Inspired by his childhood memories and the women in his life, Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón will release later this year what he calls “the most essential film” he has ever made, Roma. It’s been four years since he won an Oscar for directing Gravity, and after the success he’s had in the United States, he’s returned to Mexico to make this movie, which follows a year in the life of a middle-class family in Mexico City in the 1970s. Filmed in black and white, Roma is also an homage to the matriarchs of Mexican families, especially indigenous women who have to work and struggle to raise their children and provide for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp_i7cnOgbQ
Roma tells the story of Cleo and Adela, two housemaids who work for a middle-class family in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City. Sofía, the mother in the family, has to go with long periods of time without her husband, raising their four children basically on her own, but she also has Cleo, who takes care of them as though they were her own.
The film also explores student movements in the late sixties and early seventies and how they impacted Mexican society, all the while social classes and different backgrounds come together through love.
Cuarón has only directed eight films in his career (including Roma), but they have been enough to show that his talent makes him one of the most important film directors of the 21st century. Besides the amazing Gravity, a delirious and nerve-wracking trip to outer space, Cuarón has also directed Children Of Men, Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, Great Expectations and A Little Princess. His last movie filmed in Mexico is Y tu mamá también, featuring Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, which was nominated to an Academy Award in 2002 for Best Original Screenplay.
Roma will premiere in competition in Venice, and it will also be shown in Toronto and the New York Film Festival before being released not only in cinemas around the world, but also on Netflix in December.
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