“Unthinkable without”: the cinema Christopher Nolan called the backbone of British film culture
While the CEO of Netflix would like us all to believe otherwise, the cinema is, and always will be, the true home of movies, as without those sacred picture houses, the industry is nothing.
“There’s no reason to believe that the movie itself is better in any size of screen for all people,” Netflix’s Ted Sarandos once told the New York Times, before adding one of the most laughable statements of the century, “My son’s an editor, he watched Lawrence of Arabia on his phone”.
Sure, there is absolutely nothing to stop you from watching the three-hours and 30-minute-long historical epic on your phone, except for the fact that it’s completely insane.
It’s not just that a film like that is meant to be seen on the big screen, as all movies really are, but specifically, a film that long demands a certain context. It demands concentration, comfort and even community as the act of simply sitting next to someone, gasping at the same moments, laughing at the same jokes, all focusing together, is a vital part of the experience. In short, it demands the specific atmosphere of a cinema, which is exactly what they were made for.
In the age of streaming, big bosses like that are working overtime to try and make people forget how important the cinema is, trying to tell viewers that they don’t need to leave their home, but there is one group of people who will never stop loudly advocating for theatres to stay open, and that’s filmmakers.
You don’t go to the effort of shooting an entire epic feature solely on 70mm IMAX film just for someone to watch it as short clips on their phone, and naturally, Christopher Nolan is a loud supporter of cinemas. In the modern age of movie makers, it’s tough to think of a director more specifically built for cinema viewing than Nolan, and for the clearest example, just think of Oppenheimer’s bomb test scene and that extended moment of silence leading to a seat-shaking boom. That is a moment made solely for a big screen and for the communal experience of that whole audience jumping at the same time; it’s also long, so it was made for those comfy chairs and a big bucket of popcorn.
Nolan is an advocate for all cinemas, anywhere, but if he had to focus on saving just one, it would be the historic and iconic Prince Charles, sitting just off Leicester Square in the epicentre of London.
Ask anyone who frequents the cinema, and they’ll tell you a million reasons why it’s so special, noting things like their special all-nighter events where you can lock in and watch every David Lynch film until the sun comes up, or simply the low prices of their snacks. For me, the magic of the Prince Charles lies in how eclectic their programming is. If there is ever a film you’ve wanted to see, whether it’s an old trippy 1970s cult classic or a 1990s blockbuster, chances are you’ll find it listed one day. You can go there at three on a Friday and watch La Haine, go at eight on a Saturday night to see Chicago, or head down one weekend to see Timothee Chalamet live in the flesh, introducing Marty Supreme.
“Film culture in Great Britain is unthinkable without the Prince Charles,” Nolan said about the spot in a succinct statement to GQ. As the favoured cinema of your favourite filmmakers, it’s not just that Prince Charles is great, but it is truly representative of the greatness of all cinemas, everywhere.
