A few months back the Criterion Collection expanded their minimum on-line presence by offering up select titles for streaming. It’s only five dollars to stream a masterpiece; if you decide to purchase the DVD, they’ll take that $5 off of the purchase. Better, you’ll get fantastic perks if you join their social media experiment, The Auteurs. It doesn’t cost anything, and each month they partner with IFC to provide a “festival,” in which they stream six free uninterrupted films a month.
This month, the theme is academy award winners for “best foreign film,” and is typical of the high quality of their selections: now available are such arthouse favorites as Fellini’s masterpiece La Strada and the energetic Brazilian bossa nova musical Black Orpheus. While both of these films frequently appear on critics’ all-time top ten lists, other festivals are more representative of Criterion’s gradual turn towards eclectism and inclusiveness. Last month’s festival selections were all mediations on homicide, and included a Marcello Mastriani comedy, a Japenese surreal pop symphony, a Norwegian psychological horror puzzler, and the same serial killer saga shot two ways, both equally disturbing.
I can not overstate the quality of the streaming. The same painstaking attention that they have previously applied to their restorations have been translated to the quality of their streaming. It’s as good as blu-ray, the best I’ve seen on my computer. With their nascent on-line offerings, it’s like having a quirky world cinema obsessive as a best friend introducing you to the paragon of cinema.
