Immaculately shot personal-memory film from writer/director/ cinematographer Alfonso Cuarón, with a more quotidian approach than other family glances back like Fellini's AMARCORD/’73*; Bergman's FANNY AND ALEXANDER/’82 or Minnelli thru the musicalized fiction of MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS/’44. And, unlike those vividly colored panoramas, using period-setting B&W to help establish an early ‘70s time-frame. ‘Roma’ is an upper middle-class section of Mexico City, and the family unit about to break up are married professionals with four kids (and one very poopy dog); maternal Grandmother; two live-in housekeepers. Cast to emphasize the gap between its indigenous domestics and a very Anglo-looking family, the class/cultural divide comes into play all thru the story. So too the splendidly recreated neighborhood where you can reach the grocery store, a lively shopping avenue, or a movie palace on foot. But personal and political changes can’t be stopped by a nice address, and Cuarón ends up with a wealth of incident without having to pump up events. A difficult pregnancy; belated right-wing action against student strikes (a culmination of 1968, before a change in government); a father who deserts his family and the lies told to keep this a secret. Emotionally moving in a manner that sneaks up on you, often handled in strikingly long takes that create tension on their own simply as movie technique, yet reveal rather than showoff. The film a worthy companion to the memory films listed above. NOTE: Labeled Family Friendly if a nude male martial arts routine doesn't put you off! Our Family Friendly label not necessarily Kiddie Friendly. Label definitions (and labels!, which don't display on SmartPhones) off to the side on the Full Web Page.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY/LINK: Playing Oscar® ’got’cha’ is a no-win proposition, but did the Academy really believe GREEN BOOK the year’s better film? Yikes! https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/01/green-book-2018.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Ironically, Fellini also used ROMA as title, but for a 1972 essay film on Rome, Italy.
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