Roma (2018)

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

Genre: Drama

Runtime: 135 Minutes

Main Cast: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey, Carlos Peralta, Marco Graf, Daniela Demesa, Nancy García García, Verónica García, Jorge Antonio Guerrero

Plot: Roma is the story of a young maid working for a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s.

My Thoughts: Until the night of the BAFTAs I’d kind of ignored Roma completely. I didn’t know anything about it other than it was black and white, on Netflix, not in the English language and had a lot of award nominations. Naively I had no idea it stood a chance of taking home Best Picture that night, and yet now I know that it’ll most likely be taking the Oscar as well. I always try and watch at least all Best Picture nominees anyway, so I finally relented and gave Roma a go.

I didn’t expect to like it, but I feel very conflicted about it now. On one hand, it felt about 3 hours long and was dull. On the other, it had some stand out emotionally charged moments that will stay with me for years. It’s a difficult one to judge! Although the movie’s focus is on the maid, Cleo, there’s also a lot of limelight for the woman of the household and the struggles that she goes through.

My biggest problem is that I’m a bit of a child sometimes. The first half of Roma is quite boring, and so I started focusing on things that probably shouldn’t matter. Like I’m sorry – you’re great and all Cleo, but clean up that dog poo! Crickey – you can’t have that much work to do, there are 2 maids for this household. On that thought – why does this family even have a dog? I don’t think he’s ever let inside. I also wanted to know more about that kid who seems to remember his past life – can we have a movie about him instead?

It got better though, and although it’s a movie I doubt I’ll ever feel inclined to watch again – I did enjoy it. I still don’t think it’s Best Picture material, but I’ve definitely watched worse movies in that category before.

Best Bit: I’d seen snippets of it already during the BAFTAs, but the beach scene is by far the best. I’m not ashamed to admit that I was ugly crying during Cleo’s admission. The hospital scene was really difficult to watch.

Worst Bit: Fermin’s…military…dance…thing. I did not sign up for any of this. Fermin – you’re gross in every sense of the word!

Fun Trivia: As of 2018, the real Cleo, Liboria Rodríguez (Libo), is still alive and still part of Alfonso Cuarón’s family, or Alfonso Cuarón’s family is still part of Libo’s life. She has made cameos or brief appearances in several of his previous films, including Y Tu Mamá También (2001) in a scene where she brings Diego Luna a sandwich.

My Rating: 3 and a half wing mirrors – I think that family could do with keeping a few spare!