Written and directed by Academy Award-winning, Alfonso Cuarón, Roma follows a young house worker, Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), who works for a middle-class family outside in Mexico City in the early 1970s. This film is a deeply personal project for Cuarón, who pulled many elements of the film from his childhood.
Without giving anything away, this story is revealing, raw and emotional. You can definitely sense Cuarón’s deep connection while viewing Roma, appearing almost like memories on screen. This translates in his gorgeous filmmaking. Roma is beautifully crafted, where nothing feels forced and everything naturally flows on screen. Cuarón has a way of focusing on such crisp, stark imagery during such massive incidents.
I will admit, although gorgeously composed, the first half of the movie takes a bit to get into. I understand that this is building momentum for the tremendous impact of the events that occur during the latter end of Roma, however, given the fact that this film is distributed by Netflix, which forced me to watch in my living room, I felt a bit uneasy. Roma is a powerful story however, it would have been even more meaningful if I got to watch it in an actual theatre.
But that’s a completely different story…
Final Thoughts: Roma is a beautifully crafted film that will DEFINITELY be a frontrunner this Awards Season.
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