Y.

Film review

Roma (2018)

★★★★★

Beautiful. Tender. Patient. An absolute masterpiece from Cuaron.
The long takes (e.g. the rotating camera on the 2nd floor), the depth of field in so many frames - differentiating the foreground and background and involving the viewer, the blocking of actors - demonstrating that you dont need to do anything fancy with the camera to make the frames feel alive. It's just all such well-executed filmmaking and clearly the work of a master.
The birth scene made me cry - unbelievably powerful and hard to watch- amplified by the incredible sound design of the hospital and the insistence on just planting the camera and letting the narrative power of the scene speak for itself.