MISSING WORLD CINEMA? HOW TO GET YOUR FIX – PART TWO

Netflix and Amazon Prime do have a good selection of films – but the best are often hard to find – there’s just too much on both of these streaming services to sift through to find hidden gems.

Mubi, another streaming service, has taken a completely different approach. They have just 30 films available – each day the one that has been available the longest disappears, to be replaced by a new one, which therefore remains available for thirty days. Within the 30 there are specially programmed smaller curations. These include double features, filmmaker retrospectives, spotlights on major film festivals and long running themes…

Don’t expect to find any blockbusters on Mubi – now or ever. Mubi is cinema for cinephiles.

Mubi’s own website sums up their vision better than I ever could:

“Five things that were on our minds when we first dreamt up MUBI:

1. Why can’t you watch In the Mood for Love in a café in Tokyo on your iPad?
2. Why is it so hard to meet people who share the same love for Antonioni?
3. Wouldn’t it be great to instantly send Tati’s Playtime to a friend if you think they needed it? (There’s nothing like film therapy!)
4. Why do films on the Internet just look awful?
5. Why are we talking as if we were John Cusack in High Fidelity?

And that was that. We simply couldn’t resist the idea of everyone having their own film library… Your own little cinema, anytime, anywhere.

After all, not everyone can make it to the Cannes Film Festival – especially if you are a school teacher or you live in Winnipeg (or both) – but that doesn’t mean you can’t recite all of Kubrick’s films in reverse chronological order, or that you are not desperate to watch the latest Kitano film that’s definitely not going to be released in your local multiplex.

And that’s our point: Popular doesn’t always mean good.

Our film library is brimming with visionary films that wouldn’t fill a single cinema in Belgium for a week – not even a day. But if you searched the world (all of it), you might just find an audience of a thousand for these rare cinematic treats. And we don’t think a thousand people should be ignored just because they happen to live in different time zones or far away from Belgian cinemas. If someone needed to make such a precise film, it means that someone, somewhere needs to watch it. More importantly, that someone might be you. Or Martin Scorsese (he happens to be a member too.) You’ll also find Hollywood favorites, from Annie Hall to The Royal Tenenbaums. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where films come from, as long as they come from someone’s mind.

MUBI is not just about discovering wonderful new cinema or classic masterpieces. It’s also about discussing and sharing these discoveries, which makes us like a small coffee shop… a place where you can gather and talk about alternative endings, directors’ cuts, and whatever those frogs in Magnolia meant. Heated debates and passionate arguments are welcome.

This link will take you to what is currently showing:

https://mubi.com/showing

Buitiful

How can you watch Mubi?

Smart TV’s will probably have the Mubi App (Samsung and LG Smart TVs definitely have it). If it is not immediately visible, go into Apps on your TV screen and you will find it there. Mubi is also a channel on Apple TV. There is also an iOS and Android App available to watch films on Mubi – and of course, if you do this, you can mirror the film onto a Smart TV.

Night Moves

If you watch via the Mubi iOS or Android App on a tablet, smartphone or desktop you can additionally download films to watch offline.

Blue Valentine

Mubi costs £9.99 s month (so less than 2 cinema tickets) and you can cancel at any time. Most methods of joining give you the first 7 days free – so it is possible to give it a try for nothing – but be sure to cancel it in time!

Quai des Orfèvres