Roma

The title refers to the neighborhood in Mexico City where Director Alfonso Cuaron grew up in the 70s. It could just have easily been entitled 'Libo' for the movie is the filmmaker's reflection on the woman who helped raise him - his family's maid. The fictionalized story renames the woman Cleo (a lovely natural performance by newcomer Yalitza Aparicio).

ROMA takes it's time developing its story-line. It's less a series of events, as much as an observation of a year in the life of Cleo and the family she cares for. It has been described, somewhat incorrectly, as Neo-Realist. Shooting in Black & White and having a story involving the poor does not automatically denote Neo-Realism. The movie is Cuaron's ode to his childhood. It's a memory movie, told from HIS perspective - not of Cleo's and the underclass. What makes the movie work is Cuaron's careful attention to the smallest details - simple eye contact, the food, child's play and washing dog droppings on the driveway. Important events happen to Cleo and the family, but, they are presented in the unhurried manner that feels truer than in most contrived screenplays.

The aforementioned Black & White cinematography is by Cuaron himself (his regular cameraman, Emmanuel Lubezki was unavailable). The camera-work feels very much 'directed'. At times, you can almost feel Cuaron steering the camera to capture exactly what Cuaron, the Director, feels is critical. The effect cuts both ways. On one hand, it becomes a true Auteur project (Cuaron also writes and is the co-editor!). On the other, it further emphasizes that this is CUARON's story, and not that of Cleo and the other characters. In that way, Cuaron comes between the viewer and the action on screen.

Much has been made about Aparicio's performance, and, it is a wonder. Much of the other cast are also non-professionals (in that way, it does have a connection to Neo-Realist cinema) and they perform ably. The other tech credits are solid, but, the main discussion has been on the 65mm Digital photography (a somewhat confusing moniker that has some believing it was shot on actual film). The larger sensor does give it a clearer image than traditional digital camerawork, but, seen in a movie theater on DCP, still lacks the richer black level and silvery white level of actual 65mm Film. For all the acclaim (and awards) Cuaron and ROMA's cinematography has gotten, it still resembled Grey & Greyer more than true celluloid B&W.

ROMA is a lovely memoir. It isn't a movie to be dissected as one would normally do for its plotting. It is best to let it wash over you - just as the movie frequently does with water flowing and jets gliding above.

I already want to see "Roma" again.

It took me a good while to settle into the rhythms of Alfonso Cuaron's critically acclaimed new film, and by the time I did I wanted to go back and start it over to see what I might have missed. A lot comes at the viewer in "Roma," and it's hard to take it all in on a first viewing. No...that's the wrong way to put it. Nothing comes at you -- you have to go after it. That's what makes "Roma" unique. Cuaron crams his frame in any given scene with tons of movement and sound, but he shoots almost everything in medium and long shots and chooses to pan his camera rather than insert a lot of edits. The result is you have to decide what you want to look at, and while the main protagonist is in virtually every scene, she's not always necessarily the focal point.

That protagonist, by the way, is Cleo, maid to a wealthy family and played in a quiet and quietly devastating performance by Yalitza Aparicio. "Roma" is an episodic assemblage of scenes that shows what life is like for Cleo, without big showy emotional moments or much editorializing. She's treated fairly well by the family she works for, but make no mistake -- they rarely let her forget she's their employee. The film is a lot about privilege. The family treats Cleo as one of their own when they feel like it or when it's convenient to, but don't when it's not. She's part of their most intimate moments and they her's, but she'll never really be one of them. She has much to take care of, but nothing of her own to really care for. And there's a big wide world out there, the movie makes clear, that will never include people like Cleo.

For a while I was a little disappointed that I wasn't feeling "Roma" as much as I wanted to and as much as rapturous reviews led me to believe I would. I was engaged by it, but I didn't feel heavily involved emotionally. But then pretty far into the movie something happens to Cleo, and in that moment I realized how invested I was in how things turned out for her. "Roma" sneaks up on you in that way.

Grade: A

The story of Cleo and her 'family' might hit a sensitive chord for many viewers who grew up not just in Mexico but in any Third-World country, maybe not just in the 70s but probably the 80s or early 90s.

By no means am I depriving the story from its cultural core but it was Roger Ebert who said: "The more specific a film is, the more universal, because the more it understands individual characters, the more it applies to everyone." Still, it's not just about the characters, I could relate to the context as well on a superficial but still deeply personal level.

Coming from a middle-class family of Morocco, we also had these girls who came from poorer backgrounds (generally rural areas) and whose treatment would look a bit like slavery from a European/"Western" standpoint. The term wouldn't be appropriate though as they were paid, certainly not mistreated and in most cases were considered like members of the family. Not all the ladies of the house treated them with respect but they were often loved by the kids as sister-figures or even surrogate mothers. I was practically raised by the same 'dada' from the age of 4, she dressed me, woke me up, cleaned me till I was 8 (my daughter does it alone since she's 3) and well, she was part of my life and I miss her a lot.

I could relate to the story of Cleo and I was glad that the film didn't take the predictable "clash of the classes" path: having her fired, being rejected or ending as a prostitute in some brothel of Mexico City... Cuaron is above these tiresome archetypes and his intention is clearly to take the opportunity of a nostalgic voyage through his childhood to show people with a strong capability of caring and being empathetic regardless of their origins or social backgrounds. And Cleo, played with mesmerizing naturalness by Yalitza Aparicio, is obviously a girl to inspire the very feelings she exudes: she loves the children she saw growing up since the cradle, she's devoted to her "Signora" Sofia, played by Marina de Tavira, and she values her luck to be part of that world... she knows she could have been unluckier.

It's also interesting that Cleo isn't conventionally good-looking, not in a glamorous Hollywood sense anyway, and her petite frame and youthful face illuminated with a wide smile accentuate her vulnerability. She incarnates a sort of third world within the third world, like an extra layer of fragility making her the perfect target for the kind of troubles no upper class European looking girl would get herself into. Though the film is overarched by the social and political context of Mexico circa 1970-71, I didn't feel like Cuaron tried to make some social commentary, maybe it's just a character study of a woman who could only depend on the kindness of strangers, like Blanche Dubois, but is able to find some inner strength to overcome a blind (but not malicious) adversity if not triumph over it.

And indeed, in her harrowing journey (that doesn't follow any pattern of cinematic predictability), it's less in what happens to her than the reactions it inspires. The film is less driven by plot points but the way people react and reactions to their reactions... or non-reactions for that matter. There is an interesting scene where a Karate master shows a trick that looks extremely easy until it's done with closed eyes, I don't know if it was supposed to symbolize one of the film's underlying messages, but it's true that many things that happen are due to people's obliviousness, carelessness or lack of empathy. And near the end, both Cleo and Sofia realize they had more in common than they would have thought, adversity strikes everyone... only in different ways. Blind again, but not malicious.

What I liked in "Roma", besides its realism, is the fact that it doesn't just try to depict a slice of life but Life with a major L, providing sights often suggested but rarely shown in the movies. Indeed, the film contains many graphic sequences including a naked male body (and I'm sorry to say that it's more distracting for me than a woman's... maybe because the thing "moves"... chuckles) and one that shouldn't be spoiled but that had me almost gasping with tears because it was the moment where many aspects of an editing that demanded some patience from us finally paid off, and I knew I had to expect a high spot of emotionality sometime in the film. Cuaron's "Roma" (whatever the title means) is truly daring by showing life and death with the same clinical detachment from his lenses, one that also shows in the climactic scene, hinted by the poster.

Now, I wanted to give he film a 10 because it has reached a cinematic level of perfection I rarely found in a movie but sometimes its beauty just feels so deliberate it becomes sophisticated. The film benefits from Alfonso Cuaron's perfect command of the camera (we're obviously talking of the Oscar-winner for Best Cinematography and maybe Best Director) but the cinematography tends to steal the story's thunder and compromises the film's attempt to be a realistic portrait of a Mexican's slice of life in the 70s in an atmosphere of love devoid of the cynicism we get from today's dysfunctional families. The children in the film are not only adorable but played with an authentic simplicity and since so many directors said it was a nightmare to direct children, Cuaron deserves a credit for that too.

So It's precisely because the story is so well told and well acted that I wished it wouldn't be so well directed... though I approve the choice of the black-and-white for no other reason that it gives the film a sort of dreamy aura fitting its nostalgia.

Overall, "Roma" is a great film with a few haunting moments.

Full of life in every shot, Alfonso Cuaron has proven that he is one of the greatest directors of all time. Deserved every nomination and it's going do dominate the Oscars for Sure.

I really do not remember the last time we had such an art in the theaters, apart from the story line which could be stronger but the production, editing, screenplay and directing such an art is really fantastic. I highly suggest it. True passion, undeniable life facts, pain and challenge.