Yesterday was the premiere on Netflix ... 'Roma'. So I watched it in all comfort.
It starts super simple, with soap water spilled on a floor of tiles and reflecting a rectangle of the sky above right in the middle of the screen. This is the opening credits and @ one point we hear and see a jet plane reflecting on the water from few thousand feet above.
Then we slowly enter the house, part of the film, and the people living in that house, part of the film...the main people, the maid who washed that floor of tiles with soap water. We follow her through the entire film, we are with her, we feel with her, we breathe with her. She's a lovely soul, a beautiful human life.
I wrote few words earlier somewhere else, in French (here's the raw traduction) ...
"'Roma' is a masterpiece of cinema moving, from the very first frame to the last.
Everything is a labour of love, dedication, hard work, human interactions, life itself.
What makes it even more magic is its simplicity told in majestic grandiose human tragedy of everyday's life with the gift of witnessing it.
You can tell that behind the camera and direction is where all the essence transcends.
The smallest details, from washing clothes on the rooftop to a ground tremor become so integral that it's like being there back in the seventies with them and feeling the same as they felt.
Every little piece of sound from the rain of hail to the dogs barking in the background to the car's exhaust to the guns of riot to the tears of ocean waves to the jet planes flying above to the the small parade to the fire in the country to the kids playing...every sound is there all around you like in real life.
It is one one the best audio experiences ever put on film.
The camera moves with such grace that you are inside the movie 100%, and seeing everything, all that simple life's truly matters. It's relaxing enormously @ best emotionally stimulating with each vibe of onscreen movement.
I remember 'Children of Men', I saw a clip of 'Gravity' in white and black space, I saw a mind guru blindfolded having total control of his body.
'Roma' is an aroma of Mexican cinema craftsmanship of the highest caliber.
It scintillates with stars inside people, inside life.
It's the best film in a long time, I cried once, almost twice."
_____
I am not very good in English speaking and traduction. I'm much more @ ease in French.
Anyway the film is in Spanish with English subtitles but if I looked @ 5% total of the subtitles that's 5% too many. ...Meaning I didn't have to.
Overall, and for the film storyline, emotional value, richness, beauty of the black and white camera pellicule, camera moves fluidity, compositions of the actors and decors, awesome audio soundtrack (there is an AM transistor radio, a turntable, a sound system, an album playing a tune that most of you reading this will recognize and bring you back to memory lane), everything: 99
Last word: Movie emotional magic between 98 and 100...for all senses and sensibilities.
The cinematography is perfect, the period replication is perfect, the acting quasi perfect, the audio soundtrack is perfect, the black and white pictures perfect for this film almost perfect.
It is cinéma art from a master filmmaker and crew. Don't even miss it, for anything in the whole world.