Roma (B+ or 3.5/4 stars)
Delivering a love letter to the women who raised him, director Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men, Gravity) gives us 'Roma', an immersive, black-&-white foreign language masterwork which draws from his own childhood to create a vivid & personal portrait of domestic conflict & social gradation amidst intense political turmoil of Mexico in the early 1970s. 'Roma' chronicles the day-to-day minutia of living in the titular Mexico City neighborhood of Roma, where we first meet our main character, Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio, in her 1st acting role), a young maid who lives with & works for the upper-middle class Antonio family, helping out distraught mother Sofia (Marina de Tavira), her adulterous doctor husband (Fernando Grediaga) & their 4 children.
Dutiful Cleo cooks, cleans, holds the dog back when the front gate opens, cleans up his poop, acts as a nanny to the 4 adoring children, and basically does anything else that she's asked to do. When she has the spare moment, Cleo hangs out with fellow servant Adela (Nancy Garcia), goes to the movies, or sleeps with her boyfriend Fermin (Jorge Antonio Guerrero, who gives us a nude tutorial in martial arts). Fermin gets Cleo pregnant, promptly disappears, but frazzled Sofia is still 'with it' enough to help Cleo with the pregnancy. Throughout the rest of the film, we watch as Cleo must face one seemingly insurmountable issue after another: still tending to the Antonio family's trials & tribulations, contending with the actions of her cowardly boyfriend, weathering an earthquake, almost being shot while trying to buy a baby crib, going into labor amidst an ultra-violent student protest, risking her life to save a child's, & facing her deepest, innermost fears.
Okay, so 'Roma' is one of "those" movies -- the kind you hear is great, hear may win awards, but is also long, quiet, black-&-white, filmed in the Spanish language, contains no well-known actors and may be a tough sit for those not knowing these facts going in. Furthermore, 'Roma' is focused more on authentic emotion & mundane happenstance rather than plot. So to those craving plot: beware. What 'Roma' IS is a passion project for esteemed filmmaker Cuaron; who gives us a moving - if you tap into those emotions - drama of quiet tragedies, personal reflection & poignancy. And Cuaron imparts that with exquisite class: tactile b-&-w cinematography {full of visual symbolism}, robust period production values & acute sound design.
As the nearly silent Cleo, Aparicio impresses in her 1st acting role. Cleo doesn't have much in life, tries to hold onto carefree innocence, but also hides an inner-sadness behind a mask of half-hearted smiles for the benefit of her tumultuous employers & the children who love her so much. And then just when you think you know her ... she blows your mind in the final 10 minutes with a stunning act of bravery followed by a sobering revelation. Cinematically, 2 outstanding sequences stand-out to me: 1) at a posh New Year's party, a fire breaks out that distinguishes disparity btwn. the upper-middle class, who hold their champagne glasses & sing as the fire rages, and their lowly employees who work vigorously to stop the threat. And 2) when violence breaks out in the streets while Cleo is shopping for a crib. Both sequences rivet and, Cuaron's capacity to capture the smallest moments of Cleo's life amid the volcanic cultural shifts of that time & place is exceptional.
The slight problem I faced with 'Roma' is a kind of distancing effect. Cleo is lovely, empathetic and I "got" who she is, but some might say the character is inscrutably passive & they wouldn't be wrong in feeling that way. Also, while there is much to see & soak in with each vignette that Cuaron presents - with stunning cinematic sequences & moments of brilliant humanistic observances - there ARE stretches of surrealism & quiet reflection that could make a viewer's mind wander. Patience & fortitude are required through the leisurely pacing of this 135 min. foreign film -- that's just a fact. But for those viewers who are 'locked-in', the immersion into this world with these characters is rewarding. And it's the kind of film that lingers in the mind. Some movies are made for the public, but 'Roma' is a self-soothing, therapeutic, deeply personal film for Alfonso Cuaron.
Dutiful Cleo cooks, cleans, holds the dog back when the front gate opens, cleans up his poop, acts as a nanny to the 4 adoring children, and basically does anything else that she's asked to do. When she has the spare moment, Cleo hangs out with fellow servant Adela (Nancy Garcia), goes to the movies, or sleeps with her boyfriend Fermin (Jorge Antonio Guerrero, who gives us a nude tutorial in martial arts). Fermin gets Cleo pregnant, promptly disappears, but frazzled Sofia is still 'with it' enough to help Cleo with the pregnancy. Throughout the rest of the film, we watch as Cleo must face one seemingly insurmountable issue after another: still tending to the Antonio family's trials & tribulations, contending with the actions of her cowardly boyfriend, weathering an earthquake, almost being shot while trying to buy a baby crib, going into labor amidst an ultra-violent student protest, risking her life to save a child's, & facing her deepest, innermost fears.
Okay, so 'Roma' is one of "those" movies -- the kind you hear is great, hear may win awards, but is also long, quiet, black-&-white, filmed in the Spanish language, contains no well-known actors and may be a tough sit for those not knowing these facts going in. Furthermore, 'Roma' is focused more on authentic emotion & mundane happenstance rather than plot. So to those craving plot: beware. What 'Roma' IS is a passion project for esteemed filmmaker Cuaron; who gives us a moving - if you tap into those emotions - drama of quiet tragedies, personal reflection & poignancy. And Cuaron imparts that with exquisite class: tactile b-&-w cinematography {full of visual symbolism}, robust period production values & acute sound design.
As the nearly silent Cleo, Aparicio impresses in her 1st acting role. Cleo doesn't have much in life, tries to hold onto carefree innocence, but also hides an inner-sadness behind a mask of half-hearted smiles for the benefit of her tumultuous employers & the children who love her so much. And then just when you think you know her ... she blows your mind in the final 10 minutes with a stunning act of bravery followed by a sobering revelation. Cinematically, 2 outstanding sequences stand-out to me: 1) at a posh New Year's party, a fire breaks out that distinguishes disparity btwn. the upper-middle class, who hold their champagne glasses & sing as the fire rages, and their lowly employees who work vigorously to stop the threat. And 2) when violence breaks out in the streets while Cleo is shopping for a crib. Both sequences rivet and, Cuaron's capacity to capture the smallest moments of Cleo's life amid the volcanic cultural shifts of that time & place is exceptional.
The slight problem I faced with 'Roma' is a kind of distancing effect. Cleo is lovely, empathetic and I "got" who she is, but some might say the character is inscrutably passive & they wouldn't be wrong in feeling that way. Also, while there is much to see & soak in with each vignette that Cuaron presents - with stunning cinematic sequences & moments of brilliant humanistic observances - there ARE stretches of surrealism & quiet reflection that could make a viewer's mind wander. Patience & fortitude are required through the leisurely pacing of this 135 min. foreign film -- that's just a fact. But for those viewers who are 'locked-in', the immersion into this world with these characters is rewarding. And it's the kind of film that lingers in the mind. Some movies are made for the public, but 'Roma' is a self-soothing, therapeutic, deeply personal film for Alfonso Cuaron.