With most cinemas closed for the foreseeable future, new releases have migrated to virtual cinemas or to video on demand. If you thought choosing a multiplex movie was difficult, finding that same new movie in the current hodgepodge is potentially paralyzing. Distributors only publish a handful of titles, and the type of film you’re interested in – mainstream, art house, revival – affects where you should watch.
First, video on demand is a generic term. Video on demand by subscription, or SVOD, refers to a streaming service like Netflix or free titles offered through your bundle of cables, for example; a monthly fee allows you to view an unlimited number of selected titles. Transactional video on demand, or TVOD, means paying for the films individually, either for rental for a limited time or for purchase. The selection tends to be wider and purchases theoretically last forever. (That said, the evolution of rights issues over time means that, unlike physical media, the movies you have purchased may not always be there to grab your virtual shelf.)
Virtual cinemas are a more recent related option, set up for the benefit of theaters – art houses in particular – that the pandemic has closed. These services work in the same way as TVOD rentals, except that part of each entry price supports an actual cinema of your choice. And in many cases, the movies are the ones these theaters would now screen.
Below is a guide to your viewing options for new movies.
Mainstream films
Where to find them: Any major service that sells pay-per-view movies – Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, your cable mix – should have them, although they’re not included in any subscription. Consider looking at everyone as the equivalent of going to a ticket office and buying a ticket.
Why choose this option: If you want to see some of the films that would normally be shown in theaters at this time, this is the way to go. For many films, the rental price is $ 19.99. It’s more expensive than a regular multiplex ticket, but it suddenly looks like a good deal if you’re locked up with a group of people. You can park several children in front “Trolls World Tour” without paying a separate entry for each.
Where to find them: This is where it gets confusing. The best option is simply to go to the website of a theater you want to support and see what is “broadcast” there. Through The Manhattan Film Forum, for example, you can buy admission to the appalling post-World War II Russian film “Beanpole”, the ironic comedy with Romanian capers “The Whistlers”, “Sorry, we missed you “Or” The wild goose lake “. If you know which company distributes the film you want to see – Kino Lorber for “Bacurau”, for example, or Magnolia for “The Whistlers” – go to their website and click on the Virtual Cinema option. Note that if you do this, you will be asked to select the theater you want to support. Sometimes virtual tracks have closing dates, just as they would in real theaters, although many of these tracks have been extended.
Why choose this option: Regarding the quality, the range of options and the maintenance of cinemas in operation, virtual cinemas are one of the few bright spots for the shooting of a film emerging from this pandemic.
Where to find them: The pandemic has changed little here. Netflix, Hulu and Disney Plus have already offered their share of exclusive streaming movies, although before the national cinemas closed, some of these films would have had advanced or simultaneous theatrical releases.
Why choose this option: If you already have a subscription to the service, the price is right, but the selection is limited. (A Netflix package will give you Netflix exclusives like “The Irishman”, but if you want to see “The Invisible Man”, you’ll have to go somewhere else.) The purpose of these services is to keep you on one site, rather than browsing the full spectrum of what’s available to watch online.
The alarm clocks
Recent titles to see: In big cities, theatrical tours for older films are common. Before the closings, “L’Innocente” by Luchino Visconti, “Dona Flor and her two husbands” by Bruno Barreto and “Mephisto” by Istvan Szabo had each returned to art houses for renaissance engagements, and “Cane River”, a 1982 independent feature film recovered from Horace B. Jenkins, got its very first release. All are now broadcast in the form of virtual cinema. And maybe it’s finally time to tackle Bela Tarr’s seven and a half hour “Satantango”, recently relaunched for its 25th anniversary and newly available for streaming. If you can find a way to watch it without interruption, like Tarr’s hypnotic and revolutionary film was to be seen, so much the better.
Where to find them: As with what’s new in the virtual art house, the best place to start is with theater websites. “Satantango” is available for rent on Vimeo and as a purchase of virtual cinema that can support the film at Lincoln Center, the film and television archives of UCLA and other theaters. “Cane River” is screened in a virtual cinema linked to a handful of theaters across the country, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music. “L’Innocente” and “Dona Flor” are available via Film Movement, “Mephisto” via Kino Lorber. And Film Forum always adds tracks as if it were open, including one of an eternal favorite, the classic French robbery “Rififi”.
Why choose this option: If you usually watch older movies in cinemas, you can replicate this experience at home in a limited way.