I'm very
excited about making time to see "Advantageous," a new independent
dystopian science-fiction film directed by, written by, and starring
Asian-American women. However, I almost missed it - the movie premiered
at the Sundance Film Festival in January, but was then acquired by and
premiered exclusively on Netflix last week with little fanfare.
With
no theatrical release, that means that the title didn't appear on the
film release calendars I use - Wikipedia and Boxofficemojo currently.
Because Netflix paid for exclusivity, "Advantageous" is only available
online - it's not even considered a VOD release. That means that many
film outlets didn't run reviews. At the time of writing there are only
twelve reviews listed on Rotten Tomatoes for "Advantageous," 75%
positive. The big names like Variety and the New York Times covered it,
but not most of the smaller publications and websites. I only learned
about the movie because I stumbled upon a rave by Katherine Trendacosta
at io9 through a content aggregator site, and then another review over
at WIRED - neither of these sites appear to be counted by Rotten
Tomatoes, mind you. I'm subscribed to a couple of film blogs, Film
School Rejects and Indiewire, specifically to catch smaller titles like
this, but neither of them have run anything substantive on
"Advantageous" aside from basic synopses from when the film premiered at
Sundance.
As an Asian-American woman and
science-fiction fan, I am the exact, dead center, target audience for
"Advantageous." Outside of monitoring the new release schedule for
Netflix, there was no way for me to know that this film existed, even
though I'm a cinema buff who makes a point of keeping an eye out for
films like this. Netflix has generally been considered great for indie
films, because they can get smaller films in front of more people.
However, it doesn't really have the resources to promote them the way
that other distribution outfits might. I'm fairly sure this release
strategy makes "Advantageous" ineligible for any awards that might give
the picture more buzz and coverage. Also, the film is stuck in an odd
kind of media jurisdictional limbo. It's comparable to if it had
been picked up by one of the premium cable channels like HBO or
Showtime. The lack of a theatrical release means they're treated like
television films, which often end up being covered by television writers
and reviewed by television critics. Exceptions are made occasionally
when there's an auteur involved, as with Steven Soderbergh's "Beyond the
Candelabra." Netflix isn't television, though, so which critics should
lay claim to "Advantageous"?
This is a rare
occurrence now, but it won't be in the future. Netflix's recent push
for more content had lead them to acquire more and more films
themselves. So far it's been mostly documentaries, including the Oscar
nominated "The Square" and "Virunga." "Advantageous" is the first
feature they've acquired in a while, but it will soon be followed
by Cary Fukunaga's "Beasts of No Nation" and Richie Smyth's
"Jadotville." Netflix is also producing a new "Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon" sequel, a Pee-Wee Herman movie, all those cringeworthy Adam
Sandler comedies, and Brad Pitt’s upcoming “War Machine,” which Netflix
recently paid $30 million to finance and distribute. And I have no
doubt that Amazon, and other competitors will soon follow in the film
distribution game - Amazon is already chasing film directors like Woody
Allen and David Gordon Green to create programs for them.
Most
of the coverage of the "War Machine" brought up the implications for
theaters, but there will surely also be an impact on viewers as well.
There are more films being made now than ever before, and so many, many
places to view them. It's going to become tougher to keep track of
current releases when they're scattered across multiple VOD platforms,
streaming services, theater chains, and other venues. Television is
already in the thick of it. Did you hear about the superhero series
"Powers" that's being run on the Playstation Network? Did you know the
Playstation Network existed? I expect that the existing organizational
tools I use will be updated eventually to reflect this, or that better
alternatives will be come available. But for now, during the
transition, I'm going to have to either become more vigilant or just
learn to be okay with letting a few titles slip through the cracks.
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