Roma gets golden

Roma gets golden

Because a film can absolutely be a film even if it is never shown in cinemas.

It’s not so much that the doors opened for diversity, as diversity broke the door down. That’s how Mexican auteur Alfonso Cuaron described today’s cinematic landscape before going on to snag best director at the Golden Globes, for Roma, which also won best motion picture in a foreign language. Then, he was talking about the success of Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians and the ilk, just a couple of years after #OscarsSoWhite. After Golden Globes success, he had to go batting for diversity of another kind – of theatrical and digital platforms.

Two years ago Pedro Almodovar and Will Smith went head to head on this at Cannes, with the former holding that a film is not a film when the chair on which you’re sitting is bigger than the screen, because you should feel small in front of it, while the latter raised a cheer to how streaming is raising global cinematic comprehension, because thanks to it, viewers are watching films they absolutely wouldn’t have seen in the theatre. That Roma has scored big despite a largely digital release confirms streamers are fir mly in the awards game now, with all eyes now turned to how they do at the Oscars.

For viewers it’s great to have more options. For actors too. For example Vicky Kaushal, the breakout desi star of 2018, enjoyed two digital and three big screen releases. While the anytime anywhere variety of digital channels is seductive, it doesn’t make theatres less so. They offer a communal experience invaluable in increasingly isolated lives. Let’s keep going there – if not for the 3D or 4D or IMAX effects then at least for the matchless joys of queuing up with strangers to use the restroom or guffawing together or clapping collectively.