Alfonso Cuarón wrote, produced, directed, shot and co-edited Roma. Few filmmakers take on that much of a single film. Fewer still deliver something this controlled.
Trailer, via Netflix.
Cleo in Colonia Roma
The film is set in 1970 and 1971 in Mexico City’s Colonia Roma, the neighborhood where Cuarón grew up. It follows Cleodegaria “Cleo” Gutiérrez (Yalitza Aparicio), a live-in Mixtec housekeeper for an upper-middle-class family. The household holds Sofía (Marina de Tavira), her four school-aged children — Pepe, Sofi, Toño and Paco — and Sofía’s mother, Teresa. Antonio, a doctor, is often away at conferences. Sofía’s distress at those absences tells you what the film delays saying.
Roma is a semi-autobiographical take on Cuarón’s upbringing. It is an international co-production between Mexico and the United States.
Fermín, the Fire and the Corpus Christi Massacre
Cleo thinks she may be pregnant. She tells her boyfriend Fermín, who seems supportive and then walks out on her at a movie theatre. Sofía takes her to the hospital, where the pregnancy is confirmed.
At a New Year trip to a family friend’s hacienda, land tensions flare and a large forest fire breaks out; the partygoers help put it down. Back in the city, Cleo sees Antonio flirting with a young woman. She tracks Fermín to a military-style camp run by Professor Zovek on the city’s edge. He denies the baby is his and threatens to beat her and the child if she speaks to him again.
Near term, Teresa takes Cleo downtown to buy a crib. A student protest outside the store becomes the Corpus Christi massacre of 10 June 1971, when the paramilitary Los Halcones attack the protesters. A militant chases a student into the store and murders him.
What the Accolades Actually Say
Roma premiered on 30 August 2018 at the 75th Venice International Film Festival, winning the Golden Lion. A limited U.S. theatrical run began 21 November 2018; Netflix streaming in the U.S. and other territories started 14 December 2018. It drew ten nominations at the 91st Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress for Aparicio and Best Supporting Actress for de Tavira. It became the first Mexican entry to win Best Foreign Language Film, and the first film to win both Best Cinematography and Best Director for the same person in one night.
| Film | Runtime | Academy Awards nominations | Best Foreign Language Film |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roma (2018) | 135 minutes | 10 | Won |
| — | — | — | — |
The Numbers Behind Roma
- Runtime: 135 minutes
- Genre: Drama
- Premiere: 30 August 2018, 75th Venice International Film Festival
- U.S. limited release: 21 November 2018
- Netflix streaming: 14 December 2018
- Academy Awards: 10 nominations
- Metacritic: 96/100 (9.6/10)
What Holds Up
The scale of Roma is the point. Aparicio starred as Cleo and was nominated for Best Actress; the film rests on her face for 135 minutes. De Tavira carries the other half, a woman holding a household together while her husband is elsewhere. Cuarón shoots both without decoration.
The Corpus Christi sequence is the film’s hardest passage, and it earns its place because the movie has spent an hour making Cleo’s ordinary life matter first. What stays with you is smaller: a crib, a movie theatre, a walk away from a man who will not look back.
Roma has been cited among the best films of the 2010s and the 21st century since its release. That ranking holds up. Its Metacritic score of 96/100 is the number to keep in view.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
