How Do Filmygod Movies Compare To Official Streaming Services?

Quality and conscience are key for me. The mainstream platforms deliver good image quality, fully translated subtitles, carefully curated content, and even extras like interviews and fully restored cuts of films. Sites like filmygod.com are good for surprises like finding very rare films or local stuff that mainstream services haven’t yet put online for various reasons. Films by obscure directors for example that for whatever reason have not yet been digitized by mainstream services. On the other hand, mainstream websites put a lot of work into preserving editions of movies and providing context to them, such as providing restored versions of a movie, complete cast and crew lists, and even curating lists of movies based on a theme or the films of a particular director. All of this adds a lot of value to the movies they provide and really helps to enhance one’s appreciation for them. This is why I prefer to use aggregator websites like filmygod.com as a last resort to find obscure movies and then try to seek out and purchase or rent those movies through legitimate channels. It’s just easier on my conscience that way.

That’s a rather silly comparison. One is a licensed, legitimate subscription-based streaming service with high-quality, original content; the other is a piracy-based, somewhat-legal gray area-type of site that offers users free content that they can access instantly, often the latest full-length feature films – including a huge library of Indian movies – all in one place and available before they hit other legit streaming services in many regions. The site in question has a very horrible and illicit quality to it, but it’s free and so very very convenient – and for new films released just a few weeks prior, it’s the only place to access them all in one spot without restrictions based on where in the world you’re located. People don’t “prefer” bolly4u over Netflix et al because of some superior user interface or original content, they use it because it’s free and has everything – especially new films – instantly available. I see this playing out in every form of entertainment. The biggest fan of any particular medium is typically the one who can access it most easily. Today with so many different subscriptions for different varieties of entertainment, the medium that is easiest to access (and cheapest to boot) will generally win out over the others even when there is considerable superiority among the alternatives. For people in non-primary markets, sites such as these are typically their best or even their only way to access a particular movie – often even before it starts playing on paid subscription services in their region, and after having navigated geo-blocks put up by the distributors. It is a side effect of fragmented and often quite slow distribution systems.

So in the end it is just a tool, a rather flawed, annoying and even unethical one. Use it with due caution and a good ad blocker. Do not expect any customer service, stability or even – for once – perfect dual language subtitles as standard. But when it works it is a nice bonus.

This is a solution to a problem that is rapidly decreasing. With so many legal ways to stream movies and TV shows and even sign up for free trials to various services, plus use of one’s local library to watch for free through services like Kanopy, the problem that these websites were trying to solve is rapidly disappearing. The main ‘feature’ that these sites are offering now is the ability to access absolute latest releases to watch before they are added to various streaming services. Even this disadvantage is dwindling rapidly.

Here’s a brief rundown on the different anime streaming services from a practical perspective. Choose the ones that contain the type of mature anime that you’re looking for. For current season anime (pretty much all raw with a large amount of sub-only premieres), I’d recommend starting with Crunchyroll. For more cinematic and auteur-driven works, including many anime films, Netflix is a great choice and contains a lot of boundary-pushing anime that really delve into style and theme in a deep way, similar to works like Perfect Blue. I also use HIDIVE to find the classic anime, fully uncensored anime, and all of the really obscure cult style titles that aren’t available on the other services. Often times a title will be available on HIDIVE that isn’t available on the other services. I also like to switch services by season to try to get the most bang for my buck and to keep my watchlist varied and exciting. There is really a lot of great dark and thought provoking anime out there for us to watch.

Are there any legitimate subscription services that offer the full length, uncut versions of a particular show as opposed to edited versions to comply with TV broadcast regulations? I have seen this same question asked every now and then over the last few months but never receive any concrete information on whether such services actually exist. All I usually receive are references to various sketchy websites offering “current” and "up-to-date" streams. The distribution of a show such as this would no doubt be a real challenge to license, and likely many would view it as only suitable for home video release to a niche audience of collectors. Perhaps Japanese streaming services carry it, but then you're stuck dealing with region locking and a lack of subtitles in English. This show would make for a great case study on the current distribution of content.

I find it fascinating how the majority of the conversation around this topic revolves around legality and how not getting sued over the work of other people is key. But there is so much more ethics involved here. Do you really want to be consuming work that people put their blood, sweat and tears into and never see a cent for it? Is your convenience really more important than the work of the industry? I’m not saying that these sites aren’t safe. They exist on the fringes of the web. They’re funded by ads for gambling, or whatever. The whole thing is a means to exploit people’s desire to get free content online. There is no free lunch.

And then there's the community. When we’re viewing content legally, whether it’s an official YouTube channel or the trailer on the Bollywood film’s website, we get to engage with the fans of that content. People post comments on the official trailer of a Bollywood film on YouTube praising the movie, rejoicing in the songs they particularly love. And when we’re viewing pirated versions of a film online, comments are mostly of the ‘this video is not buffering properly’ type or people asking for an alternative link to the same illegal content. So the culture of consuming content that’s been illegally uploaded online is distinct from that of the officially released content, and if we engage with the official version, we get to experience the celebratory culture of the film and all its related content, rather than just be another unconscious, unthankful, passive ‘customer’ of the illegally uploaded version of the same content.

This is particularly sad for a film student such as myself. Each time a movie is streamed illegally online, it distorts statistics. Companies cannot accurately gauge the interest of actual audiences in films. Filmmakers will not receive their fair share of residual payments for their work. Much of the independent cinema being made in India is already struggling to find funding for their movies. This sort of viewing will kill off much of that amazing offbeat cinema. And yes, that one movie that you loved watching on a pirate site (thinking that you were supporting the makers) actually did you a disservice. Your views didn’t contribute to the movie’s success, and so there might not be a next movie from that talented director/actor/writer.

I get asked by my mom what app she uses for her daily dose of soap as well. Confused between two of her favorites, I had to sit her down and show her all the icons for each of her apps. In the end, I just put both of them on the TV, and labeled them, using each for what they are best at. Note that this approach requires a bit of a budget on your part.