Review of Roma (2018) by Ahmedaiman1999 — 16 Dec 2018

I admire movies of this kind; movies that feel simple and spontaneous, and have unrestrained plot. But I prepare myself before watching a movie of this kind; simply because I usually don't find myself connected emotionally with these movies. And I was ready to watch one of these art-house movies that I appreciate from the artistic and technical standpoint more than truly enjoying them. But Roma really took me off guard. Because I found out that Cuarón took this artistic approach in making this movie just to tie the somewhat loose plot of an ordinary story into an emphatic and heart-wrenching force.

Cuarón's audiovisual motifs find their way across the film, not for the sake of showing his masterful skills, but to represent metaphorically, or sometimes literally, the characters' feelings, characteristics, nature, express their relationships to each other, and to mark major turning points in the story. When he doesn't use metaphors, Caurón plays, literally, with the contrast between background and foreground, and therefore allowing us to witness the currently unfocused on characters. This give me an opportunity to experience what all characters feel at every moment, and not loosing touch with any one of them at all. Furthermore, this gave the movie some kind of vividness that elevated the experience of watching it even more.

By doing so, Cuarón didn't just give us a phenomenal piece of cinema, but he also subverted the art-house film genre, and proved that films can be as technically flawless and outstanding as they are thoroughly accessible and absorbing.

The first act is a combination of simplicity and innovative visual storytelling.

The third act showcases Cuarón at the top of his visual craft, and that's when his signature long takes were prevalent, and each was as masterful as the last. But there's one in particular that sent chills down my spine, and kept me on the edge of my seat.

The second act, however, is more artistically enthralling than emotionally. Flawless from the narrative and technical, of course, aspects, but it's more "Arthouse" and meditative than anything else. It has some of the most beautiful shots, and moments, of the movie, though. And I really can't say that the movie lost me even for a split second.

The story isn't the most original thing you'll ever encounter. Actually, the characters arcs are quite familiar, but that doesn't take away even the slightest hint of greatness from this masterwork due to the completely unorthodox and refreshing ways the film narrated, structured, shot, and edited in. That said, I couldn't help notice the stereotypical character arc of Sra. Sofía (Marina de Tavira's character) at the end of the movie. Cleo, on the other hand, has enough genuine nuances and twists in her character arc that breathed new life into the character, let alone Yalitza Aparicio's spellbinding performance. Nevertheless, Marina de Tavira's committed performance is nothing short of stellar.

I hope Roma will jump start a career for Yalitza Aparicio. I already knew that many critics praised her performance in this movie, claiming that she gave one of the best performances of the year, but I really didn't expect that her performance will fascinate me like it did. For as much as I admired Hamilton Morris's performance in Sweet Country, or Brady Jandreau's in The Rider, I appreciated them for their naturalism and authenticity more than anything else. But as for Yalitza Aparicio, I really can't make up my mind whether her performance or Emily Blunt's in A Quiet Place is the best performance by an actress I've seen this year so far. And the same goes with these two movies they starred in as well.

Alfonso Cuarón doesn't go with the flow neither by giving priority to politics over anything else, nor by squandering his creative vision for the sake of making Hollywood cash-grab blockbusters. He stays true to his idiosyncratic vision, and faithful to his jaw-dropping trademarks. And here he is making yet another masterpiece that is captivating, poignant, personal and subversive all at once. And easily one of the most accessible art-house films ever made! Roma is a daring simple film.