Netflix Alfonso Cuarón's Roma (2018)

[Jake Lipson]

Title: Roma

Genre: Drama

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

Cast: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey, Carlos Peralta, Marco Graf, Daniela Demesa, Nancy García García, Verónica García, Andy Cortés, Fernando Grediaga, Jorge Antonio Guerrero, José Manuel Guerrero Mendoza, Latin Lover, Zarela Lizbeth Chinolla Arellano, José Luis López Gómez, Edwin Mendoza Ramírez, Clementina Guadarrama, Enoc Leaño, Nicolás Peréz Taylor Félix, Kjartan Halvorsen

Release: 2018-08-25

Runtime: 134

Plot: In 1970s Mexico City, two domestic workers help a mother of four while her husband is away for an extended period of time.

 

[Jake Lipson]

This is Alfonso Cuarón's new film, which is going to Netflix on December 14.

However, my local art house booked it for a one-night-only advance screening the other day, so I got to see it already. Not to brag, but it was really fantastic, and I wanted to share my excitement with the forum.

Cuarón appeared onscreen in a pre-taped message before the movie and said that it is his most personal film to date and is inspired by the women who raised him. You can feel his passion throughout, and it's a really special film.

Despite the Netflix of it all, I really hope some of you can find this in a theater. My theater added a new 7.1 surround sound system this week specifically to have it ready in time for this screening (they used to be 5.1) and, wow, Cuaron really takes advantage of that. It's mostly a dialogue-driven film, but there are a handful of spectacular sequences where it goes from telling an everyday story to events that are more singular, and in those moments where the sound design really gets to show itself off, it blows the roof off the theater in terms of being totally immersive. If enough voters actually see this on a big screen with a great sound system, it could win the sound design categories. However, since it is a Netflix film, 99% of its potential audience will find it on there and hear it via their TV stereo sound or (God forbid) their iPad or their phones, which almost makes the exemplary sound design a waste. But if you can go to a movie theater, you will be richly rewarded for doing so.

It also just looks gorgeous -- the cinematography is stunning, which is another thing it should get nominated for. It's completely black and white (even the normally red Netflix logo before the movie turned white for it), but like Nebraska and The White Ribbon in recent years, it demonstrates the absolute beauty of that format when it's shot well, which it certainly is here. I'm so glad I got to see it in a theater on a huge screen.

The story itself is set in and around Roma, Mexico in 1970-1. The lead, Cleo, is a maid/semi-nanny for an upper class family, Antonio and Sofia, and their kids. The movie is mostly about Cleo's experiences working there and contrasting her life with theirs, and how she kind of starts to function sort of like a family member, but she's still an employee and from a different social class and where is that line? It's her personal life and her professional life and how those two things intersect, and don't. The story also intersects with some actual significant Mexican history of that time period.

Yalitza Aparicio as Cleo gives the kind of incredible performance that defines an actor's career. She deserves to be in, at the very least, serious consideration for Best Actress. The film is also Mexico's submission for Best Foreign Language Film, and Netflix would like to get it into other categories too for sure. If it were me, I would not hesitate to place it in those, as well as Picture, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography and the sound categories.

It's a really intimate, personal movie; I think some of you here will love it, and I know about four or five other people from my life outside this board who will probably love it. But I also know a whole ton of more friends who are general audience types, who like movies but aren't serious film buffs, and if I were to suggest it to them, they would probably say, "What's the point of this movie? It's slow and boring and nothing happens in it." So I can certainly understand why the filmmakers took the Netflix deal, since it was kind of bound to be a niche film anyway if it had had a traditional theatrical release. But it's so good, and so tremendously well-crafted, that it's unfortunate that the availability of it in theaters for those who do care to have that kind of experience is going to be very tiny.

Netflix is, allegedly, attempting to give the film more of a theatrical run than they normally would in a bid to get it taken seriously by the Academy and other awards organizations. It will have a limited bow in NY/LA on November 21, followed by additional cities on December 7, before arriving on Netflix (and supposedly in more additional cities) on December 14. But the limiting factor is that the big theater chains will absolutely refuse to play the film without a 90-day minimum theatrical window. So anywhere that might sign up to play it would be an independent cinema that doesn't mind if it's also on Netflix for free at the same time.

If any of you are interested and can find a theatrical screening near you, I think it is worth the effort and money. If not, definitely cue it up on Netflix on December 14.

I look forward to discussing it once more of you are able to see it.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

It seems that any intelligent filmmaking for adults is headed for Netflix or some form of streaming. Cuarón, Scorsese, the Coen Brothers...all seem stuck with their recent pictures heading to the internet rather than getting a wide release in cinemas. It is starting to feel like directors really have no pull anymore. Unless you are making big, loud, and stupid you can forget getting a theatrical release.

It's not just on audiences it is theater owners and the financial backers of motion pictures that seem uninterested in these films as well. Yes, if you live near a major city you may have an art house cinema that is showing these pictures in "one night" special viewings. And as Jake says you should go.

I'm not saying it is the death of adult filmmaking but it seems the death of those films getting shown in a cinema where a guy like me was used to enjoying them. I actually like going to the cinema to see a picture but there are less and less films being released that appeal to somebody over 15 and that's just sad to me personally.

At the moment I don't know if this is going to play anywhere near me. I can check the art houses and if it is I will certainly attempt to see it.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I would like to reiterate that the movie is still very much worth watching on Netflix if you can't get to a theater. Furthermore, Netflix is to be commended for backing a film which might not have had much commercial support otherwise, so they are not the villain here. At least they are supporting these filmmaker telling their stories, which isn't nothing.

I just wish they saw the value in a theatrical release.

 

[usrunnr]

I'll be looking for a local theater to see this. Probably Laemmle's in Los Angeles area.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Netflix is to be commended for backing a film which might not have had much commercial support otherwise, so they are not the villain here.

No, I would not at all call Netflix a bad guy here. What Netflix and all these streaming services are doing is providing financial backing and an outlet for these works. Yes, my only complaint is I want to see the works of our great directors in a theater.

Basically, I think Scorsese's film could have collapsed had Netflix not stepped in because the budget was obviously rising. Brian De Palma had a hell of a time with funding on his most recent work, Domino, which I think still does not have a distributor and really, who would step in outside of Netflix or Amazon to pick it up?

With companies like Annapurna struggling that's one less place that a director like Paul Thomas Anderson may be able to go to land funding for his work. I believe they were involved in the most recent Coen Brothers picture as well and that too was rescued by Netflix.

It seems a sadder and sadder situation out there unless you want to make super hero or Star Wars pictures (and even those seem to be struggling).

It used to be that they claimed they would do these big budget super hero or Star Wars stuff so they could then use the big profits to fund smaller films by talented directors...not anymore. Now they just put that money back into making more super hero and Star Wars stuff.

I found it interesting that Denis Villeneuve said when making Blade Runner 2049 and now Dune that he could not even book time in any of the big studio production facilities because they were fully booked for years to come with Star Wars and comic book films. Depressing really...

 

[bujaki]

Roma has been garnering awards left and right. Anticipation is high. Cuaron is also high on the list of outstanding directors working today.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Deadline has a good interview with the Cuarón and the cast:

https://deadline.com/video/roma-alfonso-cuaron-interview-yalitza-aparicio-marina-de-tavira-mexico/

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

It's won a Bronze Frog...I'll let everybody figure out what that is on their own.

 

[Tino]

This may be the first Netflix film nominated for a BP Oscar.

 

[Dick]

All well and good, but Netflix is not offering their programming on DVD and Blu-ray anymore. The company is now my enemy.

 

[Tino]

All well and good, but Netflix is not offering their programming on DVD and Blu-ray anymore. The company is now my enemy.

They just released Stranger Things season 2 on Blu Ray and 4K.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

All well and good, but Netflix is not offering their programming on DVD and Blu-ray anymore. The company is now my enemy.

Is that something you read somewhere, Rick? As Tino said they did just release the second season of Stranger Things on blu-ray and I think that may be their biggest show. They are now backing all kinds of great directors who seem to be having issues getting funding elsewhere for their pictures and it would be lousy if they did not allow a blu-ray release for these films.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Netflix's films and TV properties that have received Blu-ray releases (House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Daredevil, etc.) are produced by other studios for Netflix. Therefore, those studios (such as Disney in the case of the Marvel shows) retain the right to release those titles on disc. I'm not sure who produces Stranger Things. But I've never heard of a film that Netflix owns receiving a disc release. Beasts of No Nation for example. The Little Prince (which Netflix took in the US market after Paramount dropped it.) And so on.

Therefore, since Netflix owns Roma, I do not expect them to allow a disc release for it.

I hope I am wrong.

But they wil want to retain it as an exclusive for their service.

 

[GlennF]

Saw this yesterday, as part of its theatrical release, in 4K and Dolby Atmos. Jake is right about the sound design. You cannot help but notice sounds coming from all parts of the auditorium. It actually, to be totally honest, got a little distracting at times as it pulled me out of the film as in some of the more intense personal scenes my brain was going.. "Listen to that in the back, or coming from the ceiling, etc.". The black and white photography is very good, it is well acted and it gives an interesting glimpse of life in Mexico in 1971. I enjoyed the film overall. It is an "art" film and is not going to appeal to all, (some might find it slow) but I am glad I saw it theatrically. It will be interesting to see if it wins Best Picture. If it did, I think it would be the first foreign language film to do so. Correct?

Just to be clear. I think it is a good movie. It did not blow me away, but that just might be a case of having expectations that were too high from reading the reviews.

 

[benbess]

Saw Roma on Netflix during a visit with my Mom. We both liked it. My rating: "B+"

 

[Jeff Adkins]

It will be interesting to see if it wins Best Picture. If it did, I think it would be the first foreign language film to do so. Correct?

Yes. 5 other films have competed in both categories (but no film has won both):

Z (1969)
The Emigrants (1971)
Life Is Beautiful (1998)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Amour (2012)

 

[Tino]

Imo Roma will win the Best Foreign Language Oscar. Not BP.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Agreed.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Imo Roma will win the Best Foreign Language Oscar. Not BP.

On another board, a guy there argued the Academy should get rid of BFL because it's "segregation" and he think those films should just compete for Best Picture.

I pointed out that a) these films can still be nominated for BP - and some have - and b) without BFL, 99% of the movie-going public would hear of these films.

I also noted that the vast majority of the BFL nominees have no shot at BP noms, not even if they opened up and allowed 25 noms a year.

Didn't make a dent - this guy was convinced BFL is an insult to the filmmakers...