This blog is named after one of my all-time favourite independent cinemas, the Ultimate Picture Palace in Oxford, just off Cowley road. Now, I'm reluctant to blithely join the ranks of those people who bemoan multiplexes just for the sake of it (some multiplexes are actually very good at screeing a broad spectrum of films) but it has to be said that my local Vue- with it's plush red seats,gargantuan screens and generally respectable clientele- couldn't hope to have a fraction of the character and charm of the (let's face it) hovel that is the Ultimate Picture Palace. I actually mean this in the nicest possible way. If I'm honest, I'm not even sure if the Ultimate Picture Palace can legally be considered a cinema since, as far as I'm aware, it doesn't even serve popcorn and the whole thing consists of a tiny ticket kiosk and one screening room. You walk through the front door and you literally find yourself in front the screen- at some stage somebody clearly decided that a corridor would be decadent; you've got to admire the simplicity.
The screening room has a real sense of atmosphere that I think lends itself beautifully to beautiful films. Any philistine who genuinely believes that it doesn't matter where you watch a film should go to the Ultimate Picture Palace. It's hard to pin down exactly what the cool, shabby,unpretentious interior of the Ultimate Picture Palace lent to the films I watched there because it's ultimately intangible. Nonetheless, I know that somehow my experience would have been different if I hadn't seen those films at the UPP. Take, for instance, The Battle of Algiers, I really feel that its gritty, tense cinematography was enhanced by the screening room's threadbare appearance. It just wouldn't feel right watching a film as dark and claustrophobic as The Battle of Algiers in the sanitised, sterile environment of the local multiplex. I'm a real believer in the cinema being a full experience, it's not just about the pictures on the screen but the ambience of the building which can add to a film in wonderful and unexpected ways.
If you're ever in Oxford, do check out the Ultimate Picture Palace- you probably won't get popcorn, there's likely to be something sticky on the floor and the upholstery will invariably be peeling away but you'll come away with a warm fuzzy feeling- I promise you.
