In Roma, Curran tells a personal tale set in Mexico City in the early 1970s. The film centers on Cleo, a young Mexican woman who works as a maid for a middle-class white family that is slowly falling apart. This is not a simple A-B story; there is no "rising action" or a specific "turning point," this is a film that is trying to immerse you into the personal lives of these characters. It is a film that wants you to feel the sadness, depression, and the hope that these characters feel throughout the film. It is a film that wants you to not watch a story of random characters, but rather live and be with these characters in every aspect of their sad and hopeful lives.
The way that Curran immerses us into the story that he is telling is through the visuals and the audio mixing. Curran has always been known for his use of long takes; whether that be in the critically acclaimed Children of Men car chase sequence or in the numerous long takes in space in Gravity. In Roma, the use of long takes are there not as a way for the director to show off his abilities, but rather to immerse the audience in the daily lives of these characters The camera floats, glides, revolves around and follows each character as if it were glued on to them; trying to catch every aspect of their lives. I have never been this immersed in a film through the visuals alone since Son of Saul. The opening shot alone showcases the beauty of Cuaron's direction and use of long takes. The opening of the film starts with a long take facing down on a marble floor. Slowly, we see water splashing into the frame as someone is cleaning the floor. As water builds up and swooshes around, we see off in the distances in a reflection from one of the floor tiles, an airplane flying above. How Curran is able to hold the camera on a floor for 4 minutes with the slow reveal of an airplane once the water leaves the frame is absolutely beautiful and phenomenal in terms of directing.
Past the long takes, another aspect of the visuals that stick out is the use of black and white. This is oddly one of the most colorful films I have seen. Many fail to realize that when shooting a black and white film, you have to film it differently than a colored film. The use of lights, shadows, and depth all have to be taken into account differently than in a colored film. Curran understood this and filmed it as a Black and White film, not as a colored film changed to Black and White. The way Curran plays with light is absolutely phenomenal. One scene in particular, when Cleo walks through the streets of Mexico, with the lights of the city and cars in the background, was stunning. I was actually tempted to pause the film because I flat out gasped at the stunning visuals. The way light bleeds through certain scenes and how shadows are enhanced and highlighted is visually amazing. Roma's use of black and white is not just a gimmick, it aided the film in so many ways that, if shot in color, would not have had such a great impact.
One aspect that I believe that has been overlooked by many critics in describing the immersion of the film is the audio mixing. This, while many might not put much thought into it as the cinematography, adds so much depth and detail to this world. As Mark Kermode stated in his review of the film, this is a film that can just be heard. The way that you can hear the distant noises of cars and people walking on the street, while also being able to hear intimate conversation amongst characters with soft ambient noises of the environment playing in the background, is extremely immersive. The audio in this film is the most mesmerizing and memorable audio that I have seen in a film in a long time. Usually, when you leave a film, you remember the score that was played in a specific scene. However, in Roma, I remember the sound of water mixed with the sound of the sweeping of a broomstick, or the sounds of fire crackling wood while hearing characters discussing amongst one another as the wind wooshes pass them. This amazing attention to detail in terms of the audio presentation is not only needed in a film like this that tries to immerse you into the environment and lives of the character but is also an achievement at just how specific and detailed the film gets with trying to immerse you solely through the audio mixing.
In terms of story, Roma, as mentioned before, is not a common Hollywood blockbuster film. There is no "call-to-action" from the main character, no goal that the main character tries to achieve or accomplish throughout the main film, and no basic Hollywood conclusion. It is just a snippet into the lives of these characters. It is a window into the events that transpire during this period in time of their lives. The main character, Cleo, played phenomenally by first-time actress Yalitza Aparicio, slowly starts to see the connection that she has with the mother of the family that she is taking care. Two people from two totally different levels in life, one a single maid and one a wife of a rich husband, somehow connect with one another with the same situation and difficulty in life. As the life of Cleo is slowly falling apart, so is the life of the housewife Sofia, portrayed by Marina De Tavira. We see how these events that happen in their lives not only bring them together in unexpected ways, but also how they both react in their own specific ways to these hard realities of life. The themes of connecting with people, the passage of time, and the disappointment and happiness in life is so beautiful and perfectly told. It is a film that, even without thinking about these themes, just seeing the lives of these characters and how they interact with not only one another but with the events and circumstances that surround and affect their lives, is a tour-de-force on its own.
Overall, Roma is nothing short of a masterpiece. From the technical, to the script, Roma is a film that I would not be surprised if it swooped most of the awards in the Oscars. I absolutely loved this film and, it being on Netflix, is also an amazing aspect in it of itself. How a film of this artistic quality can be released on Netflix and only have a small release in theatres is pretty outstanding. It shows that Netflix can release great quality films (unlike Bird Box). There is no excuse for people not to watch this masterpiece of a film. While slow at first, the second half of the film is an emotional rollercoaster unlike any other. Go watch it right now and watch not only one of the best films of 2018 but one of the best films in a long time.
Score: 10/10
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