Roma

A film with the very distinctive signature of its creator, Roma tells a story about the fragile aspects of life more through its visual art than through the faces and dialogue of its characters. Though it does work with dialogue and facial expressions (and Yalitza Aparicio is great), it does not offer the audience a universally appealing, traditionally emotional message (the film doesn’t even have any “viewer-manipulating” original music). After using his extraordinary filmmaking talent for the commercial blockbuster Gravity, Cuarón wanted to enjoy some pure filmmaking pleasure, without any obligations to studio investments. Roma is a brilliant piece of art in which I admired every shot (three or four scenes were quite disturbing to me) and perceived and acknowledged all of the social references (class-based society, the extraordinary strength of a woman with a difficult fate), but it did not engage me emotionally as much as Gravity or Children of Men. (02/07/2019)

Roma isn’t love at first sight, it’s not a film that would hook me in the first minutes keep me hooked all the way till the end. But, after two or three days, it did grow on me. Cuarón this time delivers a detached view into a couple of months of the life of a broken Mexican family, mainly that of their maid, Cleo. The story takes place in a sort of by the way manner, with the camera following relative “non-stories”. But each of those fragments compose a surprisingly rich mosaic of human destinies and by the end the viewer must acknowledge that a lot has actually happened. The similarities with Czech films that in the microcosm of one family tell wider stories with a universal reach are not entirely out of place. Watching it in the cinema is certainly worth it, the camera work and, in particular, the sound are top-notch. One of the films of the year. #svetozorcinema (12/16/2018)

Netflix once again proves that it doesn’t limit itself to commercially successful titles, but is also happy to fulfil the dreams of directors who deserve it. There is no doubt that Alfonso Cuarón is one of the greatest directors of the decade. As many people have mentioned already, Roma is his most personal project, which means that those 135 minutes pass by very slowly and quietly, and I found some moments slightly boring… but because everything is shot in such a brilliant way, referring to the best filmmakers of the last century, this film shouldn’t be ignored. (12/31/2018)

The best works of the Czechoslovak new wave (although Fellini would know one in that) has just grown to include a related Mexican cousin, who in the circles of “more demanding" viewers can perhaps not even evoke many captivating Mexican waves. Which is so telling that I will forgive the originally intended hymns for every single aspect, from non-actors through filming and sounding to the sophistication of the narrative, which completely fulfills the saying “the devil is hidden in the details". What Cuarón, as a screenwriter / cinematographer / director, can “as if inadvertently" do in mise-en-scène (or purely noise outside the picture) in mere hints, is more than admirable. To make matters worse, despite the seemingly primordial coldness, this “celebration of ordinary strong women in our lives" is also captivating and arousing emotions like a few movies in recent years. Roma looks like a film that was five decades earlier. However, thanks to its qualities, it would not be forgotten, even if it was actually created fifty years ago. On the contrary, it would be lovingly remembered in the intentions “such master pieces are unfortunately no longer filmed today". Thanks to Cuarón, however, this is not the case; and for that one must be infinitely grateful, whether ultimately Roma is his cup of coffee or not. (12/15/2018)

The rumors didn't lie, at least not in terms of paying tribute to mothers and women in general. However, at the core of the whole epic, there is nothing but confirmation of the known truth that, in the end, the fairer sex is stronger and more prepared for life. The skill with which Alfonso Cuarón builds a complex dramatic arc in the midst of what seems to be an ordinary situation is undeniable. The only problem for me, one that persists throughout the entire film, is the way the twists are delivered. Very few things bother me as much as when a character indulges in long, uninterrupted shots during an instantly induced depression. It's nothing more than a call for artificial attention that causes the cohesion of family and life's upheavals to crumble before my eyes. (12/17/2018)

I feel like I have to like Roma if I want to consider myself a film connoisseur. I'm not even close to being one. I'm just a casual viewer. I watch movies that I assume I might enjoy, or ones I want to see if I might happen to enjoy. This movie was in the latter group. I found the answer. I didn't much enjoy Roma. It was too "artsy" and lethargic for me. What I can't deny this film, however, is the atmosphere and the interesting cinematography. The film certainly has other bonuses, but unfortunately I can't appreciate them properly, at least not yet. (03/24/2019)

A normal viewer who seeks spectacle and entertainment while watching movies will most likely be unimpressed by Roma. However, I think that for festivalgoers and a club audience, the film will represent the embodiment of what an artistic film should be. It was filmed in a similar manner as in the 60s and 70s when authorial and autobiographical works were in their prime and enlightened producers invested in them without hesitation. It was a time when directors commonly cast non-actors, and Cuarón does the same here. He is not afraid of improvisation, and the same goes for the Mexican directorial star. Roma feels genuine and authentic. Granted, I am not an expert, but the atmosphere of Mexico City in the early 70s seems perfect to me, as well as the casting. Cuarón must have paid maximum attention to the casting, and Yalitza Aparicio does not play the role of a servant, she simply is one. Devoted, resigned to her position, slightly naive, intoxicated by her first sexual adventure, and confused by the subsequent indifference. Her presence and precise camera work are the director's greatest weapons. The black and white visuals refer to the era of European art film of the 50s and 60s. In many shots, it felt as if I was watching a documentary from that time in the Mexican capital. Thanks to the monumental visual compositions, Roma should be seen on a big screen, which I managed to do after a long search. I would even dare to say that it loses a significant amount of impact on a small screen. It is a slowly flowing intimate film that, although not feminist in nature, mostly depicts the world and emotions of women. Overall impression: 85%. (11/30/2020)

A singular expression of emotion primarily through the camera, instead of dialogue and music. A unique directorial achievement in uncompromising black and white, non-mainstream, with overlong camera shots and some brilliantly staged sequences (the birth). An ode to art filmmaking and a myriad of technical finesse, but, save a few exceptions, you won't hear a single full-blooded heartbeat. (04/20/2019)

The surreal power of this film, I think, stems from three things. The first is actually a very ordinary story of a completely awkward main protagonist, which is almost documentary-authentic, personal and 100% impressive thanks to the ordinariness and the awkwardness. The second thing is, without exaggeration, the masterful direction of Alfonso Cuarón. That really needs to be seen. You could create the perfect art photograph from perhaps every shot, it's all thought out to the smallest detail and the black and white camera with the hearty help of sound (something we can't see at all, just we hear it) makes it a feast for the eyes (for example the monumental forest fire scene). The third thing is how the story and presentation “work together" - everything is natural, long camera rides or still shots do not distract from what's happening right now, the scenes beautifully complement each other, form a single whole, etc. I was originally expecting something from Roma in the style of Tornatore’s Malena. It's a completely different film though, completely great in a different way. And the scenes in the maternity ward or on the beach... You simply do not forget them. (12/29/2018)

Roma will not chew the viewer and make them bite their nails in tension, nor does it reminisce the type of ode to human suffering sung by the unfortunate protagonists of, for instance, Bicycle Thieves. And yet it is beautiful. It’s a film about emotions so real that in the cinema I felt a chill on my spine every time I remembered I was just watching a film. A sensitively slow narrative where the consequences are not as important as experiencing the present and empathy towards the main character. The style reflects that – the long shots and the impressive depth of the composition of the scenes, whose staging and sound design let the viewer wander in that space together with the characters to fully savour the emotions that the narration carefully prepares and foreshadows (the closing cleanse in the sea). Even though I didn’t feel the coveted cinephile bliss, I fell in love with Roma for its authentic portrayal of human togetherness and for its world, which can be inhospitable, unpredictable and loving at the same time. The direction and the cinematography are awesome. (12/19/2018)

Roma initially takes a very slow, sometimes almost documentary-like look into the everyday life of the maid and the family she works for, while in the middle the atmosphere of the film seems to break, gaining in intensity and emotional and tense scenes, only to close quietly again at the end. Personally, I would have cut the first half a bit, as I found some of the shots and scenes to be emotionally long, but I understand that for Alfonso Cuarón this was a very personal and essential part of the film, which allowed the typical colour of 1970s Mexico to radiate from all sides. Cleo, the protagonist, doesn't have it easy in life, but she tries her best to fight adversity like a lioness and makes a very strong impression – Yalitza Aparicio played her role really convincingly. The child actors, or rather their characters, were very annoying and the character of Fermin wins the award for the most selfish coward of the century. I must not fail to praise the camera work and production design, namely the many very plastic scenes that worked with multiple planes at once. Despite a harder-to-digest beginning, Roma offers more than one strong scene, like fire on New Year's Day, the childbirth and trapped in the waves, and you can feel the director's great passion from the film. As a result, I'm hovering between three and four stars, but in this case I'll give it a boost. P. S. Cuarón clearly likes plane shots! (04/24/2020)

A very weak 4 stars. Alas, Cuarón is getting old, too; so after the famous Gravity (where his directorial inventiveness was pretty damn palpable) he chose very personal material, through which he may very well have wanted to heal his childhood traumas or simply look back nostalgically at his childhood. Personally, I have nothing against a filmmaker using the medium of film as a means of meditation or therapy. Richard Linklater, Oliver Stone, and Steven Spielberg are proof that it is possible to make a deeply personal film that is both audience-appealing and powerfully emotional. I of course get that the emotional flatness of Roma is deliberate from the start. And I understand that Alfonso Cuarón was trying to style himself a biased observer rather than an inventive director. Unfortunately, I can't quite identify with his creative intent. That's probably why I missed the general hype. But it is undoubtedly quality filmmaking and the composition of some shots is very impressive. It just didn't grab me the way I imagined it would. (02/10/2019)

I had been thinking for a long time about how exactly to describe or evaluate this masterpiece, but in certain cases, words just won’t do justice. At first, I was suspecting Cuarón of setting up an artsy trap for me with some would-be deeper level of meaning, but over time it became more than clear to me that Netflix had sent out another extraordinary work into the world. Every detail of the film, although seemingly commonplace, is absolutely flawless and technically refined, and even if I had any doubts left about the uniqueness of this film, the scene in the maternity hospital will probably be etched in my memory forever, emotionally taking this film to a whole new level. Masterful direction, a masterpiece of a film, what more could I ask for? (01/28/2019)