Netflix move over. Say hello to Mubi. That is a movie website that makes available one movie each day (and remains accessible for a month) for streaming through a computer. (So far Mubi is not available through Roku or similar devices. The work around I have discovered is the HDMI cable which turns our television screen into a laptop monitor.)
The way I discovered Mubi was by conducting a search for the best Turkish movies. (I’m sure that will send lots of readers over to Mubi.com.) And true to form, Mubi just finished a series of recent Turkish movies. The missus and I watched recently “My Marlon and Brando” (very good) and “My Only Sunshine” (grim but worth seeing, especially if you have any interest in or affection for the Bosporus). We also watched a charming, small Italian movie, “Mid-August Lunch” (highly recommended).
For $4.95 a month, Mubi is prompting us (okay, me) to rethink Amazon Prime streaming as well as Netflix (for dvds). The reason is that Mubi brings to the screen a variety of international movies, both old and new, that you would never go out of your way to find. It has the dynamic that makes a film festival worth attending — the serendipity of movies from around the world and not financed by the big distributors only available for a short time. And that short shelf life (a month instead of two nights) is another aspect of Mubi that (all about) I like. Instead of having a 40 film queue with Amazon or Netflix that you never use because you know those titles will still be there next week, next month, or next year, with Mubi you have a bit of a gun to your head (oh, the thrill); if you don’t see what they now are featuring you may not see it again. It almost brings back to streaming the small bit of anxiety that still attends real live movie theaters — where you can’t count on a title being around next week when you get back from vacation.
Old Life rating: outstanding.
Old Life 