Curtain closes on The Carlton

by: Chandler Levack

November 17, 2009 5:57 PM

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After the Festival Cinemas’ big scare in 2006 — which saw the closure of The Paradise and The Kingsway repertory theatres — movie audiences realized that film culture is Toronto is something worth fighting for. Grassroots efforts helped spare The Royal and Revue Cinemas from closure in recent years, but amid the big-box monoliths like The Scotiabank and AMC, The Cumberland and Carlton Cinemas are the only medium-scale multiplexes to serve the city's cineaste niche. Unfortunately, come Dec. 6, local movie-goers will have to strike the Carlton from that extremely short list.

One of the last remaining shoebox multiplexes from the Reagan era, the Carlton opened its doors in 1981 during the Canadian indie-cinema renaissance, providing a venue for local filmmakers like Ron Mann to screen their earliest efforts. Since then, the theatre has provided valuable screen time to small Canadian distribution companies (Mongrel Media, filmswelike), hosting obscure international films for extended runs enough that would allow them to build an audience through word of mouth. The closure of the Carlton, long predicted by the city’s cinephiles, can be attributed to the same '80s-mall-chic decor that drew audiences in its early years — with the cinema's fine programming undermined by its ruddy carpets and lacklustre sound, the Carlton's soon-to-expire lease marked the final blow to the multiplex’s legacy.

“While the theatre has been part of our company for a number of years, business has really been declining,” admits Pat Marshall, Vice President of Communications and Investor Relations for The Carlton's parent company, Cineplex Odeon. “It is not representative of the calibre and quality of theatre that we would like to present to our guests … it is not what would be called 'state of the art.'"

Marshall mentions the Carlton’s sloped floors, lack of stadium seating and miniscule theatre lobby as contrary to Cineplex Odeon’s beliefs in the “newest technology, best food experience and best guest services.” (According to Marshall, employees of the Carlton have all been offered positions at other Cineplex locations.) Yet the theatre’s unique programming was a beacon of hope for burgeoning filmmakers who relied on the Carlton to grow their audience.

“Cineplex has never worked in a one-size-fits-all mandate,” Marshall says, when asked about the Carlton’s art-house focus. “Programmers respond to the neighbourhood in which they’re situated and factor in whether their audience is dominated by adults or families. Still, theatres like Canada Square and The Varsity offer a wide range of artistic programming.”

Documentary filmmaker Ron Mann tells EYE WEEKLY that he attempted to save The Carlton a few years ago, enlisting Mongrel Media founder Hussain Amarshi and filmmaker Atom Egoyan in his effort. Yet, the theatre had already fallen beyond repair.

“Unfortunately it’s a case of Video Killed The Rep Cinema Star,” Mann says. “It’s appalling that in Toronto, a city which has the greatest number of movie-goers in North America, doesn’t have a decent movie theatre in which to screen art films. I don’t know where these films can play, other than The Royal and The Bloor, [and then only] for a limited engagement. Sadly, a lot of these films will never find an audience as a result… I guess we’ll all be showing films out of a truck soon.”

A flickering hope for local celluloid lovers is the revamped Toronto International Film Festival headquarters at the Bell Lightbox, set to open next year. The space will include five theatres for regular art-house-oriented screenings, with room for 1,300 seats. The venue is designed to become a film-culture hub, where various festivals, Cinematheque-hosted screenings and TIFF premieres take place.

Yet Mann, still nostalgic for The Uptown and University theatres of yesteryear, thinks the Carlton’s closure is a signpost for the end of Toronto cinema culture as we know it. “[It’s been said] that poetry happens between the poet and the audience, that’s where the poem is,” says Mann. “It’s the same with cinema — the film is between the screen and the audience. You need to see live music, and in the same way, you need to see live movies. That’s where the magic of movies are experienced — it’s a religious experience, really.”

Was it possible to experience ecstasy in The Carlton’s run-down seats? According to Cineplex Odeon, no. But for those who sat entranced by the Canadian debuts and oddball cult films commonly screened by the Carlton for months at a time, the gap between independent-cinema distribution and exhibition will be hard to fill, sticky popcorn floors be dammed.

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Curtain closes on The Carlton

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