Rent Roma (2018)

Real life Mexico, and tender too - Roma review by PR

Excellent film! It is a feminist film in the best possible way, and a fair description. No tear-jerking, no political messages, just…plain life with its natural drama. Of necessity, it will be much more poignant to the likes of me, who knew Mexico in the 70s, but plenty there to appreciate by everybody.

Technically brilliant, dramatically tedious - Roma review by Alphaville

Here’s the plot, such as it is, based on the childhood of director Alfonso Cuaron: a maid goes about her business, looking after a well-off family in 1970s Mexico City. That’s it. A glorified but mundane soap opera. Even worse, it’s filmed as a documentary-style fly-on-the-wall piece. We observe the characters rather than engage with them.

And yet… Cuaron films in coruscating black and white with such astonishing depth of field that his shots are amazing to look at. Never has there been so much going on in a frame since Citizen Kane. Most films focus on one thing and leave the rest of the frame out of focus. In Roma everything is in focus, enabling the viewer’s eye to rove around it at will. There’s a scene in a packed cinema, shot from the back stalls, looking to the screen past lovers in the foreground, that is simply beautiful. When Orson Welles adopted the same technique (although often using split screen to obtain the effect) it was breathtaking. Roma has that same ground-breaking feel about it.

If only there was something to engage the emotions or the intellect, this would be a masterpiece. Instead, it will have you aching for something, anything to happen. The trailer makers realise this by tempting you with a montage of short scenes choreographed to Pink Floyd’s The Great Gig in the Sky. Be advised that the film itself is nothing like this. It’s full of long static takes, with none of the movement Cuaron used so effectively in Children of Men, and it’s sadly lacking in anything even remotely resembling a rousing soundtrack. There is much to admire in Roma, but many viewers will find it one long bore.

A stunning and affecting film - Roma review by ef

This is compelling viewing, the slow pace allows characters to build convincingly, the acting is superb and the atmosphere of the city is brilliantly portrayed.

There are visual images and scenes which will remain in your head, beautifully shot in black and white. Quite stunning.

Disappointed - Roma review by PA

Unfortunately, unable to watch 'Roma' as it was in Spanish with no subtitles.

Perhaps a warning should be given to viewers when not in English.

Urban life, loves and crises in Mexico city - Roma review by JL

A moving slice of life that we can all recognise, spiced with a down-town Mexican take on events that seeds the view with both friction and delight

A worthy prizewinner - Roma review by PM

There are enough good reviews of this film, and I agree with them, it is a masterpiece, both from the outstanding photography, development of atmosphere, and the considerable exercise of emotion.

Subtitles, by the way, can be switched on from the main menu.

echoing the previous review "Technically brilliant, dramatically tedious " - Roma review by mb

Note, it is well over 2 hours and there is no drama or character engagement in the first hour at least.

It is slow and detached.

Surely pacing and character and plot are key film making tools?

There are a lot of good camera shots, for fans of cinematography. But viewer engagement totally lacking.

We needed to get to the dramatic tension before the first hour had passed (barely half way through the film!!)