Considered by the man who brought it to life ‘the
most essential movie’ of his career, writer-director Alfonso
Cuarón’s Roma released simultaneously
on the Netflix streaming video service alongside some limited theatrical
screenings has since gone on to become a critical favorite and snag a Best
Picture Academy Award nomination. Semi-autobiographical,
the black-and-white American-Mexican co-production represents the first film shot
by the director himself alongside producing and writing the picture. While controversy still wages on regarding
the simultaneous exhibition of a film on a home video streaming program and
limited theatrical engagements still wages on, with AMC and Regal Cinemas
refusing to carry the film as part of their Best Picture showcase, Roma still rapidly cemented itself into
many critical top spots with Netflix making the film readily available in a
variety of formats to choose from.
Which brings us to the most unusual yet rewarding
development in the Netflix/Roma rollout
saga: 70mm film. That’s right, you read
that correctly, the online internet streaming Netflix film Roma which was created in a fully digital workflow utilizing the
Arri Alexa 65 digital camera has received roughly seven celluloid 70mm
theatrical prints. In other words, the
digital data stored in a computer has made the transition to analog film
exhibition. Moreover, of all the
companies in the ongoing digital age to pay to strike an analog film print,
that it would be Netflix still boggles the mind considering their ongoing push
(with some exceptions) against physical media.
Now you may ask, what’s the attraction of seeing uncompressed digital
data otherwise readily available at your fingertips to stream on your
high-definition television printed on celluloid filmstock? What’s the difference and just how is
digitally photographed data going to look printed on 70mm film?
In short, the finished image after the transfer of
the data onto high resolution film is absolutely stunning and answers the
question of whether or not in this day and age digital data can benefit from
being exhibited on celluloid. While the Arri
Alexa 65 digital camera is indeed commonly used in a majority of the big
Hollywood film productions we’re used to seeing by now with the most notable
example being The Revenant, this is the first time the results of the
camera have been finished and displayed on celluloid. Having seen Roma in DCP (digital cinema package) which is the standard for
films released theatrically in this day and age, I was eager to see how the
transfer process would or would not improve the picture and having seen enough
35mm films blown up to 70mm over the years I was somewhat skeptical of how much
of an improvement it would be.
Having to travel down to the Gateway Film Center,
one of a handful of theaters playing the limited theatrical print screening,
the film was displayed on their largest screen with the Dolby Atmos sound
turned up very loud and I actually noticed minutiae not visible in the standard
DCP rollout. Take for instance that
stunning sequence of the film’s heroine fearlessly trudging into towering white
caps to try and rescue two children from drowning, and the way the light from
the sun glistens on the waves as they crash on by. If there’s any sequence in recent film you
can use to demonstrate the power of 70mm despite being sourced from digital
data, it’s undeniably this one which carries a scope and grandeur evocative of
the big screen epics of David Lean or Anthony Mann.
Say what you will about the film itself which continues
to wow many, but I’m enormously excited about the possibilities of high-resolution
digital data exhibited on celluloid film stock and there’s nothing stranger in
today’s streaming heavy digital age than seeing the company logo for dominant
force in exhibiting films over the internet printed and displayed on physical
celluloid filmstock. Netflix is often regarded
as the antithesis to the theatrical experience with a certain amount of
criticism levied at the quality control of films being released on their
streaming service not measuring up to what bigger film studios have been
putting out. With Roma and the limited 70mm run of the film, Netflix seems determined
to change that public perception of being against physical media and against
the theatrical experience. If nothing
else, Roma proves you can still make
a big sprawling 65mm epic film with a level of detail you’re not going to get
at home without shooting a frame of actual film itself.
-Andrew Kotwicki