Roma

Spoilers!

Alfonso Cuaron's ROMA from last year is a slowly simmering kettle of class struggle, political upheaval, and family drama.  All intertwined, of course.  There are big, explosive emotional moments and other big, but quietly devastating scenes that will wrench most viewers who still have a beating heart within them.  It's certainly nice to be reminded of that.  But unfortunately, Mr.. Cuaron has this nasty habit of telegraphing these moments, with too obvious foreshadowing and symbolism to make us realize we're viewing the work of an artiste.  Some directors get away with this.  Cuaron, of course, is one of them, despite GRAVITY, a film with which I was quite unimpressed.  I think I'm only one of a dozen people in that band.

ROMA, named after a neighborhood in Mexico City, is about a shy young housekeeper named Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) who works for what appears to be a happy middle-class family.  She also takes care of the family's quartet of young children as if they're her own. Cleo has a boyfriend named Fermin (Jorge Antonio Guerrero), a dolt who after intercourse swings a curtain rod around a hotel room to show off his martial arts skills.  Soon, Cleo is pregnant and the father disappears, later proving to be a real lout.

Other men in ROMA prove likewise, including the family patriarch, Antonio (Fernando Grediaga), a physician who is constantly traveling.  Even one of his colleagues at the hospital flakes out when Cleo is wheeled in to have her child.  This theme is quite potent in the movie, and never overstated.  Men tend to be absent, especially for their families or at the least the potential for one.  Women like Cleo are left to suffer, as is her boss, Sofia (Marina de Tavira), the house matriarch who discovers what a boor she married and will eventually sell his prized Ford Galaxie.  How it does not fit into the family garage is a less than subtle theme.

And that's the issue I had with ROMA - too many scenes are designed to be portentous with a capital P.  That marching band when Antonio drives away.  Fermin's wildly implausible presence in the midst of a massive student protest, there with a gun and pointed at Cleo just as her water breaks.  A warning from Sofia for her children not too go too far into the surf at the beach as she leaves them under the watch of Cleo, who can't swim.   Cuaron is better than this, and his screenplay is mostly exemplary but misses greatness just the same.

But his direction, cinematography, and editing are world class.   ROMA did not have to be in black and white for any compelling artistic reason, but it looks fabulous and gives the film - rooted in harsh reality - an other worldly feel.  I unfortunately saw it on Netflix but will make an effort to see it on the big screen, as it was intended to be.  I must say that hearing the movie on wireless headphones was, at times, quite overwhelming.  The sound editing will certainly get an Oscar nod.

The cast is wonderful, perfectly selected.  I'm pleased that Curan didn't go for big names and distract from his effective, somewhat autobiographical story.