Movie at a premium price

At the moment I seem to be endlessly playing catch-up with movies which are at the very end of their run.

The latest in the Last-minute-movie Challenge was The Girl on the Train. As luck would have it I found an early session at The Palace Cinema in Balwyn (groan – no sleeping-in when I choose 10 am).  Originally starting out as the Balwyn Theatre, it opened in 1930 and met with a few problems in its early days.  It survived the early ups and downs and is currently undergoing a renovation and alterations which take the cinema goer back to the days of Art Deco.

All these renovations and improvements come at a cost, which is reflected in the ticket prices and the food on sale at the food bar.  Leaving home early meant a breakfast top up in the form of a large jam-filled lamington, offered at a bargain price. Just the thing for breakfast, a jam lamington. I snapped up the bargain and scoffed it down while waiting for the movie to begin.

The Girl on the Train was a deeply troubled woman trying, unsuccessfully, to come to terms with an unhappy past. In a weirdly voyeuristic manner she uses the train journey to spy on her old home and ex-husband, while maintaining the pretence, to her long suffering friend who has given her a roof over her head, that she is still working.

While I was not always entirely convinced by a few of the twists and turns in the plot, there was enough drama in the shape of binge drinking, erratic behaviour, violence, a body in a shallow, leafy grave and graphic grappling with a corkscrew being used as a murder weapon, to maintain my interest and prevent any nodding off during the movie.

 

Window at Balwyn Cinema