I feel like I need to take a few moments here to lament on the loss of Filmstruck - a lot of people I follow in the community either worked there or had very close connections - it's a loss for all of us to not have this kind of cinema readily available - Netflix certainly won't be picking up the slack.
I obviously came for the Criterion, but got to enjoy many other good films around this time - in fact in the last month between updates, I knocked out the Sorrow and the Pity, Hitler's Hollywood, and had added a number of films from a Bengal director to my watchlist. I almost got around to watching some of the WWII German films as well - (propaganda in repressive/totalitarian regimes is fascinating to me) -
Where am I going to find these films again? God only knows - I suspect Turner/Warner will do some dogshit thing where it's broken down into 2-3 streaming services - I know Criterion has committed to putting it's Channel out there again somewhere soon - maybe back to Hulu? (Listen up Hulu - I'd resubscribe) - but one thing is for certain, we've lost a great resource for classic films, and in a world where the modern blockbuster is about blowing up shit or robots, watching films like Orpheus is like finding hidden treasures - sadly they are treasures people don't look for - I live in perpetual fear the Criterion label will go out of business like indie music labels and we'll just be stuck with freaking Transformer/Marvel sequels for 30 more years.
anyways, just wanted to register my sadness and sorrow at losing a great resource - I guess it will be back to libraries and Netflix for most of my viewing but I'd really, really like to sign up for the next incarnation of the Criterion channel when it comes out and I hope quite a few of these other films make it as well
RB
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