Shot in black-and-white and in panoramic style, “Roma” is a cinematic masterpiece that makes its ten Oscar nominations well deserved. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, the Mexican director of “Gravity” (2013) and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004), “Roma” follows the story of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a live-in maid for a white, upper middle-class family in the Mexican city of Colonia Roma.
The film conveys a mood and emotion that tells a story through the characters’ intimacy with one another. Each scene conveys such emotion and beauty, it seems that if it were shot in color that overstimulation and distraction would occur.
Available to stream on Netflix, this is the perfect film to watch by yourself. Moreover, the company scoring this nomination is an amazing feat in their struggle to be taken seriously as a production company.
The film’s plot is never jaw-dropping or mind-shattering, but it tells a compelling tale that many have never thought of, or probably gazed past. At the end, there is a sense of satisfaction. I, myself, was put to ease by it. Usually at the end of a movie, audiences discuss and express “what ifs” or “should have beens,” but the poetic and reverie-ness of Roma leaves us silent and still.
The black-and-white choice for ‘Roma’ made the film even more beautiful without being overstimulating audiences.
