The news broke yesterday that Cineplex will be acquiring four AMC megaplexes in Canada – the AMC Yonge-Dundas 24, the AMC Courtney Park in Mississauga, the AMC Winston Churchill in Oakville and the AMC Forum in Montreal – and with them, AMC Ventures Inc.
Other AMC venues – the Kennedy Commons, the Interchange 30, the Whitby and Kanata megaplexes – were not included in the deal presumably they’ll be shut down and turned into Targets or something once AMC bugs out of Canada in earnest.
This is … well, it’s not bad news, exactly, since AMC had the highest ticket and concession prices and did that thing where they let half-full bags of popcorn sit in a warmer, putting fresh corn on top when they gave it to you. But it’s not great news, because AMC programmed a lot of movies that Cineplex wouldn’t, including Indian and Chinese features imported by boutique distributors.
Of course, it’s possible that the scale of the AMC megaplexes – with 16 to 30 screens demanding constant turnover – allowed those theatres to gamble one or two screens on niche programming like that Andy Lau remake of What Women Want. And Cineplex, which usually topped out at eight or 10 screens when building its own houses, hasn’t needed to consider that sort of thing. They’ll have to now, I suppose. Variety – and pinpoint marketing – is increasingly important to today’s exhibitors. Sure, server-based digital projection makes it possible to open, say, The Amazing Spider-Man on all 24 screens at Yonge and Dundas, but by Monday, once everyone’s seen the weekend’s biggest release a couple of times, you’re gonna need something else to get the audience back.
No offense to the fine folk at either AMC or Cineplex, but there’s no way they’d ever use their real estate for something like the ambitious First People’s Cinema: 1500 Nations, One Tradition that got underway at the Lightbox last night. Jesse Wente, Head of Film Programmes for the Lightbox, has assembled an exhaustive catalogue of aboriginal filmmaking from all over the globe.
Wente’s cast a very wide net – one that stretches from Canada to New Zealand, with stops in Australia, Samoa and the Philippines – but that’s the point. There may be one tradition, as the program title states, but that tradition is expressed differently in every aboriginal culture. No two outsider cinemas are the same.
Canadian content dominates the series’ first weekend. Zacharias Kunuk’s Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner and The Journals Of Knud Rasmussen screen today (Friday) at 5:15 pm and 9:15 pm, respectively, and Marie-Hélène Cousineau’s Before Tomorrow, which Kunuk produced, showing Saturday at 6 pm. A selection of Alanis Obomsawin documentaries play Sunday: Incident At Restigouche and Bastion Point Day 507 at 3:15 pm, and Kanehsatake: 270 Years Of Resistance at 5:30 pm.
Other countries are around, though Warwick Thornton’s Australian hit Samson And Delilah plays Saturday at 6 pm, bracketed by the New Zealand documentaries Mana Waka and Patu! at 1 pm and 9:15 pm, respectively. And Chris Eyre’s Smoke Signals represents the U.S. Sunday at 8:30 pm. And that’s just the start of the series, which runs through August and includes Lee Tamahori’s intense Once Were Warriors (June 29), Tracey Moffatt’s eerie Bedevil (July 11) and Rolf de Heer’s fascinating Ten Canoes (August 4).
There’s also a sidebar, First Peoples: Reclaimed Visions, screening films about First Nations characters that weren’t made by First Nations artists. And not to put too fine a point on it, but those are the movies you’re more likely to have heard of: Nicolas Roeg’s Walkabout Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man Bruce Beresford’s Black Robe.
For my money, though, the highlight of the program is this Monday’s screening of Ryszard Bugajski’s harrowing survival drama Clearcut, introduced by star Graham Greene. Released in 1991 and almost forgotten today – it’s never even turned up on DVD – it’s a terrific three-person thriller that gives literal form to Canadian guilt over the country’s treatment of First Nations peoples and the ravaging of their land, played out between Ron Lea’s conflicted lawyer, Michael Hogan’s rapacious industrialist and Greene’s implacable Native avenger. It’s also beautifully shot in widescreen, and this is likely the last chance you’ll get to see it on a big screen for quite some time.
Providing a little friendly competition, the inaugural edition of the Toronto Korean Film Festival gets underway tonight as well, screening the best of recent Korean cinema at Innis Town Hall. Highlights include Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine (tonight, 7 pm), Jang Joon-hwan’s freaky delight Save The Green Planet! (Sunday, 9 pm), Kim Ki-duk’s delicate Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … And Spring (June 28, 7 pm) and Bong Joon-ho’s compelling Mother (June 29. 9 pm).
The whole thing wraps up on Canada Day with a kickass Park Chan-wook double bill: Sympathy For Lady Vengeance at 6 pm, followed by Oldboy at 9 pm. If it’s too hot to be outside, these films offer a very different sort of fireworks.
Or maybe you’re in the mood for a long night of very cheesy movies, Dion Conflict has something for you, and it’s called Shock & Awe: All Night Grindhouse Movie Marathon.
Starting at 11:30 pm Saturday night, the Revue Cinema will unspool The Groove Tube, Horror Hospital, What Waits Below, a surprise title, Rappin’ and Sleepaway Camp – all in 35mm prints from Conflict’s own collection. Tickets are $25 at the door, or $20 in advance at the Revue, the Fox, Film Buff West, Eyesore Cinema and Suspect Video.
Oh, and then come back to the Revue Sunday at 4 pm for a Silent Sundays screening of Buster Keaton’s delightful 1928 movie-movie The Cameraman, with live accompaniment by William O’Meara. Unless you’re seeing something else, of course.
