Roma is not a movie I remember coming out in 2018. Netflix picked up most of the international rights to the movie. I think Netflix definitely wants to add an Oscar winner to their belt, and apparently Roma came close especially among on foreign language films. But what did I think of it?
The film is set in Mexico during the year 1970. The main character is Cleo, a young woman who works as a housekeeper for a somewhat wealthy family in Mexico City.
Everything seems to be rather normal. The father of the family comes home, the family has a standard dinner and they watch television together. Cleo has a boyfriend she sees when she’s not working, obviously.
But it soon becomes clear that the family she works for have some deep issues that may split the family apart. Cleo gets pregnant, and her boyfriend doesn’t take the news so well. To make matters worse, Mexico City will see one of the worst parts of political violence during the Cold War.
To be honest, Roma was pretty disappointing. Critics loved it, and it sure is Oscar bait, that’s pretty clear. While there is some good directing and acting, I found it mostly boring and the use the black-and-white to be rather cliché. It didn’t win the Oscar for Best Picture, and I’m not really that surprised.