Scala!!! movie review (2024) | Little White Lies

Scala!!! review – an exhaus­tive and live­ly doc­u­ment of a cult scene

02 Jan 2024 / Released: 05 Jan 2024

Words by David Jenkins

Directed by Ali Catterall and Jane Giles

Starring Adam Buxton and Stewart Lee

Illuminated "Scala" sign on theatre facade with circular windows, at night.
Illuminated "Scala" sign on theatre facade with circular windows, at night.
3

Anticipation.

We’ve had the book, now it’s time for Scala: the movie.

3

Enjoyment.

A fun, filthy jaunt though the life of London’s cinematic answer to CBGB.

3

In Retrospect.

Very glad that everyone was able to have such fun.

An affec­tion­ate new doc­u­men­tary cel­e­brates one of Lon­don’s most beloved cin­e­ma insti­tu­tions and the patrons who made it mythological.

Kings Cross’ long-defunct Scala has been etched into leg­end by a tat­tooed and body-pierced coterie of cinephiles of a cer­tain age. This is due to its inno­v­a­tive grind­house pro­gram­ming, the in-house cats who would wan­der the aisles dur­ing screen­ings and, err, its colour­ful” locale. Co-direc­tors Ali Cat­ter­all and Jane Giles have made a film packed with anec­dotes by the peo­ple who were there on the filthy ground, and despite the fact that this is a cel­e­bra­to­ry, aggres­sive­ly roman­tic doc­u­ment of a shit-flecked idyll, as an objec­tive observ­er it’s not so easy to see the appeal.

Screen­ings were often inter­rupt­ed by the sound of pass­ing Tube trains, and inter­vie­wees such as Adam Bux­ton attempt to reframe this irri­tant as some­thing that enhanced the grimy ambi­ence. And the fond, tut-tut­ting rec­ol­lec­tions of hos­ing cum off the walls of the fire exits, or get­ting stabbed on the walk home, doesn’t trans­late as the film thinks it does.

My grand­moth­er often tells me how she had an amaz­ing time dur­ing the Blitz, and even though I don’t think she’s lying, it’s hard to relate. And that’s a bit like this – how can some­thing that looks so wrong have been so right? Scala! is a very well made and extreme­ly enter­tain­ing film, and all the talk­ing heads bring a curi­ous tit­bit to the mix. It lays on the nos­tal­gia very thick. In the end, though, this is an exhaus­tive and live­ly doc­u­ment of a cult scene that you’re very hap­py it exist­ed, but maybe don’t want to be a part of yourself.

You might like