London-based art house cinema chain Curzon is opening up its service to film-lovers outside the capital with its classy new Curzon On Demand streaming service.
It’s important to note that Curzon isn’t trying to compete with Netflix of LOVEFiLM – you won’t find the Transformers smashing up America in their library of films.
Instead, you get a hand-picked, curated selection of the best that independent cinema has to offer. In testing the service, we took the chance to re-enjoy 2009 Palm D’or winner The Class (Entre Les Murs) which we reviewed on its limited UK release.
Fittingly Curzon’s cinemas were among the few discerning venues showing this French film about a teacher who spends a school year challenging and daring his class of racially mixed students in a tough Parisian neighbourhood.
The great news for users who don’t live near a Curzon branch is that films are available via the On Demand service on the same day as they are released in the cinemas. We liked the stylish look of the website which makes browsing the films on offer a doddle and evokes a clear sense of the high quality associated with the chain’s physical branches.
Subject to your broadband connection’s quality and speed, rentals are available in HD and once you’ve paid for your film, it’ll be available to enjoy for seven days. iPad, smartphone and tablet users will be pleased to know the service works with mobile devices and Apple TV users are also able to use AirPlay to push the film to their big screen TV.
For those who don’t spend their entire life looking at a 3-9” screen, the service is of course also available for desktop/laptop computers. All this film-watching fun is yours for as little as £2 a time and Curzon members receive discounts which entitle them to rent films for as little as £1.50 each. As well as films, the service allows users to enjoy special Curzon Q&As with filmmakers and performers.
It’s great to see an On Demand service aimed at those looking for more than the latest Hollywood crowd pleaser and we’ll be interested to see how Curzon develop the service. When it finally launches, an app for YouView would definitely be a smart move.
