What to Watch on FilmStruck Before It’s Gone Forever
FilmStruck will close AT&T on November 29, which means you only have a few days to browse the service’s library of films.
The site specializes in hard-to-find foreign films, classic films and cult classics from TCM and The Criterion Collection, and reportedly has close to 100,000 subscribers. More than 50,000 people, including director Guillermo del Toro, signed the petition and wrote letters in hopes of saving the site from extinction, Wired reported .
FilmStruck does not currently accept new subscribers, so the only way to watch its films in recent days is if you already have an account. The New York Times recently released a rather detailed guide to movies worth trying to capture on the service before they disappear. Here are some of his suggestions:
- Naked (1933) – “Like Johnny, the human maelstrom of misanthropy underlying this harsh, haunting Mike Lee film, Nude appears unexpectedly and causes enough mental damage to mark you for life.”
- Daisies (1966) – A greeting to sisterhood, a celebration of the bond between two best friends who can resist any kind of harassment while they are side by side. This is a kind of obscure classic from the world cinema FilmStruck, created in order to grab attention – not only to make it accessible, but also to put it in context. “
- “What’s the price of Hollywood?” (1932) – “If you’ve seen Bradley Cooper’s new production of A Star Is Born, for example, you could not only compare the three previous versions on FilmStruck, but also look at their predecessor, What’s the Price of Hollywood? »” Which is more or less a trial version of the same story. “
- Floating Clouds (1955) – Never released on DVD in the United States, Naruse’s Floating Clouds is the perfect introduction to his unusually pure form of despair. “
- “Mouchette” (1967) – “Mouchette” is Bresson at his peak, released a year after his “Au Hasard Balthazar” practically reinvented cinema. “
You can view the full list of offers here .
Some of my personal selections from the site’s collection include the original 1933 version of King Kong and the 1955 Orson Welles film Mr. Welles. Arcadian “.
However, all is not yet lost. The Criterion Collection recently announced plans to launch a separate site for its films next year to replace FilmStruck for indie movie fans, so films from its collection currently hosted on FilmStruck are probably safe, although you might have to wait for the site. Criterion to run before you can access them.
“The Criterion channel will continue where the old service left off. Focus on filmmakers and actor retrospectives featuring major Hollywood and international classics, as well as hard-to-reach discoveries from around the world, complete with special features such as behind-the-scenes commentary. footage and original documentaries, ” reads a blog post announcing the site .
We will continue our series of invited programmers “Adventures in Cinema”. Our regular series like Art-House America, Split Screen and Meet the Filmakers and our Ten Minutes Or Less section will continue to run, alongside Tuesday Short + Feature and Friday Night Double Feature, and of course our monthly fifteen-minute film school, Observing Film Art.
The new subscription service will be wholly owned and operated by Criterion. Subscriptions start at $ 9.99 per month. The Criterion library will also be available through Warner Media’s new consumer platform when it launches next year. You can subscribe to this service right now .
And review King Kong again this weekend. You will not be disappointed.