On Criterion Blu-ray - David Hare reports on ROMA (Alfonso Cuaron, Mexico, 2019)

Random screens (click any image for a slideshow) from Criterion's new Blu-ray of Roma released next week. 

The disc is packed with extras, and the transfer from the 4K DI is very beautiful indeed. In fact, I would say it's one that pushes the limits of 1080p HD resolution and clarity to maximum video and audio quality, including a first time Dolby Atmos track.

But the Netflix only 4K version, even in a relatively compressed streaming encode was and is something else again. If ever there was a movie in which HDR (dynamic range specific to the UHD format, amplified to buggery) is so intrinsic to the photography, and this is that film. Cuaron shot it himself with Arri Alexa cameras, and in the Netflix 4K HDR stream there is something almost other-worldly in the brilliance of the image. Such sheer quality of light is the formal driver for the fact that the movie is entirely a childhood memory, and as such, it's something privileged and unnaturally real.

Criterion has been slow to get onto various tech upgrades over the years. They were tardy in adopting anamorphic DVD for widescreen movies back in the 90s, and they only joined the 1080p HD bandwagon, following the majors by two years ca. 2009. It is still uncommitted to the 4K UHD disc format. 

This is more than annoying to me, not only for the selfish reason that I want all these things in the best format available to play for the enjoyment of others as well as myself, but given the parlous state of current hard disc markets in the Anglosphere, I believe Criterion's commitment to the UHD disc format might have helped the ailing markets to mainstream 4K. So far, no deal.

Meanwhile there's this very beautiful, but not quite ideal 1080p disc. And forthcoming up to April, Criterion's deal with Netflix includes The Irishman and several other titles, although not (yet) Buster Scruggs. All of these were made in the 4K domain and this seems even more like an opportunity lost for the best video format in the history of the medium.