Skip to main content

roma | 2018



A really good (and must) film to watch during the holidays. This is apparently an ordinary story told by an immense Alfonso Cuarón. The movie was shot in black and white and it is also beautifully shot in long takes. Fundamentally Roma is the tale of two women, Cleo (play by Yalitza Aparicio) working as a live-maid for a beleaguered upper middle-class family in Mexico City. It is an autobiographical story from the director and during the film you can see that there are signs of tensions and dysfunction from both the family and the maid. Those little things are hints and demonstrations of the feelings of the characters. The man of the house (Antonio) can't stand being at his own house, you can see that by the way he parks his car, and his wife  (Sofía) is struggling to keep the family together. 

So, meanwhile Antonio keeps travelling for what, supposedly, are business trips, a stressed Sofia one day tells the children it would be a good idea to write to their dad, imploring him to come back. But Cleo is in trouble too when she has to explain to his boyfriend Fermín, a martial-arts enthusiast (played by Jorge Antonio Guerrero) that se has missed her period. 

This is the prelude to, what it would seem, a broken family/ie, but Cuarón shows us how love, and women empowerment come out when they are most needed. The hug of the poster is the summary of the whole film. 

In words of Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian's film critic: 

"There is tragedy, comedy and absurdity here, along with sublime mystery in its extraordinary set pieces. At the heart of it all is a wonderful performance from Aparicio, who brings to the role something delicate and stoic. She is the jewel of this outstanding film." 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

joker | 2019

Is Joaquin Phoenix's performance of the Joker worth an Oscar nomination? Yes. Ok, but, besides that, why is everybody so hyped by this film? Because we've seen a movie with plenty of superheroes hit the box office this year and now, six months later, just one man, a villain, is stealing the whole show. The one thing that hyped me the most was reading, when the movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival back in September, that this movie didn't have special effects, that it was organic.   I know, I'm not going to say anything you've already read on any film magazine or twitter, instagram or your friends may have commented but I needed to post this.  Joker is a movie that is undoubtedly influenced by Scorsese's films, such as Taxi Driver (1976) and presents a Gotham that reminds us of the 1970's New York. One of the things I liked the most is the contextualisation of the action, because it helped to understand and empathize with Arthur Fleck, the
Post a Comment
Read more

the kings of summer | 2013

First of all, I wanted to express that I was able to watch that movie because I went to an indie film festival, Americana Film Festival, who has just opened this year and that I hope we can experience for many years from now on. The "american family" that created the festival Americana, decided that the inaugural film would be The Kings of Summer. After some presentations and the presentation of the festival itself, the movie was projected.  The Kings of Summer is a movie about teenagers that everyone can see and is equally going to enjoy it. Because even if they are teenagers, children, adults of even elders they are all going to be identified with the boys that appear. Everyone has had or would like to live on their own without parents or family talking and in some way it seems "bothering" you. This is what the movie talks about. Three guys run away from their houses and build a house in the middle of the woods where they are going to live with their
Post a Comment
Read more

yesterday | 2019

Yesterday -  directed by the great Danny Boyle and written by the genius Richard Curtis - is, without a doubt, "the feel-good movie" of the summer.  This film is a rom-com, as Richard Curtis is the best writer of this kind of stories (Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, About Time or Love Actually), that recounters the story of Jack (Himesh Patel), an aspiring singer that cannot find the way to succeed, and Ellie (Lily James), his best friend, supporter, and manager that is secretly in love with him, even though everyone notices she is into him  except Jack.  As everyone in the world forgets who The Beatles are, Jack finds his opportunity to fulfill his dream of becoming a singer, but he will have to face the struggles of fame and its impact on her friendship with Ellie.  With this movie, you have the opportunity to listen to the great songs of The Beatles and watch this love story, with two actors that have great chemistry on screen. Also, there i
Post a Comment
Read more