Last November, Filmstruck, a film streaming service that brought art house cinema, foreign films, and Hollywood classics to the masses, announced it was shutting down. Cinephiles everywhere were heartbroken – where would we watch these films that are so hard to come by as it is? Would we have to go back to digging through the depths of the internet to find downloads of them? Then, Criterion, a video distribution company that was associated with Filmstruck, came to the rescue. They announced that they would create their very own streaming service with thousands of films, some of which had been available on Filmstruck.
The Criterion Channel launched on April 8, bringing some of the greatest films of the 20th century back to the public. Unlike Netflix, Hulu, or other movie streaming services, the Criterion Channel houses films from all decades, from almost any country you can name. So if you’re already a seasoned film buff, or if you’re someone who’s unfulfilled with the movie selections of other streaming services, here are three reasons to subscribe to the Criterion Channel immediately.
- The Criterion Channel has the most impressive filter system of any streaming service.
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The Criterion Channel’s advanced search system lets you filter by any decade, genre, or country imaginable.
The channel’s selection of over 1,000 films can be daunting to navigate. The designers understood this and have employed one of the most sophisticated filtering systems of any streaming service I’ve seen. The Criterion Channel allows you to sort films by decade, country, and director, making it so easy to find exactly what you’re looking for. This is also helpful if you’re just exploring films because just by scrolling through the films on offer, you can discover entire eras of filmmaking you never knew about. The channel also organizes films by themes, such as women filmmakers or film noir, which further helps you in that discovery process.
- Criterion includes films from 1917 to 2018, from Argentina to Yugoslavia.
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The Criterion Channel has the most diverse selection of films of any other streaming service today, meaning that any viewer will find something they love.
The Criterion Channel’s massive, diverse collection ensures that the service can appeal to any viewer. Unlike Netflix, whose catalog of 4,000 movies offers not even 200 made before 2000, the Criterion Channel has films from every decade from the past 100 years. It also houses films from Argentina to Yugoslavia – a country that does not even exist anymore. Whereas I love French new wave cinema from the 1960s, my brother loves Japanese films from the 1940s – where else could you find both of those but on the Criterion Channel? And while the channel’s purpose is mainly to entertain, it is also concerned with preserving film history as well as leaving out a huge chunk of films from entire nations or eras of filmmaking means viewers may never get to see them.
- The Criterion Channel can teach you the tips and tricks of filmmaking, too.
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The Criterion Channel’s “Adventures in Moviegoing” series gives viewers a peek into the filmmaking process through interviews with directors and actors.
One of the biggest differences between the Criterion Channel and any other streaming service today is that it offers extra clips and video essays with actors and directors. This is in line with their dedication to the craft of filmmaking – the platform is not meant to just watch movies, but also to analyze them and understand how they’re made. The channel offers an entire series entitled “Adventures in Moviegoing,” in which actors, directors, and others in the cinema world discuss their favorite films, their techniques, and their inspirations. This is why the Criterion Channel is perfect for anyone who’s interested in making movies, or for anyone who just wants to understand what’s behind the magic of cinema.
Whether you love classic Hollywood films from the 1950s or indie films from the 1990s or you don’t yet know what kind of cinema you love, the Criterion Channel is a streaming service with something for everyone and worth subscribing to.
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