Roma is a Mexican film written and directed by Alfonso Cuaron. It’s a look at the day to day life of an upper middle class Mexican family in 1971 and their housekeepers. There is really not much more to it…

Story: From what I’ve read, this story is somewhat autobiographical… drawing from Cuaron’s upbringing in Mexico City. So it’s hard to evaluate the quality of the writing as is should speak for itself…

However, it’s a very quiet film. Not filled with dialogue. And much of the dialogue that exists is very everyday, run of the mill. This film has the same value as Seinfeld. Its really about nothing.

The scenes that focus on one of the housekeepers – Cleo – are a bit more substantive, but, for the most part, this film follows the everyday lives of Mother, Father, Tono, Paco, Sofi and Pepe.

Performances: The family has two housekeepers, but, Cleo’s story is in the spotlight for this film. Again, there’s nothing particularly compelling about her performance… it’s more the circumstances that define her current life.

The mother is a bit of a character, but, nothing of note. There are no performances in this film that rises to the occasion of award-winning… at least not for me…

Visual: I feel like this is where this film holds most of its value. The visual elements in this film stand out more than the story or dialogue. It’s shot in black and white… it employs a multitude of slow, dramatic pans… it displays in lengthy detail simple moments. I will give Cuaron credit for shooting a beautiful film.

In fact, one of those dramatic, dialogue-free moments revolves around one of their cars and the carport. You don’t really appreciate the first scene with the car and the carport until the later scenes with the car and the carport.

Rating: Roma gets a B. It started out appearing to be a really overly dramatized film and ended up being just a slightly overly dramatized film. I found myself asking, “Why is this moment important?” And in some instances, later scenes give those moments context, but, some just exist as simple moments.

The films also should have ended 10 minutes before with the beach scene. Instead, it ended on an everyday moment. At least Cuaron continued the consistent theme of everyday moments until the very end…

I liked it, but I didn’t love it. If it wins an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film, I won’t complain. But it’s not Best Picture for 2019.

Go into Roma ready to appreciate its simplicity. No rush to the theater…