Action, drama, adventure, romance, low budget comedy - the Garibaldi 5 Cinema in Squamish had it all, and that was just in the ticket line up. Make no mistake, the closing of this theatre is a historic moment in Squamish's murky entertainment history and what a ride it's been.
The year was 2004. W was president and we were smug in our belief Canada would never allow an ideological right wing buffoon to destroy our country good times. Closer to home, Squamish was desperately trying to fight highway sprawl and had a fiercely downtown-first council. Then Squamish put on visionless hypocrite pants and paved the way for Wal-Mart and highway sprawl. One seemed to sweeten public opinion by having a movie theatre in the mix. Well, this town was absolutely starving for a theatre, so before anyone could tell if it would still be there after the build out, decades of chanting "Squamish needs a movie theatre" were replaced with "Yay, we have a movie theatre (too bad it's not downtown)." Opening weekend was insane. Carpets were spotless, chairs smelled fresh, and the very young staff was frantically trying to figure out efficiencies (two of those things changed over the years). There was a fundraiser showing of Shrek, but it didn't matter what was playing, teens were glad to have a place to hang and parents loved not having to drive to Vancouver.
Another highlight was the "community gathering" films like any midnight showing where gaggles of people would dress up for the occasion. Plus the girl's night movies (yes, I'll even miss those). Hearing a cork pop at the beginning of Sex and the City and the sounds of an entire theatre letting loose and having a hoot is a great experience even if you're not the target audience.
At final count I reviewed 343 films, any guess how many were negative vs. positive? Surprisingly the total stands today at 45 per cent positive, 30 per cent slice your throat horrible and 25 per cent with a solid review of "meh." A surprising total considering multiplexes, by their very nature; have to show the absolute worst Hollywood films. This is due to the distribution model that forces big blockbusters to only be delivered to theatres also taking the distributors "contractual obligation" crap.
This is one reason the death of the multi-plex is a long time coming especially those that refuse to adapt to the digital writing on the wall or find a niche. And as much as I hope our theatre's evolution keeps one or two screens, my favourite was always room five at the back. It was the smallest and inevitably it was where the best indie or foreign films ended up.
Finally, it is interesting to note that this theatre opened within weeks of Christopher Nolan's first Batman and closed two weeks after his last. Much like that fantastic franchise, we are left with only the faintest hope that things will return better and stronger. And dare I add... downtown.
