FilmStruck strikes a chord with Asian and world cinema fans

“The Hidden Fortress” Japanese Theatrical Poster

As streaming service giant, Netflix, pours most of its money into original programming instead of obtaining film streaming rights, fans of specific cinematic genres and niches have had to look to other streaming services and physical media in order to consume the wide array of classic and current films that they are looking to watch.

Thankfully, a new service, FilmStruck, has finally launched as of November 2016, offering up everything that fans of both physical media and specific niche cinema have been searching for: an end-all-be-all streaming service that offers up a wide selection of classic and current world cinema, as well as specialized programming and supplements that other services like Netflix make no effort to provide.

Put together in part by The Criterion Collection and TCM, FilmStruck offers a wide variety of High Definition films and supplements, whether they be previously available on DVD or Blu-ray from various companies or The Criterion Collection, or new to streaming and previously out of print.

Readers of City on Fire will be happy to know that FilmStruck provides many Asian and genre films that action and world cinema fans crave like candy. For example, fans of Criterion have known for many years now that the company has always been reliable as to releasing classic samurai films in pristine condition.

However, most of those samurai films are now streaming online, ranging from many of Akira Kurosawa’s classics (Sanshiro Sugata, Rashomon, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, Ran, etc) to nearly every installment of the Zatoichi franchise, including Takeshi Kitano’s own The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi remake. Speaking of Kitano, many of his violent Yakuza films are streaming as well, including Violent Cop, Boiling Point, and Sonatine. That FilmStruck’s library ranges from Kurosawa’s debut Judo film from the 40s to Kitano’s gangster classics from the 90s demonstrates the breadth of its library. And that’s not even including the hundreds of other varied films and genres that are available to stream, such as random Asian horror and Anime titles. Fans of this kind of stuff need to get behind FilmStruck, because it is clearly a service that cares about film and its fans.

If the library wasn’t good enough, film fans can rest assured that the prices for the service are exceptional and a near steal based upon what it offers viewers. You can either pay $6.99 per month for the basic FilmStruck library or $10.99 per month for the entire library including the Criterion Channel, which offers most of these Asian specialty titles. There is also a $99 per year fee for those who need no convincing and want to dive right in. Better yet, you can start off with a free two-week trial.

However, there is currently a downside to the service, one which will improve with time. The service is only available upon all hand held devices, computers, and the Amazon Fire Stick at the time of this writing. Those hoping for a simple app that can be downloaded on any Vizio TV will have to try harder if they want to watch these pristine transfers on their big screen. While the service will be launching on other platforms in the coming months, it’s access is fairly limited right now. Also, the service can only be viewed within the United States. Therefore, cinema buffs from around the world will have to wait until this limitation is lifted, if ever.

For those who are curious about seeing more details on FilmStruck, such as what films it carries in its library or as to what specific devices it streams upon, you can click here. Otherwise, say hello to the new streaming service that you should be giving your money too and looking forward too adding more Asian and world cinema titles to watch online. Happy streaming!