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Roma (2018)


Roma is about the life of an upper-class family living in Mexico seen through the eyes of a servant in the 1970s.

Written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Cuarón was born in Mexico and has even said that this film depicts a lot of his childhood. It certainly has a feel like Y Tu Mama Tambien. More average moviegoers might recognize his name from the movie Gravity where he won his first Oscar. He also did the underappreciated Children of Men.

The cast is mostly unknowns. The main character is named Cleo and is played by Yalitza Aparicio. She is wonderful and stoic. She is reserved in her emotions to make them more impactful when they do rise to the surface. Her character has to put up with a lot of shit, literally. Her life goes from bad to worse throughout the movie.

At the end of the movie, you'll be attached to this maid. The first part is hard to watch because it's just setting up future moments. At the time it just feels like you're watching a maid do her job. Which at times can be boring, but the boredom allows you to empathize with her. There is almost too much symbolism in the film. That is the key to this film being less than perfect. Everything means something and to the everyday joe, that means it'll go way over their head. To the experienced watcher, it'll be a struggle just to keep up with "Wait. Now, what does that mean? Why is he focusing on that? Is that important too?" This makes me want to watch the movie again but also the film is not a happy one, even at the "happy" ending it's really sad and because of that I probably won't.

Result: A (It's not perfect but it's damn great.)



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