Double Feature

Written by Philip Differ
Starring Andy Gray & Grant Stott
Directed by Ryan Dewar & Andy Gray

It’s the final curtain for what remains of a local cinema. A dilapidated shell is set to make its final transition from faded grandeur to over-priced executive apartments.

Charged with clearing out the debris before the builders get started are Mikey and Davy, two fifty something labourers, pals since childhood, something of a local double act who happen to be film fanatics. What makes this job so special is that this isn’t just any old cinema, this is the cinema they attended together throughout their childhoods.

It was within this building they sat open-mouthed and starry-eyed as they gazed up at the screen while movies like Spartacus, Zulu, Where Eagles Dare played. This was the palace of dreams where they thrilled at the actions of their heroes Burt Lancaster, Charlton Heston, Steve Reeves, where they learned their lessons of life, to differentiate between good and bad, strong and weak, what life promises and what life delivers.

Inevitably not much work is done as the two re-enact scenes from their favourite films, try to reach agreement on what was the greatest film of all and reminisce nostalgically about the golden age of cinema-going they lived through. Through this ritual we begin to discover their own inextricably linked lives, despite epic aspirations, appear stuck in a b-movie of their own making.

Cracks in the partnership reveal a unique kind of slyness reserved only for best friends but also provide the opportunity to escape from the recurring loop of their movie if they can only agree on an ending.