Photo: Carlos Somonte (Netflix)

Whether it’s a ploy for awards consideration or not, Netflix’s recent decision to give some of its highest-profile original movies a small theatrical rollout seems a bit like an acknowledgment that there are—sometimes—better ways to experience a movie than streaming it in your stupid, boring house. Now, that possibility seems even harder to ignore given Netflix’s decision to release a 70mm print version of Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma in select theaters. Roma already had a small theatrical run and you can already stream it whenever you want, but here Netflix is stopping just short of admitting that this is a better way to watch the movie.

In a press release, Cuarón himself notes that Roma is “designed to be meaningful whether experienced at home or on the big screen,” but this 70mm version will reveal details that can’t be seen in any other version, making it the “most organic way” way to watch Roma. In other words, this version is better because there are some things that just work better on some real damn film, but watching it on your phone while you get an oil change is somehow just as good.


If you, like Netflix, prefer to see movies in the best format available, here’s where you can catch screenings of the 70mm Roma print:

12/26-1/1—Austin, TX—Alamo Drafthouse Ritz

1/2-5—San Francisco, CA—The Castro

1/9-13—Chicago, IL—The Music Box

1/10-11—Los Angeles, CA—The Egyption

1/11-17—New York, NY—Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn

1/12-14—San Fransisco, CA—Alamo Drafthouse

1/23-26—Hartford, CT—Cinestudio