as told by Aldrin Cassar of Movie World
written by Melanie Drury
It is 9am when I open the shutter to my shop, eager to enter the world of movies that lies beyond. Usually my father-in-law, who is my partner in this venture, tends the shop in the mornings, while my wife or I come in the afternoons until we close at 8pm, but today is Saturday.
Fridays and Saturday are the busiest days, and in the weekend I do not work my other job. This is my part-time work, although in truth it is my hobby. I had so many DVDs at home, my own personal collection, that at one point, when I was just married, while discussing with my in-laws we decided to open a DVD shop.
Days at the Movie World DVD library are not always the same. In the mornings most of our customers are women – housewives. Although we are open all day without an afternoon break, weekdays the bulk of work starts from 4.30pm, which is probably due to the time of day when people are knocking-off work. Interestingly enough, Wednesdays are usually our quietest days – probably due to the money being invested in a chance at winning the Super 5!
Summer usually marks a decrease in general business although we see an increase in the rental of children’s videos – from mothers who need to keep the kids occupied while they are on holiday from school. The busiest time of year is January – the hibernation period after Christmas, which usually lasts until just before Easter. At the moment, more women are renting DVDs than usual because they are bored while their husbands are watching football!
It is amazing how much you can learn about people’s habits from running a DVD rental shop. Meanwhile we have all attracted a different section of clients. Many of the housewives coming in the morning time, when my father-in-law is here, are older women, and he finds the true stories for them because that is the genre they tend to prefer. Since we have the shop, my father-in-law has become much more interested in films than he was when we first started. Of course, the film fanatics of sorts look for me.
I am really obsessed with films. When I was young my father and I always argued because I would want to watch movies instead of studying. Even then I never missed a blockbuster. I am from Gozo and when I moved to Malta at 18 years old, I lived in Valletta. I would watch a movie at the cinema on a daily basis, either with my Gozitan flat-mate or even alone! In the more recent era of DVDs, a DVD rental-shop would always be my second home because I would always go to different ones looking at what they had in their libraries. Now I belong in my very own Movie World.
I look through the mess of returned DVDs from the previous day and begin sorting them. I am about to begin checking the overdue DVDs, to send an sms for them to be returned, when the phone rings. It is Gloria.
Gloria Lauri Lucente is a professor teaching Italian literature at the University of Malta. She is also a filmaholic! She often phones me to discuss a movie she has just watched or to know what has newly arrived in stock. Then, on Saturday night, her husband collects the movies she has selected.
Every week I receive a new lot of films. I order American blockbusters from local agents, however I am most well-known for the stock of foreign films I have in my library. I have over 2,500 foreign titles and about 8,000 other titles. I order foreign titles independently from all around the world – Germany, England, and also America’s “Criterion Collection”, which supplies the most classic titles from various foreign directors, such as Fellini, Bergman, Kurosawa, Antonioni and other masters of film-making.
Gloria is very interested in my foreign-films selection. She has been doing a programme about foreign films on the radio for many years, which is streamable on the University of Malta website. At one time she also conducted a similar programme on television. In both instances she would pick foreign titles from my shop and discuss them during her programmes. During her regular trips to Italy, she purchases Italian films for my foreign collection.
I have customers coming for my foreign-film section from as far as Kirkop and Zurrieq, because I offer the largest selection in Malta. I am surprised to see how much interest there is in foreign films since people have learnt about their availability. I see this especially in University students – I can see that in related University courses students are learning to appreciate films which are not American.
Watching films from around the world is much like taking a voyage because most foreign movies are filmed on location. They are also more bound to portray the actual customs, culture and religion of the location in question, thus resulting in an educational experience. Because European and foreign films tend to be so realistic, watching a large dose of them may be depressing while most American movies are more escapist – intended to entertain and remove our consciousness from the sometimes harsh reality of life.
My only regret in this work is that I can never have enough money to invest in all the films I would like to have in my store. Meanwhile, the nicest aspect of running a DVD library is meeting a wide variety of people who are equally passionate about cinema. I know many of my customers by name and they often stop to talk – I am a well-known “movie fanatic” while I am impressed by the depth of dedication shown by some people in particular genres.
Ramon Farrugia, one of my regular customers from Paola, is so obsessed with Asian cinema – Japanese, Korean and Chinese – that he learnt Japanese just so that he can watch and understand films in their original language. Japanese films are so extraordinary that American directors are now buying the rights to Japanese movies and making the same films in English using Western actors. Recent examples of this are The Eye, The Ring and Shutter. Asian directors, such as Ang Lee and Jon Woo, have become so acclaimed that they are now making American films.
Alfred walks through the door and I greet him with a smile and a hand-shake. I stop what I am doing to take the time to talk with him. Alfred Cachia owns most of the projectors which were used in Maltese cinemas. At the end of their life, he restores them and brings them back to full functioning order. I have been to see his collection, which he keeps in a garage, and I keep hoping that he might sell me one soon.
The day flies by in the constant flow of customers. I like to learn about individual preferences so that I can recommend films I am sure they will enjoy according to their taste. It is very rewarding to see how much people trust my recommendations. One of my most loyal customers, Anthony Grech, asks me to put a film aside for him every single day and takes it without question. When he cannot come, usually only because he may be unwell, he will call me not to wait for him!
During the busy rush-hours of the late afternoon, I am pleased to see Mario and Roderick Gauci enter the shop, as they are able to somehow relieve me a little. The twins, who are in their mid-thirties, know every single movie I have in the store so I can reliably ask them whether I have a particular film or not instead of checking in the computer.
Most DVD rental shops abroad are not libraries. They simply have a stock of films and blockbusters of the last year, with perhaps a hundred each in stock of the latest titles. As time passes they sell them off and replace them with more recent ones. Very few of them hold classics. It is indeed a rarity to see a DVD rental shop abroad like those we find commonly in Malta. The tendency in Malta is for libraries. I specialise in foreign films but several others have different specialisations, such as old films, action movies and so on.
Mario and Roderick are cinema fanatics. They are interested in all aspects of cinema, through and through. Their knowledge extends on all genres, from classic to horror, but they like Asian cinema in particular. Their poor father once expressed to me his torment at having to tolerate watching 1930s silent Japanese films, while he considered the fact that one night they traded sleep for watching a 12-hour-long Russian film as their ultimate nonsense!
Their obsession with film has led Mario and Roderick to undertake a 3-month course in Los Angeles on camera, film direction and projection at the New York Film Academy. There is still no 35mm camera in Malta – there are only studio cameras, and foreign film-producers bring their own – but the twins adamantly wanted the insider 35mm experience.
At that course, they met Tarantino’s assistant. The twins were keen to find out what had happened to the apex of their script-writing efforts. Previously, they had taken one of their works to the Venice Film Festival and left it at Quinten Tarantino’s hotel reception after they had spent five days seeking him. Needless to say, they were disappointed to discover that any scripts which are not presented officially through an agent are automatically discarded – this safe-guards producers and directors from copyright law-suits instigated by those claiming any story-line might have been theirs!
When the last customer has gone and my chat with the human IMDBs comes to a conclusion, I close the shutter of the shop with one hand while I clutch a DVD film in the other. It is mandatory that I end my day with a good film. I watch a movie with my wife and daughter every evening before bedtime.
DVDs have changed film-culture considerably but, most importantly, I definitely consider the cinema as the best place to watch a movie. Anyhow, DVD rental shops depend totally on the success of cinema: If the cinema does well, the DVD rental shop automatically does well... because those who hear of a good film but do not manage to watch it on the big screen will eventually rent it.
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Aldrin Cassar’s favourites in the movie world:
Favourite actor: Al Pacino
Favourite actress: Susan Sarandon
Favourite genre: Thrillers
Favourite thriller: Heat
Favourite film of all time: Red Violin
Movieworld: www.movieworldnaxxar.com
Internet Movie Database: www.imdb.com
This is the fifth in Melanie Drury’s, “A Day in the Life of...” series. The next one is due on 7 July.
www.melaniedrury.com
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