Lets pretend for a moment that you want to see a movie from the comfort of your couch. You punch in Netflix, attempt to find the film which should be easy, the movie is a classic and you come up with nothing.
What can you do? Where are you going to go to find a copy of, say, The French Connection?
As it turns out, the renter still has options, even if dinosaurs like Rogers Video and Blockbuster have been driven to extinction.
The venerable granddaddy of independent video stores, Black Dog Video, still maintains two locations, one on Cambie, the other on Commercial. Its been a tough year, says proprietor Darren Gay. Theres so much out there to compete against now the Netflix, VOD, Redbox, illegal and legal downloading....
But what Gay adds as a caveat is echoed by staff at stores from Limelight to They Live Video people like interacting with other people, preferably someone who has some knowledge of what theyre talking about. Instead of letting Netflix recommend other movies to you via keyword searches and genre staples, stores such as Black Dog have the staff and the selection to offer alternatives.
Not that these locations are necessarily hubs of underground cinema. Even They Live Video, a store named after a cult John Carpenter film, makes the rent by offering blockbuster, mainstream videos.
Still, nearly every location mentioned some kind of specialization documentaries and British movies in Limelights case, and genuinely oddball offerings at They Live. Blockbuster movies are our bread and butter, said Ben Jacques, owner of They Live. But that gives us the money to get a hold of the really weird stuff that you cant normally find.
Of course, repertory film houses have known about this for a long time, and classic films (either reissues or otherwise improved screenings) remain mainstays at theatres such as The Cinematheque. It helps that it is non-profit, but once again knowledge and availability are key to the theatres success. We have a huge library of films to draw from, said Jim Sinclair, executive and artistic director. But we try to provide information and context for whatever films were showing.
Other theatres are going repertory as well, trying to provide film classics as well as a traditional evening out. Vancity Theatre in Yaletown is offering a $50 Holiday Film Pass, valid for all film showings from Dec 21 to Jan 2. It will be home to a number of classics for the holiday season, ranging from the obligatory Woody Allen retrospective to series devoted to directors such as the Coen Brothers and Jacques Demy.
These are all labours of love for the most part. Im broke. I work 12 hours a day, and I make about four dollars a day after everything, They Live Videos Ben Jacques said. While Limelight Video is not about to go out of business, they have still dealt with a loss of about 20 per cent rentals. Some businesses such as Rio Theatre and They Live are unafraid to mix media Rio regularly hosts cabarets and special events, and They Live runs karaoke nights.
But what these businesses provide is something sorely missing in online transactions. Were hoping that we can continue to stay in business and offer our great customers a fun, comfortable place to peruse our awesome collection and talk to an actual human being, said Darren Gay.
Comfort may still be attractive in this digital age.
