Criterion 24/7 Live Stream Recreates the Magic of Watching a Movie on Cable TV
Remember how late at night you would turn on the TV and change channels to see what was on? Remember when you came across a movie halfway through and got sucked in? Maybe not, because you came of age with the streaming revolution, which gave you the ability to watch exactly what you want, when you want to watch it (or at least endlessly scroll through algorithmically generated suggestions of things the computer thinks you might want to look). Streaming service Criterion Channel aims to recreate a little of that cinematic feel with the launch of Criterion 24/7 , a new live stream available to all of its subscribers. Live, one after another, random selections from the streamer’s vast catalog of classic and contemporary films, from sublime arthouse fairgrounds to cult gems and the best of world cinema. You can tune in at any time and find yourself in the middle of a silent horror film, or something from the French New Wave, or maybe an unfairly ridiculed Razzie winner .
You won’t know exactly what’s in store for you—there’s no set schedule, no grid telling you what’s going on or what’s coming next—and that’s the beauty of it. I’ve long considered the Criterion Channel to be the best streaming service for film buffs because of its quality and the sheer variety of films it offers, but ironically I often have a hard time finding something to watch on it because there’s so much on there that I want see, and it’s all so different. The 24/7 criterion eliminates my choice, which is amazing.
Last night I couldn’t sleep, so I opened up a live stream on my phone (via the Criterion Channel app) and immersed myself in a silent film about the history of witchcraft. Since I’m the kind of person who reads r/criterion , I immediately recognized it as Häxan , a 1922 German quasi-documentary that I’ve been meaning to watch for years. And now I’ve watched most of it – and since I have access to the entire catalog with a subscription, I can always go back and watch from the beginning. As I write this article, the ending of 1992’s The Gambler and the beginning of Jackie Chan’s Police Story are playing in the background, two more films on my never-ending watch list.
If you can’t figure out what’s going on, you can skip the tape back 90 minutes, which will hopefully allow you to go back far enough to catch the title, or at least give yourself a little more context.
Death to algorithms
What I like most about Criterion 24/7 is the lack of algorithms. Criterion doesn’t show me random selections from my watchlist, or movies it thinks I might want to see based on what I’ve watched before or read online, or that feature a product it thinks I might want to see. , I might want to buy based on the banner ad I accidentally clicked on one day. Live streaming is the same for everyone, bringing a sense of community to your solo broadcast.
(As Musical Lettuce Man said on X : “The more people watch Chungking Express, the better.”)
The service has only been around for a few days, and I’m not the only movie fan who loves it. The response from Letterboxd visitors was predictably enthusiastic . The only downside at the moment is that the stream is not subtitled (although all non-English movies are subtitled) and that I can’t sit and watch it all day.