Review of Roma (2018) by Frostygamma — 30 Dec 2018

What makes Roma an incredibly boring film? It is not for lack of plot; a lot happens to Cleo and the family for which she works. It is a misplaced focus. There is an enormous amount of screen time given to bands marching down the street and to street musicians, with whom the characters show no notice. There are numerous long shots of the courtyard, where you are left with counting how many piles of dog poop are there today. Only in a couple of scenes does anyone interact with the poop. There are numerous scenes of being careful not to let the dog out or to run after it, but in only one scene does anyone interact with the dog. There are scenes of the children playing and fighting that have nothing to do with the plot. When something dramatic does happen, all the emotion is drained out of the scene. It's like watching staged figurines covered in bubble wrap. It takes a skill to film scenes like a deadly riot, a stillbirth and a near drowning and leave the audience unmoved. Cleo manages to deliver the line about not wanting the baby to be born as if she's reading a news report. Was she ashamed, relieved, guilty? We'll never know. It's one thing to portray a stoic character, but that's not what is going on here. She seems robotic at the most dramatic times; she could show some emotion on her face and the director could capture that.

Frankly, part of me was hoping Cleo would drown saving the kids as I was so incredibly tired of watching her character and it might bring the film to a close sooner.

I kept watching the film to the end, hoping it would improve, but it never did. It is a self-indulgent bore and a waste of over two hours.