Roma
2018 · Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
Original language: Spanish
- drama
The story
In 1970s Mexico City, two domestic workers help a mother of four while her husband is away for an extended period of time.
What it’s like
Long, static-leaning takes of ordinary rooms in soft, unhurried light, shot in crisp black and white with deep blacks and wide, carefully composed frames that let the middle of a shot hold as much as its edges. Water is everywhere: courtyard floors being mopped, rain that streams down tiles, a beach surf that roars in a way that feels almost physical. The sound is mostly the hum of a house and the street outside, with silence and ambient noise doing more of the work than music. Mexico City in the early 1970s feels present in its traffic, markets, laundry and tiled interiors. The vibe is quiet, observant melancholy, with moments of tenderness and sudden dread. It suits a slow, rainy afternoon when you want to sit with a film rather than be carried by it. The pace is deliberate and patient, and the emotional register is intimate and restrained, following a domestic worker and the family she serves as the household's cracks widen, with a gentle, slow-building bond between people of unequal standing. The intensity is low in plain terms, though there are a few sudden, shocking scenes of violence and a tense, frightening sequence that lands hard. Nudity and sex appear, handled without titillation. It is for viewers who want contemplative, character-driven cinema with a strong sense of place.
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