Roma: A Mexican Slice of Life!

In case you think this is a film about Rome (like I did before I saw it), the movie takes place in Mexico, is spoken in Spanish, and has English sub-titles.  This film has received unbelievably fantastic reviews.  It's being unanimously hailed as the Best Foreign Film of the year, and most critics think it is the best picture of all of 2018.  One critic even raved "It's one of the best films I ever saw!" (although, he may have just "beamed-down" from Pluto – sample size is important.)  Furthermore, it has a 98% critics rating and a 95% audience rating from Rotten Tomatoes.  Therefore, before going any further, I think that everybody should see it, even though my review is less enthusiastic than just about anyone else's. The movie takes place in Mexico City in what appears to be the 1970's.  The Writer/Director/Cinematographer, Alfonso Cuaron, has shot the film in black & white, which I think works well.  He also has many wide-angle shots, which were interesting, although I have no clue why they're in there.  (I am also at a loss to understand why the film is entitled "Roma.") Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), the central character, is a maid working for a middle-class family.  The father is a physician, but he is going on a trip, leaving his wife and four kids to manage on their own.  Cleo is a woman of Indian descent, uneducated, and comes from the lower class.  Her daily life is primarily filled with drudgery, including tasks such as doing the laundry and cleaning up the dog poop in the driveway.  She is very involved with the children, but the mother, Señora Sofia (Marina de Tavia), occasionally puts Cleo 'in her place', so she is aware that's she's not really part of the family.  The movie essentially is a slice-of-life film, covering about a year of Cleo's life. The film has two remarkable scenes, AAW cinematography, interesting symbolism, and addresses important social issues including class, politics, family, as well as individual ones, such as courage and integrity.  Aparicio's performance is a lock for an AA nomination, although I didn't think her role had quite enough range to warrant an award. So why didn't I love it, you may ask?  Although the movie excels at creating a mood and has wonderful and creative visual imagery, I didn't get an in-depth understanding of Cleo, or any of the other main characters.  I have good sense of what life was like for a servant in Mexico City, but the film never really "grabbed" me.  It's also very slow at times.  Perhaps if the movie wasn't so hyped, I would have expected less and liked it more. P.S. My friend Tamara knows why it's entitled "Roma".  It's because it takes place in "Colonia Roma",  a neighborhood Mexico City.  It's now become a very chic place to live.