It's been far too long between Alfonso Cuaron films - five years since "Gravity," which came seven years after "Children of Men." When "Roma" was first announced, a Spanish language film about a Mexican family during the 1970s, it was billed as a smaller, personal film more in the vein of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and "Solo Con Tu Pareja." "Roma" is certainly personal, taking elements from Cuaron's own childhood in the Colonia Roma neighborhood of Mexico City. However, there's nothing small about the filmmaking, which contains shots and images as epic as anything found in his Hollywood work.
"Roma" follows a Mixteco nanny, Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), who works in the household of the well-to-do Sofia (Marina de Tavira) and Antonio (Fernando Grediaga), who have four lively children. Sofia also employs a maid, Adela (Nancy García), who is Cleo's closest friend. Turmoil strikes the household in 1970, as Antonio goes on a business trip, and it eventually becomes clear that he has abandoned his family for another woman. Social unrest grips the country, resulting in bursts of violence. Cleo also becomes pregnant by her unreliable boyfriend, Fermín (Jorge Antonio Guerrero), putting her future in doubt.
Initially, I was fooled by the film's slower pace and incidental storytelling. The domestic scenes are leisurely, and though the black and white images are artfully composed, with Cuaron serving as his own cinematographer, the scope of "Roma" appeared to be very small and sedate. However, the technical complexity of the filmmaking kept catching me off guard. There's a scene early on in the house, where the maids are turning off the lights for the night, and a full 360 degree pan shot follows the characters as they go through their routines. Later on there's a stunning tracking shot that moves from the interior of a department store to a massive protest outside in the street, and back again. Then there's another at the climax involving Cleo and the children at the beach, one of those shots where I can't fathom how it was accomplished, because it looks so perfect. For the discerning cinephile "Roma" is a treat.
At the same time, there's a wonderful accessibility to the story, largely thanks to Yalitza Aparicio's work as Cleo. Aparicio came to the film with no acting experience, but her screen presence is lovely and natural. She ensures that Cleo's struggles in the face of one calamity after another are very moving. It would have been easy to have her be an idealized martyr figure, but Cleo has some interesting moral shadings to her that help to keep the audience guessing about her fate. It took me longer to warm up to Sofia and the kids, whose big dramatic moments often play out in the background. However, as the film went on I found myself getting more and more invested in their lives too.
It's fitting that this turns out to be a major theme of the film - huge, monumental events happen in the background of ordinary life, often beginning as tiny details that might escape our notice. An argument happening in an adjacent room, a glimpse of a couple in the street, and a man performing a stunt in the distance, are all important and all have an impact on the main characters' lives. Cuaron's frames are often densely packed with detail, resurrecting the Mexico City of his youth, and adding little historical and cultural details for the benefit of eagle-eyed viewers. As with Cuaron's other Mexican films, there are critical moments aimed at class divides, political divides, and social issues of all stripes.
In short, "Roma" was a wonderful surprise, a film as ambitious and rewarding as anything that Cuaron has ever done. I appreciate how thoroughly well made it is, where the composition of every shot, and the movement of the camera, and the sound design, and the set design, and every other element you could name are just a pleasure to experience. At times it felt like I was watching a much older classic from the '60s or '70s, except that it is clearly Alfonso Cuaron's work. "Roma" was worth the wait, and I can only hope that he won't make us wait for so long until the next one.
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