Page 2 November 29, 2018
Entertainment
Film Review
Roma Is a Mesmerizing Epic Film
By Morgan Rojas
for www.cinemacy.com
They say to writers, “Write what you know.”
And what Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón
knows, beyond having made such mesmerizing
films that have taken place in the outer limits
of space as well as pure magical fantasy, is
the city in which he was raised in – Roma,
México. Transporting us to his early childhood
as a young boy using beautiful 65mm
black and white photography, Roma is his
most personal work to date: a delicate and
sensitive tribute to his past and upbringing
as well as those who raised him. Watching
this film – which is now playing in select
theaters and becomes available to stream
on Netflix starting Dec. 14 – he channels
heartfelt and honest affection into this story
and its characters. To know that the film is
both so close to his heart and to watch it
unfold on the big screen is a majestic thing
that should be seen however way it can be.
Set in the 1970s, Roma is a testament to
the power of female figures, as we see the
stories of the women who raised him amidst
intense hardship. Quiet and demure, the young
housemaid Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) may seem
like an unlikely protagonist to base a film
around, but we see that she is the silent heart
and backbone of this middle-class family
from whom she works. We see her going
about her daily duties – making the family’S
meals, picking the children up from school,
and caring for the family dog, Borras, whose
doggy doo-doo litters the driveway day in
and day out. Cleo’s maternal love makes
the kids feel loved despite the tension-filled
drama between their parents and her own
personal struggles.
Though she is quiet, Cleo is such a strong
character, experiencing intimacy with a man
(Jorge Antonio Guerrero) followed by his
sudden departure while remaining resilient
and compassionate to her family all the
time. She learns valuable lessons throughout
her coming-of-age journey that consists of
emotional peaks and valleys, but all things
push her toward self-love, acceptance and
independence. She comes to realize that
life goes on, even when it feels impossible.
Cuarón, who also wrote and edited the
film, had a very specific vision of what he
wanted Roma to be. Roma is a somewhat
unconventional film in that there is no
score to speak of, where the intricate sound
design and background music from the
town’s marching band fills the theater with
rich audio. Multiple scenes are shot in a
single take, lasting minutes long, weaving
and winding throughout the family’s large
house. And it’s because of the nuances of
these directorial choices that we have the
masterpiece we do.
From the very beginning, Cuarón was
guarded about the extent of who knew, as the
actors, casting director and various other
crew members were never given a script --
only being told what each scene would be
comprised of on the day of the shoot. What
made this method perhaps slightly easier
was the decision to shoot the film in chronological
order, which is yet another logistical
challenge for the crew. Yalitza Aparicio, the
lead actress, auditioned for the role of Cleo
on a whim (before beginning her first year
as a teacher) without even knowing who
Alfonso Cuarón was. Unbelievably, Roma is
her very first acting job, and the only rule
given by Cuarón was to “not look directly
into the camera.”
I was fortunate enough to see Roma followed
by an incredible and intimate Q&A with
select cast and crew, and so I speak from
experience when I say you must see this
film on the big screen.
Roma is rated R for graphic nudity, some
disturbing images, and language. 135 m. •
Roma, Courtesy of Netflix.
Morgan Rojas.
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Landscape with Invisible Hand Hits
Heights of Heartbreaking Hilarity
Reviewed by Tommy Vinh Bui,
MLIS, Associate Librarian,
Inglewood Public Library
Eager readers, take solace in knowing that
in these times of turbulence, turmoil and mire,
there’re still public spaces that welcome free
thinking and cogent contemplations. And that is
and always will be at your local public library:
where books and knowledge flower wild and
unkempt like rainforests of readerly verdure.
So let’s hunker down with this week’s
thought-thumping YA tome Landscape with
Invisible Hand by M.T. Anderson. This is an
irreverent and viciously incisive science fiction
farce that beautifully befuddles and brightly
bemuses. Years after an alien invasion has
rendered a majority of the human population
obsolete through technology, adolescent Adam
struggles with the day-to-day slings and arrows
of survival and staying sane with his family.
He’s an artist but finds himself growing ever
cynical about the stolid infrastructures in place
that prevent hungry auteurs like himself from
succeeding in a cold and unfeeling world. The
long and short of it: It’s James Joyce’s A Portrait
of the Artist as a Young Man infused with
scathing satire and advanced alien technology.
The author deftly interrogates the artist’s
role in an increasingly commercialized and
morality-compromised society -- the collision
and collateral damage between culture and power
as well as inequality and poverty. The book
poses pertinent questions and ponders vigorously
the conflict between art and authenticity.
It also considers the pursuit of truth in a society
where the relevance of truth diminishes day by
day. Woe, this story is painfully timely today.
The author weaves a complex tale laced with
layer upon layer of meaning and cautionary
candidness.
It’s a novella that soundly strikes all the
correct narrative plot points. It is structurally
strong and propelled with a propulsion of
pathos that blows your hair back from the
first flick of the page. It plucks themes and
storytelling devices from the most capable
of writers. The symbolism-strewn scenes are
tinged with unmistakable inflections of George
Orwell’s dystopian catastrophizing, Douglas
Adams’ flippant humor and the all-around
absurdity of Kurt Vonnegut. It’s a terrific troika
of tall-tellery.
It’s not short of imagination. The writer
wrings out this florid world that has been
overtaken by aliens and advanced technology
-- a world wherein this technology has
wreaked havoc upon humanity. Everything
is artificial and invokes the fleeting luxury of
instant gratification. In this fractured society,
humans are perpetually plugged-in and pursuing
escapist sensory pleasure through this great
gift of technology. It’s glaringly grotesque the
way humanity has been reduced to a picture
Check It Out
Landscape with Invisible Hand by M.T. Anderson.
Tommy Vinh Bui.
See Check It Out, page 6