Streaming: the joy of romcoms
Elizabeth Sankey’s fine documentary on the genre, premiering on Mubi, could be the perfect spark for your own romantic comedy love-in
Romantic comedies are a perennially undervalued genre: even very fine ones are often described as “guilty pleasures”. That’s always a nonsense term, given that no pleasure is without value or grace – least of all these days. Under lockdown, don’t you find yourself more inclined towards romantic comedies both great and mediocre, to sink yourself in the familiar warmth of stories driven by love and tenderness, where everything tends to turn out fine?
Mubi has thus chosen an opportune moment to premiere Romantic Comedy, a spry, affectionate documentary by musician turned film-maker Elizabeth Sankey that gives this maligned genre its due. A short, accessible film essay that did the festival rounds last year, it cuts to the heart of why romcoms have to work harder to be taken seriously – hint: they tend to prioritise the female viewer – and unpicks their history of flawed gender politics and heteronormative bias. But it’s a loving exercise, overlaid with droll personal commentary, and one that will have you jotting down a playlist of films to watch right after.
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Romantic Comedy review – our love affair with the romcom
Elizabeth Sankey’s engaging documentary reclaims the genre from snooty cinephiles – and proudly pronounces When Harry Met Sally a masterpiece
With affection and brio, Elizabeth Sankey reclaims the genre of romantic comedy in this watchable documentary; that is, she reclaims it from the gendered snobbery of white, male, middle-aged reviewers who fall over themselves to praise horror movies or thrillers or superhero films but turn their noses up at romcom. (If La La Land had been marketed as a romcom, wonders Sankey, would it have got the same Oscars and saucer-eyed critical praise?)
Now, I’m putting my hands up here, although I still can’t handle Nancy Meyers’ The Holiday (2006), and I still worry that romcom tends to be all rom and no com, a conservative genre that often dislikes the subversion of comedy. I absolutely agreed with Sankey’s masterpiece rating for When Harry Met Sally … (1989) – what person of taste and judgment wouldn’t? – and I enjoyed her praise for While You Were Sleeping (1995), which she discreetly juxtaposes with the comparably themed The Big Sick (2017). But could it be that there is a kind of dual response going on here – straightforward reverence for a small number of romcom greats and a kind of guilty-pleasure celebration for the stratum of standard-issue romcom product below that, which maybe isn’t all that great but nonetheless foregrounds women’s experiences in the way no other genre does?
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Mahindra Electric on Tuesday announced its partnership with self-drive rental platform Zoomcar, as part of which the electric vehicles (EV) maker will offer 100 of its e20 plus EVs on the latter's platform in the capital.
The electric mobility arm of automobile major Mahindra & Mahindra said the agreement is aimed at promoting shared and cleaner mobility.
"Mahindra's commitment towards electric mobility continues. Our aim is to make EVs more mass adaptable in India in public transport, shared mobility and personal vehicles," Mahindra Electric Chief Executive Mahesh Babu told reporters here.
The EVs under the deal are financed as part of an agreement between Zoomcar and Mahindra Finance.
Apart the e2o plus, Mahindra also makes the e-Verito and e-Supro model EVs.
Zoomcar operates in 30 cities across India, allowing users to rent cars by the hour, day, week or month.
At the event to announce the tie-up, Niti Aayog Chief Exexcutive Amitabh Kant said a massive revolution is required to usher in shared, connected and zero waste mobility, while tackling Delhi's air pollution is not possible without private sector collaboration.
"In Niti Aayog, we have provided charging stations as the need for the government is to ensure that there are vast number of charging stations all over and we are, in fact, moving towards having all electric vehicles," he said.
While launching the National E-Mobility Programme here last month, Power Minister R.K. Singh said the government will soon unveil a policy on EVs.
According to officials, the policy will provide that charging EVs would be a service and not sale of electricity -- which requires a licence.
The policy on electric vehicle charging stations on points along identified corridors, draft of which has been finalised by the Central Electricity Authority, would provide that the price of power for charging electric vehicles be capped at the average cost of supply in the state, excluding discom transmission and distribution losses, plus 15 per cent, officials said.
This would help the tariff for charging at an economical level of below Rs 6 per unit, they added.
The governments's National Electric Mobility Mission Plan launched in 2013 aims at gradually ensuring a vehicle population of about 6-7 million electric and hybrid vehicles in India by 2020.
The vision enunciated two years ago is for India to have 100 per cent EVs by 2030.
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Enjoy the post, and the project ;)