It really bothered me that he lingered long enough on the beach sequence such that it's obvious he's using it for kicks.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 January 2019 13:18 (five years ago) link
At the risk of sounding like Armond White, I really think that Hurray For The Riff Raff's 2018 video for the song "Pa'lante" is, in several ways, the better version of Roma.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LilVDjLaZSE
― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 2 January 2019 17:41 (five years ago) link
Don't worry, a lot of people sound like Armond White in this thread.
― Dan I., Thursday, 3 January 2019 18:41 (five years ago) link
cmon, an Armond White take would be like "Roma could never hope to approach the unforced pathos and cultural import of Nacho Libre"
― resident hack (Simon H.), Thursday, 3 January 2019 18:44 (five years ago) link
tbf nacho libre > roma
― flappy bird, Thursday, 3 January 2019 18:48 (five years ago) link
I still think about that line in his Get Out review about how Eddie Murphy's 00s comedies "are so personal and brilliant that they transcend racial categorization" and Ned posting "Still taking this in." lmfao
― flappy bird, Thursday, 3 January 2019 18:49 (five years ago) link
Watched this last night and loved it. Loved the cinematography especially. Very surprised at all the negative reactions in this thread.
― silverfish, Friday, 4 January 2019 14:26 (five years ago) link
Watched about half of this on Nefflix - I'm just gonna go with not as bad or as good as ppl in either camp think it is.
The B&W was fine tbh - quite agnostic about it, most films that get to the stage of any kind of release are 'well shot' and neither was there a nostalgia for it - just muddling through this story set a few decades ago in Mexico. Got bored about and switched off. Might pick it up later, maybe not.
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 6 January 2019 15:50 (five years ago) link
I didn't like this at all. I found it mostly just boring but I do agree with alfred re the use of children in certain scenes, which felt cheap and exploitative. I've surprised myself here because when I noted his objection before seeing the film it seemed like a reach but, no, he's absolutely right - *SPOILERS* The camera not-capturing the possibly-drowning children and, in fact, panning away from them was a gross attempt to create anxiety in the viewer, especially coming after the still-birth of the child minutes before - and what a horribly over-extended and gratuitous scene that was, in itself. It was quite a remarkable achievement to make a film so completely devoid of actual characters but make you shit yourself that some more kids might have died. manipulative crap, frankly but also boring manipulative crap?
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Wednesday, 9 January 2019 01:42 (five years ago) link
I don't mean any offence to alfred, by the way, it's just when i saw it written down pre-viewing i thought it sounded like a reach. it's not.
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Wednesday, 9 January 2019 01:46 (five years ago) link
fwiw, I actually had to text the male half of a couple i know not to make sure him and his partner didn't watch it because of that premature birth scene. i'm not saying that that shouldn't be in a film but it was just so gratuitous, imo.
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Wednesday, 9 January 2019 01:57 (five years ago) link
*SPOILERS* The camera not-capturing the possibly-drowning children and, in fact, panning away from them was a gross attempt to create anxiety in the viewer, especially coming after the still-birth of the child minutes before
otm -- film technique to burn
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 January 2019 01:59 (five years ago) link
that made me angry.
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Wednesday, 9 January 2019 02:25 (five years ago) link
but also boring manipulative crap
Sensation without substance.
― I Feel Bad About My Butt (j.lu), Wednesday, 9 January 2019 02:27 (five years ago) link
why is this called Roma?
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Wednesday, 9 January 2019 02:30 (five years ago) link
Neighbourhood of Mexico City it's set in
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 9 January 2019 02:31 (five years ago) link
ah cool, ta.
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Wednesday, 9 January 2019 02:32 (five years ago) link
it made me like Fellini's own dog Roma a little more
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 9 January 2019 04:51 (five years ago) link
I haven't read this thread yet, but I thought this was great.
― jaymc, Wednesday, 9 January 2019 05:09 (five years ago) link
Don't read this thread
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 9 January 2019 09:08 (five years ago) link
this thread is best viewed on the big screen
― Jeff Bathos (symsymsym), Wednesday, 9 January 2019 09:19 (five years ago) link
Ugh, I'm with jed, Alfred, et al -- this just pissed me off. I remember long ago reading a critique of Frank Zappa -- "a gratuitous display of advanced technique" -- it applies here.
― If Your Site Mod Vomits (Do This Every Day) (WmC), Thursday, 10 January 2019 03:08 (five years ago) link
it wasn't really that advanced or impressive cinematographically imo
― flappy bird, Thursday, 10 January 2019 05:33 (five years ago) link
I was very impressed that they had built such a stable dolly track on sand
― sans lep (sic), Thursday, 10 January 2019 07:19 (five years ago) link
I found the quasi-mumblecore first half extraordinary, delectable, precise. Goes wildly off the rails as the action becomes less prosaic and the emotion is amped up. And then it just goes on and on... It had such a good thing going
― calumy (rip van wanko), Sunday, 27 January 2019 02:18 (five years ago) link
there was something about the tamped down quality of it that made the heightened emotion of the last part kind of thrilling I thought, the scene on the beach in particular really got to me
― Dan S, Sunday, 27 January 2019 02:31 (five years ago) link
the whole thing just felt so in the moment
― Dan S, Sunday, 27 January 2019 02:38 (five years ago) link
I liked this. I think it's always kind of hard when someone makes more popular commercial movies and then makes something self-consciously arty. It can feel like an act of imposture. There's a nice myth that arty directors make arty movies because that's the only kind they can make, because that's who they are. We are resistant to the idea that "serious" is just another genre. Especially when someone pulls out all the obvious signifiers: like black-and-white, lack of soundtrack, slow-pacing, long takes, etc. There's something a bit too eager to please, a bit too A-student, about it. On the other hand, it is "just" another genre, but so what. I guess I would have had a lot fewer hurdles to get over if this was made by some European director I'd never heard of before. But none of that really matters. It's hard not to notice that this movie is pretty interesting to look at. The story is fairly simple and affecting. You could summarize pretty much all the plot in a few sentences. But it's mostly everything that would be left out of those few sentences that makes this a good movie.
― o. nate, Sunday, 3 February 2019 03:14 (five years ago) link
alfred otm i hated this
― marcos, Sunday, 3 February 2019 03:30 (five years ago) link
although i thought the sound design was incredible, whether it is cuaron or someone else who is responsible for that in his films they all capture ambient noise so well. wind, waves, animals, traffic, children shouting at each other
― marcos, Sunday, 3 February 2019 03:34 (five years ago) link
yes
― Dan S, Sunday, 3 February 2019 03:43 (five years ago) link
can't hate this film tbh, it won me over
― Dan S, Sunday, 3 February 2019 04:08 (five years ago) link
I rolled my eyes at this film uniformly sweeping all the critics awards, and I can understand people watching this thinking it was boring, but I enjoyed seeing such a beautiful understated film completely immersed in a different world. It’s about time that a foreign language film again became mainstream for US audiences. When was the last one, Crouching Tiger in 2000?
― Dan S, Sunday, 3 February 2019 06:23 (five years ago) link
I love Apitchatpong Weerasethakul, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Lucrecia Martel, Claire Denis, Hong Sang-soo, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Jia Zhangke, Carlos Reygadas, Andrey Zvayginstev, Lee Chang-dong and others, but as foreign language directors it seems like films by them are a long way off from appealing to mainstream US sensibilities. I hope it happens. Kudos to Alfonso Cuarón for breaking through
― Dan S, Sunday, 3 February 2019 06:45 (five years ago) link
Y Tu Mama Tambien isn't much liked on ILX, but it handles Mexican politics, the tensions between the patrician class and their less secure minders, and cinephilia in a fresher, more generous manner than this stilted thing.
yea I felt the same way (i love y tu mama tambien fwiw)
― marcos, Sunday, 3 February 2019 12:16 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ihtEg_hWIM
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 3 February 2019 12:48 (five years ago) link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_film
― o. nate, Monday, 4 February 2019 01:59 (five years ago) link
Liked parts of this angry review
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 22:40 (five years ago) link
I rolled my eyes at this film uniformly sweeping all the critics awards, and I can understand people watching this thinking it was boring, but I enjoyed seeing such a beautiful understated film completely immersed in a different world. It’s about time that a foreign language film again became mainstream for US audiences. When was the last one, Crouching Tiger in 2000?― Dan S, Sunday, February 3, 2019 6:23 AM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Dan S, Sunday, February 3, 2019 6:23 AM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i def. have that sense.... i didn't love this movie but, like moonlight (a film i did not love but appreciated) it's simply a good thing that a film like this should come across the radars of folks who would otherwise not some into contact w/ its sort of storytelling approach.
― affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 23:17 (five years ago) link
i know that's a very Basic sort of take. and i hate when critics attempt to shield a movie or book from criticism because it is the "right" kind of art that they feel should be encouraged. (which seems like what sometimes happened w/ sorry to bother you IMO.) i don't think Roma needs anyone's apoogies. i just (1) am not as personally enthused by it as i had hoped and (2) am heartened by its robust reception.
― affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 23:19 (five years ago) link
re that review - interesting to contemplate, but I wasn’t thinking about the current day politics of this when I watched it. it just felt like a complete immersion into Mexico City in 1970, with many memorable scenes. it seemed very real to me
― Dan S, Thursday, 14 February 2019 01:21 (five years ago) link
Yalitza Aparicio's almost silent but emotional performance made me love this film more than anything else
― Dan S, Thursday, 14 February 2019 01:30 (five years ago) link
she was fine. I hated the move but it's a good performance.
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Thursday, 14 February 2019 01:46 (five years ago) link
Good point on the silence although it doesn't make up for the deficiencies in conception.
That review comes from a marxist and feminist perspective. The re-framing of the playing dead scene was good.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 14 February 2019 11:29 (five years ago) link
That review seems unhinged to me. I think people are reacting more to the discussion around the movie than the movie itself. I humbly submit that people have unreasonable expectations if they are expecting a movie to right 500 years of exploitation.
― o. nate, Thursday, 14 February 2019 16:18 (five years ago) link
yeah, that review raises many valid points, but they mostly don't apply to the movie itself.
― silverfish, Thursday, 14 February 2019 17:04 (five years ago) link
the long takes with an extremely wide angle lens and depth-of-field-to-infinity in every shot gives Roma a feeling of distance, which on paper doesn’t sound great but it was unusual and I really liked it, it had a meditative quality. It made it harder to connect with the characters initially but for me that was corrected with a second viewing.
― Dan S, Friday, 22 February 2019 04:06 (five years ago) link
those tracking shots of the characters walking and running through the streets of Mexico City both during the day and at night were so great, there was something about the cinematography in those moments that made them shimmer. the scenes of the hacienda at night at Christmas were also really really striking
― Dan S, Friday, 22 February 2019 04:20 (five years ago) link
I didn't really get the long scene with the forest fire and people walking around with buckets throwing them at the flames. was it supposed to be allegorical?
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Friday, 22 February 2019 07:34 (five years ago) link
the whole extended sequence at the house of the rich relatives was pointing out class differences I thought. it seemed particularly evident during the fire, where the servants and the locals passed buckets to extinguish the flames while the rich family members looked on and sipped their wine, as if they couldn't be touched by it or by anything really. We get to hear an epic song (sung in Norwegian?) by the man dressed as a demon. I read that it was about longing for home, and it contrasts with a panoramic scene with the caretakers and the kids out in a field where Cleo reminisces about her home.
― Dan S, Friday, 22 February 2019 10:15 (five years ago) link