Film: Roma

In his deeply personal black-and-white marvel Roma, Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men) observes the smallest parts first, before expanding to gradually reveal the social and political canvas of 1970s Mexico City. An autobiographical elegy about his childhood and the women who raised him, Roma coalesces around episodic recollections, filmed with visual conviction.

The domestic helper at the heart of the story is the gentle-natured Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), who works for the affectionate but occasionally livid Sofia (Marina de Tavira) and the rest of her family. Cuarón honours Cleo’s unsung rituals: cleaning, looking after Sofia’s four children whom she loves like her own, interacting with her best friend and co-worker Adela, going on movie dates with her self-absorbed boyfriend, and so on.

At first, the lives of Cleo and Sofia run on parallel yet detached lines, save for regular household interactions and cozy evenings spent in front of the tv, where Cleo is treated as part of the family. But when a marital separation and an unwanted pregnancy upset the lives of the two women, their fates cross paths in a real sense for the first time. And, as the world around their new found female solidarity slowly crumbles, Roma’s physical and emotional scope grows and deepens.

• Mexico / USA · Spanish and Mixtecan w/ subtitles
• Rated NR · 2h 15m