As the crisis in the entertainment industry grows ever deeper thanks to the coronavirus, so too does the creativity of the producers, distributors and public relations folks whose job it is to get movies, theatrical productions and other entertainment out to the public. Conveniently for them, there is a large, eager audience, namely us, hungry to consume these works in order sooth our idle souls.
A few days ago, I wrote about some of the new online or streaming entertainment opportunities being made available courtesy of the pandemic restrictions. Since then more of these have come to my attention that I want to share with you. For much of this material, I need to thank a recent article by Ben Konigsberg in the NY Times. But I’ve delved a little deeper, so you don’t have to.
Producers and distributors of Indie films, international movies and so-called art house pictures are finding new ways to give us direct access to their movies, since their usual venues – the arthouse theaters - are closed. Some are free, others are not, but all are cheaper than a night out, assuming there were places to go out to.
Let’s start with Music Box Films, a distributor of foreign language films, Indie movies and other art house films in the US. They describe themselves as “curators” and certainly have a pretty good eye for interesting, entertaining and worthwhile pictures, movies like Ida (2013), by writer-director Pawel Pawlikowski, who also directed 2018’s Cold War; A Quiet Passion (2016) with Cynthia Nixon as Emily Dickenson, directed by the great Terence Davies; A Man Called Ove (2015), from the popular Swedish novel; Frantz (2016) starring the fabulous Paula Beer in a post-WWI drama-romance; Meru (2015), the terrific Himalayan climbing doc from the folks who went on to make last year’s Free Solo; The Midwife (2017) with Catherine Deneuve; the Scandinavian Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, with Noomi Rapace; and many more.
Their latest is And Then We Danced, an award-winning hit at several film festivals last year whose 2020 US theatrical run was cut short just a few weeks after its release, when all theaters had to shut down. Now, it’s available streaming from Music Box StreamLocal starting Friday March 27. Described as “A passionate coming of age tale set amidst the conservative confines of modern Tbilsi, Georgia,” and “one of the most intimate, devastating and euphoric love stories ever told on screen.” Half of the rental proceeds will go to the local art house theater of your choice. More info and a trailer can be found here: https://www.musicboxfilms.com/streamlocal/
StreamLocal is actually part of Music Box Direct which provides scores of high quality art house and foreign language films and TV series for a flat monthly fee of $4.95 (or just $50/year) with unlimited watching, a lá the Netflix model. Offerings include stuff like Transit (2019) [reviewed here in February 2019], the award winning A Coffee in Berlin (2014), Le Weekend (2014) starring Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan, directed by Roger Michell (Notting Hill); the quirky-cute picture The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (2015); along with several of the above-referenced items, like Ida and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, as just a few examples. https://www.musicboxfilms.com/music-box-direct/
The distributor Film Movement also has started a streaming service that they call Virtual Cinema, with three of its new films available to stream as well as a couple of older gems. The new movies include the astonishingly great Polish picture Corpus Christi, the Chinese neo-noir crime movie The Wild Goose Lake, and a French twist on the living-dead genre, Zombi Child. The two classics are Visconti’s last movie L’Innocente (1976) with Giancarlo Giannini, Laura Antonelli and Jennifer O’Neal; and Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976) with 25-year-old Sonia Braga. As with Music Box, a portion of the rental proceeds goes to local theaters. https://www.filmmovement.com/in-theaters
Another distributor of interesting Indie and international films is Oscilloscope Labs, and they too have joined the movement to stream their movies direct to consumers. Their lengthy list of streamables includes the beautiful, very quirky and mysterious b&w Estonian picture, November (2017); the documentary Brimstone and Glory (2017) which New York Magazine described as “a lean 67 minutes of cinematic poetry”; the fantastic, exotic Embrace of the Servant (2015) which critics (including this one) loved and audiences adored [IMDB score of 7.9]; the extraordinary Midnight Traveler (2019) which I raved about in my October 2019 review calling it a “must-see documentary”; and Wendy and Lucy (2008), a small, wonderful film by Kelly Reichardt (Meeks Cutoff [2010]) starring the always wonderful Michelle Williams, about a peripatetic young woman and her canine best friend, Lucy. And those are only five of the approximately 125 offerings in what Oscilloscope is calling their Circle of Quarantine. Their deal: pay $49.99 and you get to download (not just rent) any ten of their films! Oscilloscope Circle of Quarantine.
Finally, some exciting entertainment news from London. You’ve probably heard that the great West End theaters, and in fact all theaters in London and the UK, have closed down - as have most if not all here in the USA, of course. Well, London’s National Theater is initiating a program called National Theater at Home. For five weeks, starting next Thursday April 2, they will be streaming National Theater Live productions on YouTube of some of the best of British theater. Each show will stream on YouTube starting 7 PM London time (that’s Noon in California, 3 PM on the East Coast) continuing for seven days. First up, beginning April 2, is the comedy One Man, Two Guvnors, starring James Corden. Then, on the following Thursday, April 9, Jane Eyre; on Aril 16, Treasure Island, on April 23, Twelfth Night beginning April 30, and more to be announced. Oh, and it is free. Follow this link to see some clips and find out more.
That’s it for now, my friends.
Stay healthy, Stay entertained.
Enjoy.
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