Just A Face In The Crowd

Martyn Finn

I’ve been going to the cinema in Middlesbrough now for around 20 years and apart from the odd facelift to its buildings the experience of cinema in Middlesbrough hasn’t changed all that much. The prices of tickets and confectionary has sky rocketed granted, but week after week there’s no surprises as to what’s going to be showing. Chances are if you’ve been infected by viral marketing campaigns for the biggest releases then Middlesbrough will be showing those movies. If talk shows have covered reviews of new releases or national media have highlighted their imminent arrival then Middlesbrough no doubt will screen those movies. That’s all well and good and entirely understandable business as far as multiplexes go but is this as good as it gets?

What about the critically acclaimed films that launch directors and writers and actors and film making teams that aren’t exactly filmed on shoe string budgets and chopped together in a student apartment. Films that go under Middlesbrough’s radar but tantalise us in Variety, Empire or Total Film magazine, or might turn up on review shows tagged as ones to watch. These films don’t get a look in at Middlesbrough’s theatre yet they will be shown in the same cinema chain in Sheffield, the same time places like London, Edinburgh, Manchester will be showing them. Why has Middlesbrough forgotten about these kinds of movies?

Not every week however is as predictable as I make out. From time to time there are Bollywood showings that cater for that wider audience however this will be one film with few screenings not implemented every week. This is made all the more ridiculous if you visit the cinema at 11.30am or even up to 4pm and you can sit either with 60 seats to yourself or be bothered by one perhaps two other spectators who will join you. It beggars belief that a cinema can keep running or bother showing mainstream films during the day with such a poor turn out. Why not show films that otherwise would slip under the radar and bring in those that would jump at the chance of injecting some culture or catching up on what the rest of the country is experiencing.

This might seem like a letter which should be sent to the cinemas of Middlesbrough to beg and plead their managers for more variety and not just piling more showings of Star Trek and Wolverine on top of another. It’s up to them of course to implement the changes but these are changes that are always dictated by us, the audience that comes in with the money. If their finger isn’t on our pulse it’s for a reason, and so if this letter can reach readers in Middlesbrough then hopefully it can spur people to ask for change. Lets not just wait for cinema managers to ring the changes that may never come about.

If I’m honest it feels like cinema goers in Middlesbrough are treated as nothing more than popcorn munchers, viewers who only ever want to switch off with loud noises and bright lights on screen. There is a large section of the viewing public in Middlesbrough that would appreciate more variety and I’m not just talking about art house movies and short films. The simple fact is that there are films at the moment being shown whose theatres are so baron they surely cannot justify their own screenings. Substitute these showings, which throughout the day will still receive a healthy sprinkling of screenings with films that usually sneak beneath our radar