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Netflix not getting it done foryou? Serious film buffs shouldflock to Fandor

Fandor is a streaming service like Netflix, but it's definitely not for the average,

everyday movie fan. If you see one movie a year, and it involves superheroes or

has “Hunger” or “Games” in the title, then you shouldn’t bother. But if you have

ever witnessed the unspooling of a scratchy print at a repertory theater; driven

across town to find an obscure VHS tape at a local video store; or hunted online

for rare, bootleg DVDs of some 1960s exploitation movie or an unreleased

Taiwanese movie from the 1990s; then you should know about Fandor.

Fandor (http://www.techhive.com/article/2900813/netflix-not-getting-it-done-for-

you-serious-film-buffs-should-flock-to-fandor.html), essentially, is a treasure

chest for hardcore movie buffs; folks who, instead of blood, have celluloid in

their veins. Combing through the site’s inventory, which claims more than 5000

titles currently online, is like going to a massive used bookstore. You may not

find anything specific, but a glance in just about any direction will reveal some

amazing gem, punctuated with excited sounds of “oh, wow!” Having a hard time

finding Claire Denis’ 2001 vampire film Trouble Every Day on DVD? It’s on

Fandor. Thinking about revisiting Ringo Lam’s 1992 Hong Kong action flick FullContact? It’s on Fandor.

Launched in 2011, Fandor was never intended as a direct competitor of Netflix’s,

but rather a supplement, or an “indie” version of Netflix. Though the official

number probably goes up and down depending on the month, Fandor has

claimed that some 80 percent of its movies are not available on Netflix. The price

is comparable, too; movie fans can choose to pay a flat fee of $10 a month, each

month, or they can plunk down $90 for a year’s membership, which equals a

discounted $7.50 per month.

Jeffrey M. Anderson (/author/Jeffrey-M.-Anderson/) | @moviejeffTechHive

Mar 24, 2015 3:00 AM

(http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2015/03/fandor5-100575031-orig.jpg)

Fandor's collection of films available for streaming includes many cult classics, such as The Ossuary

and Import/Export.

Last year, the site negotiated a deal with Hulu to stream a handful of CriterionCollection titles each month. The films are shown for a very limited time— amatter of days—so it pays to check the site every day and schedule yourviewings. Recently, clicking on the “classic” tab brought up Sergei Eisenstein’stwo-part Ivan the Terrible as the most popular title in that category. But it won’tbe there long. Other recent picks included Robert Bressons’s Les Dames du Boisde Boulogne (1945) and Kenji Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu (1953).

Additionally, Fandor has recently offered day-and-date releases for new films likeRamon Zürcher’s The Strange Little Cat and Rob Nilsson’s A Bridge to theBorder.

Spending about an hour on the site brings up a long list of strikingly disparateand wide-ranging films. The site has a large selection of Werner Herzog films,including the great Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), plus Bernardo Bertolucci’sThe Conformist (1970), Eric Rohmer’sThe Marquise of O (1976), Federico Fellini’sThe Clowns (1970), Luis Bunuel’s L’Age d’Or (1930), and Wong Kar-wai’s Days ofBeing Wild (1991).

More recent, highly recommended arthouse movies include Boy, The ColorWheel, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia,Meek’s Cutoff, The White Meadows, ATime for Drunken Horses, Eccentricities of a Blond-Haired Girl, Alamar, Silent

Light, Lake Tahoe, Road to Nowhere, Starlet, and the Oscar-winning Ida. The sitestretches back to the silent days, with selections from D.W. Griffith, CharlieChaplin, Buster Keaton, and Fritz Lang; this includes features and two-reelshorts as well. Even The Great Train Robbery (1903) is here, as well as films byMelies and the Lumiere brothers going back to 1895.

(http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2015/03/fandor3-100575030-orig.jpg)Sign up for a membership and you'll be invited to complete a detailed survey about your tastes and preferences

for films. The site uses the information to recommend films it thinks you'll like.

The site includes many great experimental films, such as Orson Welles’ Hearts of

Age (1934), Jean Genet’s Un Chant d’Amour (1950), Peter Greenaway’s The Falls

(1980), Charles Lane’s Sidewalk Stories (1989), Craig Baldwin’s Tribulation 99

(1992), Lynn Hershman Leeson’s Teknolust (2002), Jenni Olson’s beautiful The

Joy of Life (2005), and Abbas Kiarostami’s Shirin (2008).

If you’re in a not-so-serious mood, Fandor offers a surprising number of funexploitation, drive-in, and “B” movie classics, starting with a large batch of filmsby the great Italian horror master Mario Bava. Other examples that pop up: IshiroHonda’s Destroy All Monsters (1968), Ted Kotcheff’s Wake in Fright (1971),Radley Metzger’s Score (1974), Lewis Jackson’s Christmas Evil (1980), DarioArgento’s Inferno (1980), David Markey’s Desperate Teenage Lovedolls (1984),Frank Henelotter’s Brain Damage (1988) and Frankenhooker (1990), MonteHellman’s Iguana (1988), Stuart Gordon’s Castle Freak (1995), and even “B”Westerns like Allan Dwan’s Silver Lode (1954) and Sergio Corbucci’s Django

(1966).

The site offers plenty of documentaries, but these run a bit more toward theobscure. Probably the most famous example is Nick Broomfield’s Biggie &

Tupac, and the late, great Albert Maysles is represented with several of hislesser-known titles. Likewise, the site rather falls down in its family film offerings,so parents won’t find much here for kids, other than films like Kirikou and the

Sorceress and a collection of old public domain Fleischer Brothers cartoons.Speaking of public domain, like most other streaming services, fans will findseveral of those familiar, free titles, such as a group of hilarious W.C. Fieldscomedy shorts, Charade (1963) with Audrey Hepburn, and Nina Paley’s greatSita Sings the Blues (2009).

Related: Movies (/Tag/Movies/) Streaming Video (/Tag/Streamingvideo/)

(http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2015/03/fandor2-100574998-

orig.jpg)

Once you've watched a film, you can write a complete review and rate it on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. 

The actual streaming of the movies is pretty seamless, with the interface

resembling YouTube or Vimeo, and no ads. Users can even scrub back and forth

through the video, if desired; nothing is locked down. The main menus offer

searches through many genres, subgenres and countries. Sliders are available to

narrow the range of years or running times. Just about every cast and crew

member is hotlinked, for maximum searchability. Some names are well

represented, like Herzog and Bava; others, like Spike Lee or Steven Soderbergh,

a little less so.

In the grand scheme of things, Fandor may seem like an underdog or an outcast,

but as the world of film changes—especially for non-mainstream movies—it is

actually a major player. It is here to remind us that the art of film is still alive.

0 Comments Sort

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Follow @moviejeff

Jeffrey has been a working film critic for more than 14 years. He first fell in lovewith the movies at age six while watching "Abbott and Costello MeetFrankenstein" and served as staff critic for the San Francisco Examiner from

2000 through 2003.More by Jeffrey M. Anderson (/author/Jeffrey-M.-Anderson/)

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