Movie Review Roma

Roma (2018) 

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron

Written by Alfonso Cuaron

Starring Yalitza Aparicio 

Release Date December 14th, 2018

Published December 11th, 2018 

Film Critics tend to be accused of automatically loving movies that are subtitled and in black and white. It’s a trope of my kind that we will always heap praise upon a foreign film while bagging on the latest Hollywood offering that earns millions of dollars. People assume this has to do with critics establishing our highbrow credentials but my more than 16 years of experience has taught me why this trend takes hold. 

Having spent well over a decade seeing every Hollywood wide release movie in the theater I can attest, it begins to wear you down over time. You, dear reader, may only see one teen oriented slasher film but I see 5 or 6 per year. You see perhaps three blockbusters per year on average, I see them all. You see maybe one Young Adult romance per year, I am inundated with them. Eventually, after experiencing the same Hollywood formula year after year after year, your brain begins to beg for something different and since subtitled black and white movies are a rarity in this day and age, it makes sense that we critics gravitate towards them, if only to break the monotony. 

Roma is the latest of the black and white subtitled movies to receive lavish praise from my kind. Roma has 99% positive reviews on RottenTomatoes.com and has been honored with a Best Picture nomination at the Critics Choice Movie Awards, the first Foreign Film in the CCMA's 24 year history. Critics adore this minimalist and deeply personal story from the brilliant director Alfonso Cuaron and I think I am a fan. Or, is it just so welcomingly different that I just appreciate the difference. Let’s find out. 

Roma tells the story of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a young maid working in the home of a well off family in Mexico in the early 1970's. Cleo’s life is a routine of cleaning and cooking and bonding with the four young children in the family. As we watch we get the sense that Cleo is almost like part of the family… almost. Little scenes in Roma give us a sense of the boundaries that the adults in the family work awkwardly to maintain. 

The family is beginning to splinter as the story goes on but that’s well in the background. The forefront of the story is Cleo and her day to day routine which she breaks only occasionally to go on dates with Fermin (Jorge Antonio Guerrero), a handsome but unusual young man, deeply dedicated to the martial arts. Fermin pursues Cleo but when she ends up pregnant, that pursuit ends abruptly and Cleo is left to take care of herself and worry as to whether she will be able to keep her job. 

Although I have given it a linear description, there really isn’t much of a story in Roma. This isn’t a traditional kind of movie. Director Alfonso Cuaron’s aim appears to be an authentic portrait of the life of a low wage working woman in the early 1970’s, perhaps a callback to someone he knew when he was young. It’s deeply affecting as a portrait of the character of Cleo who is compellingly portrayed by newcomer Yalitza Aparicio. 

Cuaron, rather impassively, floats his camera like a fly on a wall, observing at a distance the life of Cleo and the travails of her day to day routine. The panning shots of the home of the central family are quite beautiful and they set you up for even more beautiful, sweeping images when the film ventures out of the home, including a beautifully surreal firefighting scene in which the attendants of a New Year’s Eve Party are drafted in to help put out a forest fire. It’s a scene that would be comfortably at home in a Fellini movie, especially when a costume wearing man begins to sing. 

Alfonso Cuaron handled his own cinematography on Roma and his work is immaculate. The look of the film is gorgeous with the black & white photography giving the movie age and depth and a unique beauty that a director could likely only get from Black & White film. The film is flawlessly lensed and the technical filmmaking aspect of Roma is the real reason to see it. Rarely are movies this beautiful to just admire.

With all of that said, I am not sure how to recommend Roma. I have come to the conclusion that the film worked on me. I do like Roma a great deal, and not just because I am bored with every other type of movie in the market. The beauty and warmth of the film are more than enough for me to give a recommendation but there must be a caveat. Roma takes a long time to warm up. The film is deliberate and anyone looking for instant gratification should find another movie. 

The film is kind of gross early on with an extra special focus on a very, very messy dog. Then there is some highly unnecessary full male nudity which really puts me off. I understand why it is there, from a character standpoint and from a story standpoint, but I think the point could have been made elsewhere in the movie that this particular character is a childish lout. I don’t need to see him or anyone performing nude martial arts. 

So, who do I recommend Roma to, since I am recommending the movie? The audience is fans of awards shows. If you are someone who really loves awards shows and wants to see all of the nominees, you will need to see Roma. It would come as no surprise, given the critical consensus, if Roma is nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It deserves that level of praise. If however, you aren’t an awards junkie, you probably aren’t a hardcore film buff either. That probably means that Roma is not for you. 

Movie Review: Children of Men

Children of Men (2006) 

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron

Written by Alfonso Cuaron

Starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam

Release Date December 25th, 2006

Published December 24th, 2006

Alfonso Cuaron has said that his latest film, the futuristic thriller Children Of Men, is an allegory to our times. A warning of problems to come if we continue on our current path. The film alludes to ideas about immigration policy, war in the middle east, terrorism and death with dignity. These ideas are introduced but none are given great weight. It's as if just mentioning these hot button issues is enough to bring importance to a movie that is otherwise a chase thriller with an interesting premise.

The fact is,Children Of Men is not about its story or characters. Children Of Men is about director Alfonso Cuaron and his ability as a director. Using long, unbroken takes and some dazzling cinematography, Cuaron impresses with style and technique but does so at the expense of his story.

In 2027 woman haven't given birth in nearly 20 years. The world's youngest person, an 18 year old, has been killed and chaos reigns throughout the world. England is the last hold out of civil order, though the chaos is banging at the door. Immigrants from around the world have attempted to immigrate causing the government to round up foreigners and place them in camps. Those who fight are killed, those who don't are sent back to the chaos and famine of their home countries.

In the midst of the tumultuous times a former activist named Theo (Clive Owen) is slowly drinking himself to death. Having lost his own baby son more than a decade and a half ago, as well as his wife, Theo has given up. His ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore) has not. Now the leader of an insurgency, Julian has come to the aid of an immigrant teenager, Kee (Claire Hope Ashitay) who holds the future of humanity.

Kee is; by some miracle, pregnant and Julian knows she can't protect her. Turning to Theo for help, she leaves it to him to take Kee to a utopian group of scientists and thinkers called the human project where it's hoped her pregnancy can reveal the key to saving humanity.

That is what I could make of the plot of Children of Men, a movie that is more style than substance. Director Alfonso Cuaron claims the film is an allegory to modern times however, his metaphors are shallow and underserved. This alarmist tale of government oppression and societal crumbling has a dark vision of the future that is supposed to be a warning of things to come and a comment on how things currently are but it fails to be convincing in either metaphoric conceit.

Children of Men is not an allegory, it is rather a movie about how the action is filmed and not why the action is taking place. Working with super long takes, Cuaron uses his camera in unbroken scenes that traverse big action movie chases and war scenes without a single edit. It's an impressive technical achievement. It's also an extraordinarily showy exercise. Like a dog begging for attention, the filmmaking tricks of Children of Men sit up, beg and roll over.

The worst thing about Children of Men is how cheap and manipulative the plot is. Of course, all movies are manipulative. However, the best movies allow you to suspend disbelief and forget you are being manipulated. Children of Men uses a cheap screenwriting trick, the child in danger plot, to manipulate audiences into feeling tension that the adult characters and the plot they are trapped in cannot.

I will grant you that much of the technological trickery employed by Alfonso Cuaron is so good that you can forgive much of the very shallow plot. The extended, unedited takes are compelling visuals that you can't help but marvel at. Also, I was surprised how visually impressive the film is without Cuaron's usual flourishes of color. In his Great Expectations, Y Tu Mama Tambien and Harry Potter, Cuaron's visuals overflowed with color. Children of Men goes in the opposite direction, desaturating the screen leaving a gray, light green hue that is as effective as his use of bright colors in previous films.

The color palette matches the mood of the film. Gloomy and oppressive and while that doesn't sound appealing, in execution and as part of this story, the color palette is visually engaging.

Another appealing element of Children of Men is the star performance of Clive Owen. No actor embodies weariness the way Owen does. Look at his roles in I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, Closer and Sin City, no actor looks more tired or beaten up by the world as Owen. His gloom ridden role in Children of Men was made just for him.

The character of Theo has lost everything when we meet him. He can barely muster the energy to not give a damn. Watching him come back to life as he helps Kee escape is appealing for the way Owen plays it, even if the rest of the movie is not interested in character development. Owen and the rest of the cast of Children of Men were on their own trying to bring their characters some life while Alfonso Cuaron focused on unique ways to shoot them.

Children of Men is a technical marvel. Alfonso Cuaron and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki dazzle us with camera work, lighting, settings and chases and the films centerpiece, long unbroken takes. Dazzled we are but the technical brilliance can't disguise a shallow thriller plot clothed in faux importance. Saying your movie is important in metaphor is one thing, actually being important is another.

Movie Review Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) 

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron 

Written by Steve Kloves 

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman, David Thewlis, Gary Oldman 

Release Date June 4th, 2004 

Published June 3rd, 2004 

When Chris Columbus announced that he would not direct the third Harry Potter film, Alfonso Cuaron was not the first director who came to mind. His most recent work, the coming of age drama Y Tu Mama Tambien, earned an NC-17 rating. Not exactly the sensibility one would bring to one of the largest family movie franchises in history. A closer look however at Cuaron's body of work shows that he indeed may be the best choice they could have made. Cuaron's innate understanding of teenage emotions and adolescence are exactly where the Harry Potter series is headed with its young characters and the combination is electric.

As we rejoin our hero Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), he is back in the world of muggles, living with his awful Aunt and Uncle. This is not the same Harry Potter however who has cowered from his family's unreasonable behavior. Harry is becoming his own man and when a family friend insults Harry's late parents, he exacts a revenge that could get him kicked out of Hogwarts.

After running away from home, including an exciting ride on a ghostly wizard bus, Harry is told that he won't be punished for his illegal use of magic and he will be allowed to return to Hogwarts. The intimation is that Harry's destiny is so closely linked to that of Hogwarts that he can't be kicked out.

Soon, Harry is reunited with his friends Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint). Before the kids leave for school Harry is told that the criminal Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) has escaped Azkaban prison and may be looking for Harry, though it is unclear why.

On the train to Hogwarts, Harry meets one of his new teachers, Professor Lupin (David Thewlis). He also meets an entity called a dementor, a ghostly creature that is supposed to be hunting Sirius Black but whose actions are uncontrollable. Professor Lupin saves Harry from the dementor's soul sucking attack and once on campus at Hogwarts, the Professor becomes a mentor and friend to Harry as Sirius Black looms. Both Lupin and Sirius Black both have links to Harry's parents that are revealed late in the film

The first two Harry Potter films had the feel of self-contained action movies. One could exist without the other. This third film in the series however feels more connected to the series as a whole. There is a transitory feel to the story with more backstory and fleshing out of the characters. This is why the film feels deeper and richer from a character standpoint than the first two films but also why it has less narrative force.

The building of the backstory and characters shove this film’s main plot into the background. The main plot is supposed to be Harry's confrontation with Sirius Black yet Gary Oldman's character only comes into the film in the third act. The thrust of the film is laying out the characters not only for this one episode but also for the future of the series.

There are a number of good things about this film on its own. Alfonso Cuaron's artistic sensibilities bring a more artistic look to the series. His visuals are richer and deeper than ever before. His use of colors reminded me a little of his underappreciated remake of Great Expectations in 1998, a film that used the color green as the third lead character. This is a beautiful looking film and yet the visuals never overwhelm the characters, they deepen and enrich them.

There has been talk that the young actors (Radcliffe, Watson and Grint) may be getting too old for their characters and may be replaced when Mike Newell directs the next film in the series. I hope that isn't true, as each becomes increasingly comfortable as these characters. Especially good is Watson who has stardom in her future. Her spunk and smarts make Hermione shine even brighter than the star in name. Daniel Radcliffe is improving with every outing. While he still at times looks a little overmatched, another film and he could really show us something.

If I were to choose my favorite Potter film, I would say Chamber Of Secrets, which is the most artistic and exciting movie Chris Columbus ever made. That said, Alfonso Cuaron's Prisoner Of Azkaban is the most visually impressive of the three and it's the most deeply emotional. It lacks only the narrative force and adventure of Chamber. If this is the way the Harry Potter series is going to evolve, the best of all may be yet to come.