A review by Brooks Rich
In 2017, I had a two way tie for my favorite film of the year with Blade Runner 2049 and John Wick 2. I usually don't have ties when I do my top ten best films of a yea,r but I couldn't help it. Both films are perfect for what they are in my opinion. This year I have a clear winner. A film that just completely blew me away when I saw it. That film is Alfonzo Cuaron's Roma.
I'll be honest…this is not a film for everyone. I'm not saying that to sound snobbish or pretentious. But some people are going to find a black and white, two hour and fifteen minute film about a family and their nanny living in 1969 Mexico City a little slow paced and boring. I get that. But this is a film that has just completely grabbed hold of me. I haven't stopped thinking about it since seeing back near the end of 2018 and I have seen it a handful of times more. It never gets old for me. It did take about two viewings for me to fully appreciate it, but now this is one of those films that is just a part of my DNA.
Cuaron is channeling French New Wave, Italian Neorealism, and New Mexican cinema at times here. We're on the streets of Mexico City with people who feel real. There's no big,earth shattering plot in the lives of the characters. It's all real life situations. The main character is Cleo, the nanny of a very upper middle class family. Cleo is played by newcomer Yalitza Aparicio in an astonishing debut. She has had no formal training and was studying to be a teacher. This is very much like Italian Neorealism, where directors would often cast real people instead of actors, giving a more natural feel to characters. Aparicio earned herself a well-deserved best actress nomination for her work along with Marina de Tavira, who plays the matriarch of the family, earning a best supporting actress nomination. These two women are the heart and soul of the film.
But I can't talk about Roma without discussing the cinematography. Oh my God, this film is gorgeous. Cuaron acts as his own cinematographer. Every shot is masterfully set up. There's a simplicity to the cinematography but I don't mean that in a bad way. Look at a film like The Revenant where the cinematography is full of wide tracking shots and intense close up. We don't get that in Roma. There are tracking shots, but they're smaller in scale; such as the start of the film where we follow Cleo from room to room as she cleans the house. At the end of the film there is a much more dramatic tracking shot on the beach which is just absolutely incredible. Technically it's jaw dropping, but it has weight with the story too, something Cuaron does very well. Sometimes directors do tracking shots just to do them, but Cuaron always makes sure any shot he does is serving the story.
There is one big set piece that I don't want to ruin, but it's the biggest moment in the film where characters have to get to the hospital after someone's water breaks and outside a student protest has gotten out of hand. It’s a startling sequence and incredibly tense. It's the biggest Roma gets and it feels real. Cuaron doesn't abandon the neo-realistic feel during this sequence.
Roma is a beautiful achievement in cinema. It is Alfonzo Cuaron's best film by far and I hope we get a few more films like this. It's on Netflix right now, but also screening at certain theaters. This is a film that deserves your attention. We can have our big Hollywood superhero films and franchises. I've got no problem with that. But we also can have absolute works of art like Roma, in my opinion, the best film of 2018.
Rating: MASTERPIECE
In 2017, I had a two way tie for my favorite film of the year with Blade Runner 2049 and John Wick 2. I usually don't have ties when I do my top ten best films of a yea,r but I couldn't help it. Both films are perfect for what they are in my opinion. This year I have a clear winner. A film that just completely blew me away when I saw it. That film is Alfonzo Cuaron's Roma.
I'll be honest…this is not a film for everyone. I'm not saying that to sound snobbish or pretentious. But some people are going to find a black and white, two hour and fifteen minute film about a family and their nanny living in 1969 Mexico City a little slow paced and boring. I get that. But this is a film that has just completely grabbed hold of me. I haven't stopped thinking about it since seeing back near the end of 2018 and I have seen it a handful of times more. It never gets old for me. It did take about two viewings for me to fully appreciate it, but now this is one of those films that is just a part of my DNA.
Cuaron is channeling French New Wave, Italian Neorealism, and New Mexican cinema at times here. We're on the streets of Mexico City with people who feel real. There's no big,earth shattering plot in the lives of the characters. It's all real life situations. The main character is Cleo, the nanny of a very upper middle class family. Cleo is played by newcomer Yalitza Aparicio in an astonishing debut. She has had no formal training and was studying to be a teacher. This is very much like Italian Neorealism, where directors would often cast real people instead of actors, giving a more natural feel to characters. Aparicio earned herself a well-deserved best actress nomination for her work along with Marina de Tavira, who plays the matriarch of the family, earning a best supporting actress nomination. These two women are the heart and soul of the film.
But I can't talk about Roma without discussing the cinematography. Oh my God, this film is gorgeous. Cuaron acts as his own cinematographer. Every shot is masterfully set up. There's a simplicity to the cinematography but I don't mean that in a bad way. Look at a film like The Revenant where the cinematography is full of wide tracking shots and intense close up. We don't get that in Roma. There are tracking shots, but they're smaller in scale; such as the start of the film where we follow Cleo from room to room as she cleans the house. At the end of the film there is a much more dramatic tracking shot on the beach which is just absolutely incredible. Technically it's jaw dropping, but it has weight with the story too, something Cuaron does very well. Sometimes directors do tracking shots just to do them, but Cuaron always makes sure any shot he does is serving the story.
There is one big set piece that I don't want to ruin, but it's the biggest moment in the film where characters have to get to the hospital after someone's water breaks and outside a student protest has gotten out of hand. It’s a startling sequence and incredibly tense. It's the biggest Roma gets and it feels real. Cuaron doesn't abandon the neo-realistic feel during this sequence.
Roma is a beautiful achievement in cinema. It is Alfonzo Cuaron's best film by far and I hope we get a few more films like this. It's on Netflix right now, but also screening at certain theaters. This is a film that deserves your attention. We can have our big Hollywood superhero films and franchises. I've got no problem with that. But we also can have absolute works of art like Roma, in my opinion, the best film of 2018.
Rating: MASTERPIECE
Comments
Post a Comment