Roma

photo courtesy of netflix.com

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

     Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma tells the story of a middle-class family and their housekeeper Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) living in 1970s Mexico City. Many of Cuarón’s previous films have achieved critical and commercial success, from atmospheric thrillers like Children of Men and Gravity to the classic and insightful Y Tu Mamá También and even Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (generally one of the better, more stylistically and thematically significant in the series). With Roma, Cuarón surpasses himself; the film is the work of a master at the top of his craft.

     Like any worthy poetry, Roma lives and breathes. From the specific settings and circumstances that form the movie’s foreground—a dusty and violent 70s Mexico City—the movie confronts a broad collection of (sometimes contradictory) ideas about life and loss. Cleo, the protagonist of the movie, has a meek existence as the housekeeper for a fractured family. She balances her job with a romantic relationship just as fractured, and those two relationships serve as sources of love, heartbreak, and violence.

photo courtesy of theatlantic.com

     A word of caution before we proceed: Roma is a beautiful, artful film, but it won’t be for everyone. Its themes are complex, its pace deliberate, its plot points and character development subtle. If you’re looking for action or in-your-face humor, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. Still, if you can marshal your patience, Roma will certainly be worth your attention. It may burn slowly, but it builds into powerful crescendos. Every piece has its place, and by the film’s end, each of them comes together and reaches something close to cinematic perfection.

     Some of the pieces deserve specific mention. Aparicio has never acted before, but her performance anchors the movie’s emotional core; it has already garnered major awards attention. The movie’s directing and cinematography (also by Cuarón), is sublime. Each composition is precise, dazzling, and even in black and white, absolutely gorgeous.

photo courtesy of variety.com

     And to top it off, Cuarón gives Roma rich symbolic imagery. A number of symbols and motifs appear—pay attention to the prevalence of water during important moments, for one. At times, they lament destructive forces (like the masculine aggression that pushes the movie’s women to stick together) and at other times they rejoice in optimism (as when a character learns to cherish life). Together, they paint a stirring portrait of human experience.

Roma is rated R for graphic nudity, some disturbing images, and language.

TRAILER