Alfonso Cuarón's Roma was released on Netflix on Friday. Immediately the bullshit started. "This can only be enjoyed on a big screen." "You haven't seen Roma unless you've watched it in the cinema." "A TV screen is no way to enjoy the carefully created compositions of the film." People online were so concerned about how others would be watching that it was almost hard to find out what they thought of the film. It felt like they were peeved that it was readily available to all audiences instead of only being shown in arthouse cinemas. Saps. It's superb by the way. Whatever way you choose to watch it.
Cléo is a housemaid in the Roma district of Mexico city in 1970. The family she works diligently for rely on her for everything, even emotional support, while trying to keep her at arm's length. A trip to the cinema brings turmoil into her ordered life and all around her trouble abounds as the family she works for starts to disintegrate and the Mexican Dirty War brings chaos to the streets she calls home.
This was fantastic. Movies don't come more humane than Roma. It starts off slow, showing us the minutiae of Cléo's day to day life, cleaning up after her employers Sofia and Antonio and their family, the numerous piles of dog shit left by their pets (a blunt, gooey metaphor), dealing with their kids, putting them to bed, loving them as much as their increasingly troubled parents do. Her humanity soon gets under your skin. Her look of disappointment after a date goes sideways, the horror at a realisation in a hospital, her stifled amusement during a graphic bedroom set martial arts display, the lengths she will go to to protect her charges and her big heart. The building turbulence in her life mirrored in the familial strife around her and the bloody mayhem looming outside. Yalitza Aparicio is magnificent as Cléo. Her first movie and with no formal training she ends up blowing us all away. Her stillness and poise and ability to say more with a look than a dozen monologues is just stunning.
Cuarón is a master film maker. Any single frame from this black and white beauty could be snipped out, framed and hung on a wall. That he was able to take this autobiographical story of pain and strife and create something this gorgeous out of it is astounding. There are moments here that will take your breath away with their astonishing composition. A slow pan across a family outing in the woods, a trip to a furniture store that goes horribly wrong, the aftermath of a fireworks display when a group of people band together to extinguish a forest fire, a faithful trip to the beach. Each scene packed with detail, the foreground filled with our characters while life still goes wild in the distance. The use of B&W photography might seem a bit precious but it makes for a very pretty picture. Thankfully the emotional depth within more than matches the surface veneer.
Cuarón's love of long takes is used to devastating effect in a scene where we bear witness to both the miracle and cruelty of nature. A later moment that takes place during a family meal is equally hard to watch as is a prolonged beach scene where careful constructed appearances come crashing down. We are sheltered from nothing, the long takes giving us no respite, no cutaways that give us a chance to catch our breath. Brutal, heartbreaking moments that will be triggering for some. It's filmmaking at its most honest. The film has made sure we know these characters intimately so to hide us from their sadness would feel like a cheat. You want to look away, bearing witness to grief and suffering with an unflinching eye feels almost voyeuristic but it's....in a strange way it's refreshing to be made feel during a film. And yet for all the hardship on display it ends up feeling almost life affirming.
Alfonso Cuarón has created a masterpiece. A film that will be chewed over for years to come. You mightn't think it's for you but if you just go with it you'll soon find yourself totally caught up in it, in all it's technical mastery, it's beauty and it's emotional truth. All from the comfort of your own couch.
1 comment:
I watched this last night, my initial reaction was that nothing happened. On reflection I realised that Cleo was a focal point for the family but would never be allowed to be of them. Having saved the lives of two children st the beach and being credited and hugged the return to the house had her immediately picking up dirty laundry and taking requests for smoothies. As the family relaxes her daily chores continue. The birth of her child would have interfered with her relationship with the family’s children. As I write I wonder was the relationship equally beneficial.
The bubble the family inhabited was evident in the marching band on the street, the NY Eve party and the riots and dirty war. None of which overly troubled them.
I did like the B&W and the cinematography was excellent. Enjoyed it mor3 on reflection than I did while watching, if that makes sense.
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