Yesterday my friends and I went to watch “Roma” in Berkeley. Set in the 1970s in Mexico City, this film follows the story of a maid who works for a middle-class family. It was written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. I don’t want to reveal too much about the film, as you can watch it in theaters, (soon) on Netflix, and you can look up the plot online.
All in all, this film was pretty great. The cinematography was beautiful and I was thoroughly impressed by the filmmakers’ attention to detail. One of the things I loved the most about this movie is their use of long, sustained, one-take shots. In several of the scenes that played in the movie, the directors decided to film all the action of the scene in one long shot without any interruptions or cuts. What resulted were these beautiful vignettes that captured the life of the characters.
The movie is shot in black and white, which I appreciated. The choice to shoot in black and white placed the emphasis on the characters and their actions, as opposed to what was happening visually. It was still a visually compelling film, but the choice to make it black and white caused me to take in the scenery of the scenes more passively and focus more on what was going on.
I think the length and the pace of the film was alright. It might have been my own restlessness, but in some parts of the film I felt like the pace was so slow that it made me antsy. The filmmakers chose to include a lot of long, slow, sustained shots throughout the movie, which had benefits and drawbacks. Since there weren’t a lot of quick shots that propelled the movie’s actions, it felt a little long in some scenes. However, I think that some scenes in particular benefitted from how long and sustained and slow the shots were, as it increased the immersion into the film and built a lot of emotional depth.
If you’re planning on going to watch this movie, I should warn you that there is a lot of triggering content in the film. I don’t want to ruin the movie for anyone, but if you have unpleasant experiences with children’s deaths or gun violence, I’d recommend that you hold off on watching this.
Free and Featherbrained 