‘Scala!!!’ movie review: a great story let down by lacklustre storytelling
If there’s one takeaway from Scala!!!, it’s that history is inescapable. While the film effectively highlights its legacy as a left-field cinema and subculture hub during the 1980s and ’90s, the storytelling falls short of capturing the brilliance inherent in its narrative.
The Scala Cinema was unlike anything else. They seemed to show absolutely anything they wanted, from blue movies to blockbusters, kung fu flicks to gory horror. Hosting conventions or providing a place for musicians to rest after gigs, buying tickets to all-night movie marathons just to sleep in its auditorium, the picture house was a buzzing hub of culture and excitement. With so much going on, the narrative presented in Scala!!! deserved better.
For the majority of the documentary, there is little visual stimulation beyond direct-address interviews. There seems to be an endless stream of faces there to tell their stories and relive their connection to the cinema. But with not much else to hook onto and a distinctly uncinematic style, outsiders are left feeling disconnected as the film feels like it was almost made for its cast.
While John Waters and Stewart Lee especially prove captivating and charming interviewees, the same can’t be said for everyone. As it’s led pretty much exclusively by anecdotes, the viewing experience is stalled by distinctly unexciting voices.
If the purpose of Scala!!! is to make the audience regurgitate the cliché, “I was born in the wrong generation,” it succeeded. It is a pure nostalgia trip, reminding us time and time again that a place like this cannot and will not exist again. Even stories of deaths in the venue or the dangerous setting of Kings Cross during its worst economic neglect are told with “the good old days” type of spirit.
But amidst that lies a more interesting part of the story, which feels slightly rushed. In the third act, the set up of the Scala as a subversive cultural hub seems to find a genuine grip too late. In the first hour, the relationship between the queer community and the cinema doesn’t get much more substance beyond proving how cool and pioneering the venue was. Tales about it being a buzzing cruising location or a place of real queer hedonism are mixed in as simply more fun stories from a fun little spot. But as the decline begins, the mention of Thatcher, Section 28 and the political climate of the country is a rushed final point that could have made up the entire film.
There is a brief mention at one point that Scala felt like it had an X on its forehead – this really could have been the crux of the entire documentary, serving as an anchoring point that it lacked. Recounting all too swiftly how the banned movie, A Clockwork Orange, led to the undoing of the venue as the authorities finally closed in, the documentary made it seem like it was all over in the blink of an eye. Instead, Scala!!! could have been a really meaningful piece about the way the government crept closer and closer, squeezing cultural landmarks to death, if only it had reserved less space for rose-tinted recollections.
While a fun watch centred around a very worthy subject, the execution of Scala!!! Feels more like a memory box than a movie. The venue simply deserved more.
