence of DV-shot indies and documentaries in the arthouse market the visual quality of some movies suffers more than others. But honestly, it shouldn't matter. If the owners of the theatre really cared about their visual presentation, they would try to formulate a solution to this issue in order to improve their projection standards- perhaps a duct from the top of the popper that could carry the exhaust around the image path instead of through it.

Unfortunately, judging by this and other necessary repairs that have yet to be undertaken, this probably won't happen anytime soon. At a time when more people are waiting for DVD to watch movies, arthouse movies are especially vulnerable to dips in attendance. People outside the major markets have no other option available, and people in the big markets figure they don't need the big-screen experience in the same way as, say, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. So while the multiplexes try to hold onto the crowds with expanded concession offerings and state-of-the-art performance gizmos like digital projection, small theatres like the Grandview get left in the dust.

From a business standpoint, I have no doubt that it's something of a white elephant, a money pit. But if one really cares about cinema and the experience of watching movies, it can also be a labor of love. One of my dreams has always been that if I had enough money, I'd buy, restore, and operate an old movie house. If I was given a chance to do so with the Grandview, I'd jump at it. Something about watching a movie in a place like that feels right in a way that it doesn't at the snazzier, more modern theatres, and I only hope that its owners will finally fix its big problems while keeping what makes it special. After all, I'm not sure I like the idea of a future with nothing but prefab multiplexes.