Older and bolder: How one retirement village has added extra spice to its movie line-up

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Would you want your granny to watch any of these movies?

Expect your granny would enjoy Deadpool? Think your Pop-Pop would get a kick out of The Breaker Upperers? What about the Breathless delights of Madonna's performance in Dick Tracy?

Those are just some of the edgier titles screening at one Kiwi retirement village's in-house movie theatre. With seating for 20, Alpine View's Roxy Theatre is a popular fixture at the north-east Christchurch community's lodge.

Billed as a new generation retirement village for the "young at heart", Alpine View also offers an onsite cafe, bar, gym, spa and hairdressers. However, it's the village's expansive and eclectic movie line-up that catches the eye.

While screenings at retirement villages and rest homes are nothing new, Roxy's monthly schedule of 45 sessions (a mix of mid-afternoon matinees and post-dinner 6:30pm shows) is far more extensive than most other similar facilities. And although they follow the usual pattern of offering residents a chance to relive classic titles and see recent releases, the Alpine View team also aren't afraid to experiment with some racier and more radical slices of cinema.

Deadpool screened as part of the eclectic line-up at Alpine View Retirement Village's Roxy Cinema late last year.
Deadpool screened as part of the eclectic line-up at Alpine View Retirement Village's Roxy Cinema late last year.

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Activities supervisor Freya Satherley admits that putting together the line-up each month is "quite hard".

"It can be a bit hit and miss and some days are just more popular than others anyway – it doesn't matter what you actually screen."

As well as drawing their titles from an onsite collection of classics and some online services, Alpine View also makes extensive use of Christchurch DVD store Alice's vast collection.

"Thank goodness for their website and variety. Online is good for newer films, but not for more obscure or older titles. I don't think Netflix would have enough variety for a calendar of our size."

Monday nights are classic movie night, while Satherley also tries to find films that tie in with the lodge's monthly theme. For January it's the Roaring 20s, while past themes have included wearable arts, country-and-western music and hip-hop. "Selecting films relating to that was definitely difficult – we figured we weren't going to be able to play Straight Outta Compton [the 2015 biopic of Los Angeles group NWA]."

That said though, Satherley says Alpine View's audience are definitely open to less-than-traditional seniors' fare. "You never know what's popular with them," she says in reference to programming anarchic action-comedy Deadpool late last year. "That was probably on the edge of the scale, but it's worth a try – you never know."

Alpine View is billed as a new generation retirement village for the "young at heart".
Alpine View is billed as a new generation retirement village for the "young at heart".

Satherley says residents do offer suggestions – particularly around newer films (although she confirms no-one has asked for any of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy). "The Alpine community is filled with people who are still quite outgoing and they don't just want older movies, but there are others that love those, so we try to make a mix and pick something every month from every sort of genre."

That's why this month's line-up includes everything from musicals Chicago and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, to a selection of silent Greta Garbo movies, Bradley Cooper sci-fi thriller Limitless, cross-dressing comedy Victor/Victoria, Kiwi comedy-horror Housebound, The Breaker Upperers and indie action movie Bellflower – a film described as a cross between Mad Max and a John Hughes (The Breakfast Club) coming-of-age tale.

Amused to hear of the range of flicks on offer at their smaller rivals, Ryman Healthcare corporate affairs manager David King says, on average, their more than 30 villages across the country screen around 20 movies a month. Traditionally they had used a mix of Sky TV and DVDs, but more recently had started subscribing to Netflix, King said. And recently screening favourites included Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Black Beauty, Thomasin McKenzie starrer Leave No Trace, festive tale Miracle on 34th Street and aviation documentary Spitfire.

The Breaker Upperers is scheduled to screen at the Roxy Theatre later this month.
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The Breaker Upperers is scheduled to screen at the Roxy Theatre later this month.

Elsewhere in Christchurch, Bupa Parkstone Retirement Village manager Kathy Reece says musicals and UK comedies are the most popular amongst their residents for the weekly Thursday and Sunday afternoon screenings in the facility's dedicated 40-seater movie room. "The residents run the movie showings themselves and they agree together what is shown."

However, at Parkstone's sister complex, Cashmere View, it's the staff who source and purchase movies for their 40-seater communal lounge, says manager Rochelle Moore.

"We ask residents at most screenings for new recommendations or requests, and some residents allow us to borrow their own DVDs. And, if they don't like the movie, at least they've enjoyed the icecream we hand out."

Bupa's retirement villages offer a variety of ways for residents to watch movies.
Bupa's retirement villages offer a variety of ways for residents to watch movies.

Back at Alpine View, when asked what the most popular recent screening was, Satherley plumps for last year's adaptation of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

"We'll have to schedule extra sessions of that because we had a really big waiting list for it."

And what happens when a scheduled title suddenly becomes unavailable?

"We'll find something else we know will be popular – they love a bit of Andre Rieu."

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