Roma: 2018

So did I already watch this year's Best Picture Winner? Seeing Roma makes me wonder if I have.

Roma is a Netflix film, which means it's easier for me to watch than most of the films nominated for this year's Oscars. While all the films except Vice are available for streaming (see this article for a full listing), the only service I subscribe to is Netflix, and for the sake of my budget, I either watch films on Netflix or I visit my local library, which has an extensive DVD collection. So whenever Netflix releases a new film on their service AND in the theaters with hopes to snag some awards love, I try to watch them. Sometimes I'm successful--Roma being an example of that. And sometimes I'm not--The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is still hanging out on my list, half watched (I guess that's what happens when a film is a series of shorter ones or it could be that it's a western). While Buster waits for me, I figured I should write about Roma.

While watching Roma, I wondered if knowing more about Mexico City in the 1970s would help me understand the film better. The story is focused on Cleo, a nanny who works for a family that lives in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City. Cleo is affectionate with the children. At bedtime, she is the one tucking them in, telling them that she loves them. The four kids are challenging, especially the two older brothers, and to add to the chaos, there's a dog that constantly barks. But the story isn't about the family as much as it is about Cleo. Early in the film, she seems distant. She keeps to herself. I found myself wondering about her life and her personality. Being a nanny, Cleo has faded into the backdrop of this family, becoming a household appliance. Her affection seemed one-sided...until the father leaves the family for a younger woman and Cleo becomes pregnant and her boyfriend dumps her. At that point, the mother of the family grows bitter and wants to help Cleo because all men are terrible like her husband.

Cleo's pregnancy is what drives the plot for the rest of the film, and I won't spoil what happens here, but trust me, this is one heartbreaking film (a checkmark for the Academy as most winners are sad stories). I wanted to be more emotionally invested in the film before Cleo's pregnancy, but I found it hard because she seemed withdrawn from the audience. The filmmaking, too, made it difficult for me to connect with Cleo because the director (and writer and cinematographer and more) Alfonso Cuaron used so many long shots. I need to see a character's face to know them better, and he doesn't use many close ups in the film. While I appreciated the aesthetic of the film, that made it difficult for me to connect with the characters, so when the father leaves, I didn't feel much sadness for the family initially. It wasn't until the last half hour of the film that I experienced more empathy with the characters, and most of that was due Yalitza Aparicio who plays Cleo. She is amazing. Her isolation early in the film transitions into being fully connected to the family and in the end she is fully part of them. But her own personal fears are what make her such an interesting character in the end, and Aparicio is stunning in her nonverbal performance. When Cuaron used the close up, it was worth the wait. Aparicio's expressions conveyed so much more than the dialogue and setting. I'm hoping she does more acting and soon.

What I think I need for Roma is sitting in on a film class discussion about the film. I think I missed a lot in one viewing, but before watching it again, I would need to do some reading about the setting and the film itself. It's not an easy film to take in.