Long-time readers of this blog may remember this old series that I never finished, but now I will.

For those who came in late, and to cut a long story short…

Part 1
Way back in…yikes, April 2011 I tried to buy tickets for my friend and myself to see the film Paul, which was rated MA15+ – but I was refused service after being told that the law now said I couldn’t buy tickets to MA15+ films for people other than myself, lest I was trying to sneak in under-15s; dumbfounded by this inconvenience, I wrote to the Australian Government department Australian Classification for more information

Part 2
Australian Classification wrote back to say that what had happened to me wasn’t because of any law but perhaps because of a policy enacted by that cinema; therefore, I decided to write to the cinema for more information

Part 3
A few weeks later, I experimented by going to a different cashier and trying to buy tickets to Your Highness, also rated MA15+ – but this time, I wasn’t stopped; therefore, I further resolved to write to the cinema for more information

As it turned out, I never wrote to the cinema – partly because I forgot to; partly because my friend later suggested that it may cause more problems than it was worth, and partly because of my next two ticket-buying experiences.

*

The next two films my friend and I saw after Your Highness were Snowtown (released in the US as The Snowtown Murders) and The Hangover Part II. From memory, both of them were also rated MA15+, although Snowtown may have been rated R.

Although there had been no trouble with buying several tickets for Your Highness, I was still prepared for the worst when I tried again for The Hangover Part II and especially Snowtown, a controversial film based on the Snowtown murders.

Yet, both times nothing happened.

And on one of those occasions (I can’t remember which), I was pretty sure that the young cashier who’d refused me service for Paul was on duty, and for a while it looked like he could be serving me again…but I ended up being called another cashier instead, who sold me my tickets with no problems whatsoever.

As for those two films – The Hangover Part II was good silly fun like its predecessor, but the powerful Snowtown haunted me for weeks afterwards. It’s a very grim yet highly compelling account of not only terrible serial-killing but also a much blighted community and the people who suffer living in it. Snowtown reminded me very much of the similarly powerful Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer.

*

After Snowtown and The Hangover Part II, I still thought about writing to the cinema regarding my Paul experience.

Weeks and then months passed, however, and I forgot about doing that and also posting further in this series.

A few months later, as I recall, I mentioned to my friend about my writing to the cinema, and he commented that maybe it wasn’t worthwhile because it might cause more trouble than it was worth.

I agreed.

And since then, I have never again had issues with buying several tickets at a time for MA15+ films.

*

More months and then finally the past year or so went past, and I kept on forgetting to update this series.

Today, though, I decided that enough was enough, and so here we are.

Until next time, stay well and take care 🙂

STOP PRESS
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