# Roma (movie) - very good! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660 "2019-01-12T21:45:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/1 "2019-01-12T21:45:14Z")
This award-winning Mexican film is currently in some theaters, but is also on Netflix Instant Watch, and that’s where I saw it last night. Wow, is it good! It’s about a wealthy Mexican family, set in late 1970 and early 1971, and the disintegration of that family, and the lives of their staff, and later hope. Saying any more would give away the plot, but I’m just here to say that I really liked this movie and highly recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/2 "2019-01-12T22:55:18Z")
Agreed. I still have movies to see, but it will be very difficult for one to top “Roma” for my personal Best Picture. It starts a bit slow. This was not a problem for me, but I expect some folks might bail early. If you’re the type who gets the itch to check Facebook during periods of movies where not much is happening, I urge you to do yourself a favor: stay with it and pay attention. Loved it. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/3 "2019-01-12T23:44:17Z")
If possible, try to see this one in a theater rather than on TV. The sound design is so immersive. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/4 "2019-01-12T23:49:24Z")
Really beautiful cinematography. I love how the B&W digital format feels both like a throwback and very clean and modern. And it allowed magic [like this](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/how-romas-visual-effects-team-created-intense-ocean-sequence-1169264): > [@](#): > > Take the bravura extended tracking shot when the family’s housekeeper, Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), watches the family’s kids at the beach as they charge into the water, then rushes into the pounding waves when two of the smaller children appear to be struggling. Cuaron presents the sequence as if it is one uninterrupted shot. But to achieve that appearance, several shots had to be stitched together and the whole setting digitally manipulated. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/5 "2019-01-13T00:38:44Z")
Did anyone else think that the “grandmother” was trans? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/6 "2019-01-13T08:22:41Z")
I really loved this movie. It doesn’t have a conventional narrative structure, which might put some people off, but that didn’t bother me. There are subplots that don’t seem to go anywhere, but this isn’t a conventional movie with a single story arc that comes to a climax near the end. It’s about the lives of several people, and the society that surrounds them. The characters are well-developed and the story feels realistic. The cinematography is beautiful, which is one reason to see it in a theater rather than stream it at home. I understand the movie was originally supposed to be released only on Netflix, but they decided to release it to the theaters as well, to make it eligible for Academy awards. This movie won’t win best picture, not because it’s not good enough, but because AMPAS doesn’t give best picture awards to arty foreign films. It could win awards for best foreign language film, screenplay, cinematography, direction, sound, etc. Alfonso Cuarón, the director and writer of Roma, also wrote and directed Y Tu Mamá También, Children of Men, and Gravity. These are all fine movies. I really hope he gets the recognition he deserves. ---
**Author:** ![mundylion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundylion/32/3604_2.png) [@mundylion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mundylion)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/7 "2019-01-13T22:18:41Z")
Why did no one pick up after the dogs? Disgusting. Supposed to be a comment on middle class Mexican behavior? ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/8 "2019-01-14T16:11:44Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > Really beautiful cinematography. I love how the B&W digital format feels both like a throwback and very clean and modern. And it allowed magic [like this](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/how-romas-visual-effects-team-created-intense-ocean-sequence-1169264): My comment after watching was that it’s really rare in this day and age for a movie to come along that somebody could make a recognizable pastiche or parody of visually. The slow B&W digital pans are such a strange and mesmerizing style. It really, really pulls you in and makes the world feel exceptionally real and ‘lived in’ and honest. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/9 "2019-01-17T21:14:40Z")
Okay who else tried to do Professed Zavok’s incredible feat? And what did Cleo’s ability to do it straight away mean? Great film that requires your full attention. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/10 "2019-01-18T00:18:29Z")
I did find one possible anachronism/blooper in it. (No spoiler alert needed.) Did people drink smoothies in 1971? Milkshakes, sure, but smoothies? I’m not old enough to remember. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/11 "2019-01-18T00:37:13Z")
The star of the movie has never acted before. She had just received her teaching certificate and was waiting for hire and decided to try out for the part just for the hell of it. Now she’s a major star in the Latino world. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/12 "2019-01-22T23:25:37Z")
Well, it just received 10 Oscar nominations, a record for a foreign-language film (tied with CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON), including 2 acting nominations (a first for any foreign-language film). It can also be considered the prohibitive front-runner for Best Picture, though not a lock by any means. [More specific Oscar discussion in this thread.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=867103) ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/13 "2019-01-23T13:16:27Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > If possible, try to see this one in a theater rather than on TV. The sound design is so immersive. Excellent movie, but the sound on my 5.1 system was distracting. There was no subtlety between POV changes. In particular, the scene in hotel room was poorly done as we switch POV between Cleo and Fermin. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Did people drink smoothies in 1971? Milkshakes, sure, but smoothies? I’m not old enough to remember. I watch with subtitles so missed the Spanish. If the boy asked for a “licuado,” then yes, that was a thing going back many, many decades. Excellent film in almost every respect. ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/14 "2019-01-23T15:38:02Z")
It was a good movie with two particularly powerful and moving scenes The birth scene and the ocean scene However, I didn’t think it lived up to the hype. I probably should not have read as many reviews as I did prior to seeing it, but I was expecting an historic masterpiece. It came up short of that to me. I understand why Cuaron used B&W, but I question whether it was the best choice to use it throughout the entire film. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/15 "2019-01-29T15:20:47Z")
I really don’t get all the love for this film. Great cinematography: check. Good acting, for non-pros: check. Evocative of a time and place (about which I knew next to nothing): check. Why the fuck did it have to be so damn slow? I’m okay with films with deliberate pacing: _2001: A Space Odyssey_ has been my favorite film since it came out in 1968. I’m 63 years old and don’t need to see explosions every 3 minutes. But 20 minutes into _Roma_, my wife and I were wondering if anything was going to happen. We were still wondering 30 minutes later. Several times we considered bailing out, but we stuck with it, although I’m not sure why. I think the film could have been an hour shorter, maybe even two hours shorter, and had more of an emotional impact, and lost almost nothing from the plot. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2019, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roma-movie-very-good/827660/16 "2019-01-29T20:28:27Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > But 20 minutes into _Roma_, my wife and I were wondering if anything was going to happen. We were still wondering 30 minutes later. Several times we considered bailing out, but we stuck with it, although I’m not sure why. Mrs. Cretin and I had exactly the same experience. > [@commasense](#): > > I think the film could have been an hour shorter, maybe even two hours shorter, and had more of an emotional impact, and lost almost nothing from the plot. Agreed. At least 90 minutes shorter. (Echoing much of what I just posted in the Boring Movies thread.)