Roma (2018) - 10 stars out of 10

Roma (2018) - 10 stars out of 10

"Roma” is more than another Oscar contender.  It is a piece of artwork in motion.  The film is a continuous series of examples demonstrating how energy can be brought to the mundane through cinematic artistry.  We often praise a film for incorporating an impressive tracking shot into the story (“Atonement,” “Touch of Evil”), but Alfonso Cuarón delivers dozens of them.  The film is three-dimensional, not in the sense that we wear glasses but in the sense that we find ourselves surrounded by the film thanks to the filming techniques.  The scene where Yalitza Aparicio turns off the lights and the camera circles around the entire room, the delivery room scene where the action moves from the foreground to the background and back several times while the camera remains stationary, the scene where the camera moves up and down the beach, into the water, and back to the beach again - these are all examples of how we move with the characters or sit with them as we see the scenes develop from their perspective.  And all of these scenes last several minutes without a single camera cut.  I knew that I was in for a treat when the opening credits of the film rolled overtop of a tracking shot that continues into the opening scene for several minutes.  The simple “waves” of water flowing in and out of the picture seem like an unnecessary over-complication for a title sequence and yet, they perfectly foreshadow the film’s climax.  It seems like Cuarón intentionally chose the most challenging film techniques just to see if he could do them.  And he ended up mastering them.  The camera panning is like a well-choreographed dance and the film will most likely win the Oscar for Best Cinematography.  The film was shot in sequence and on location, adding to the realism of the story.  Cuarón built this story around his memories growing up in Mexico City and it was literally filmed across the street from Cuarón’s childhood home.  The setting’s basis in reality makes it beautifully vivid and an obvious Oscar nomination for Production Design.

If there was an award for “Best Background Ensemble,” this cast would certainly win.  With Cuarón‘s long shots, we are constantly seeing secondary and extra characters in the background doing exactly the right thing when the camera reaches them.  This promotes the organic feel of the film, as if the camera wasn’t even there and everybody acted out the entire scene in three dimensions.  One of the most surprising Oscar nominees for any film this year is Yalitza Aparicio.  Her performance is filled with subtle emotion instead of the bold, impassioned monologues that typically earn nominations.  Aparicio was cast without formal training or experience in acting, which helps to establish the timidity necessary for her character.  It gives her an authenticity that comes out most in the beach scene where in reality, like her character, she cannot swim.  It is pretty rare for a foreign film to earn an acting nomination and this performance is much different than the few instances where one has.  Marina de Tavira’s nomination was equally as surprising, though her character had some strong emotional moments.  Almost everything in this film is perfection.  Almost.  We all could have done without the unapologetic, extensive male nudity while demonstrating martial arts.  The scene itself is crucial to setting up the events of the film and the group martial arts scene, but it would have been equally effective (though admittedly less memorable) if he had been wearing underwear.  “Roma” reminds me of films like “Boyhood” in that you aren’t really going to stream this one a few times a year for entertainment.  It is more like an event in which you sit down and absorb the film.  It can be intimidating for audiences because a 2+ hour, black and white, foreign film with subtitles requires a large amount of concentration, even if the dialogue is very simple.  Still, it is worth your time to take in this visual masterpiece from Alfonso Cuarón.  You can isolate hundreds of 5-second clips from this film that read as individual works of art.  They so beautifully capture the joys and tragedies of life and when you string them all together, the experience is surreal.

[Pictured: They said that "Roma" was meant to be seen in the theater and not at home on Netflix.  But sometimes, you can have your cake and eat it, too!]