Roma Review: Alfonso Cuaron Has Created The Film Of The Decade, A Cinematic Game-Changing Masterpiece

Director: Alfonso Cuaron

Main cast: Yalitza Aparicio, Nancy Garcia Garcia, Marina de Tavira, and Fernando Grediaga

Rating: 5/5

Daisy Buchanan shed tears when she was told by the nurse that she had given birth to the cute girl. “I’m glad it’s a girl,” she shared, flashes of Daisy’s unfaithful husband as well as the empty life blowing up her mind. Then, she whispered, “And I hope she’ll be a fool.” “That’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

In The Great Gatsby’s 2013 movie adaptation of Baz Luhrmann, Carey Mulligan covered those words with one more melancholy layer, staring thoughtfully into space, as Gotye wept in this background.

The same scene happens in the film Roma of Alfonso Cuaron after winning some accolades in the global festival circuit - and most remarkably the prominent Venice’s Golden Lion - was recently launched on Netflix. At night, a drunk female arrives home late. When coming home, her children fall asleep. And, her maid, who the drunk woman grasps fiercely, warmly greets her. Then, the maid stares directly into the woman’s eyes and says “We’re alone”.“No matter what they tell us, we women are alone.”

Have a look at the trailer below:

Roma has become the tribute of Cuaron to the female during his life. More than that, it is the semi-autobiographical story which involves the kind of characters ignored by society and cinema usually. With no doubt, Roma is the most amazing movie of this year, not only visually but also in its humanistic themes, grands when being shot in the wonderful white and black by Alfonso Cuaron himself, as well as, at the inspiration of Cuaron’s regular cinematographer named Emmanuel Lubezki.

The filming of Roma happens throughout the torrid period in the history of Mexico. To be more particular, it is soon after the football World Cup in 1970 - and brings us to experience a year of the middle-class family’s lives, living in a district of the City of Mexico, known as Colonia Roma.

Alfonso Cuaron utilizes the style of restraining uncharacteristically - his characters are observed by him at a distance, progressively shifting closer as near as the movie goes on - accompanied by the languid pace, as he desired you to have a reflection on the thing that you’re observing. And, Cleo, a housemaid is his subject. With every other movie, Cleo might have been lessened to the background character who would prepare meals and scrub floors - everything she finishes here, too.

However, with Roma, the housemaid is removed from the shadows that she lives, as well as proudly presented in the warmth of the Mexican sunlight. Plots which will have been regarded as primary in a different movie - the ending of political upheaval and a marriage - develops and happens on the fringes of this story.

In a specifically telling early film scene - a massic instance of how much Alfonso Cuaron has the ability to communicate without any helps of the traditional filmmaking devices, including dialogue or the background score - we observe the whole family sitting together around the TV one evening. Antonio who acts as a doctor and also a father who will abandon his for children and his wife too - appears happy.

Like almost all the movie - dreamlike and hay - it seems that this scene of the film is absolutely drawn from the memory. Perhaps, it is also the last delighted memory of Cuaron during his childhood. This explains why he shoots Roma with such kind of warmth. Soundlessly going into the room, Cleos steals the curious glances (and self-conscious) at the TV, and he sits downs near the couch on that floor, transfixed. Cuaron has said no word; however, he has conveyed things that he wished to, with empathy and grace.

In Roma, there doesn’t exist much to talk. Also, there are not myriads close-ups of film’s characters - when time passes, words and faces are forgotten; and Alfonso wants his movie to appear like the half-remembered dream - the one that the tide of the time will carry it away. He counts more on the sounds - it’s the sounds of the distant parade, dogs barking, the fondly unforgettable song back to his childhood, or in moments - the anger, disbelief, and first slap at witnessing a father with the younger female in public, together with the loving memories of entering the movies.

But, the story is conveyed from the perspective of Cleo - in spite of the personal distress which Alfonso Cuaron deals with in every frame. The mother of her children disintegrates together with her wedding, the housemaid raises them lovingly an selflessly. However, Cleo lived her own life, and perhaps, Cuaron realizes too late. It was not a simple life which is full of betrayal and love, along with the dormant ambitions and unfulfilled dreams - just be similar to her employers’. She was not an equal; however, she certainly became a family’s part.

In particular, a scene is painful to watch. Alfonso films it in the uncompromising style trademark - unmoving and transfixed - that Cuaron was begged to stop and to show mercy. However, when you sit through that film scene - you will owe this to the housemaid to never stop supporting her - is nothing in comparison with this such emotional pain which Cleo must have experienced. Undoubtedly, it is the attempt that Cuaron has made with a view to honoring the sacrifices of Cleo - everything that went unacknowledged and unnoticed.

The movie Roma is the crowning achievement of Alfonso Cuaron - more emotionally fraught than the dramatic film Y Tu Mama Tambien, more glowing than science fiction film Gravity, and more miraculous than fantasy film Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban. This deserves the movie of this year - the feminist fable which will do further for that movement that shows and films that recognize as much. Moreover, it will modify all the things which we understand and know involving how the film business works - the greatest cinematic game-changing masterpiece which requires to be watched more and more. Now, you don’t have any excuse not to.

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