Roma - I tried. I really did

[TexasBushwhacker]

I've liked Alfonso Cuaron's movies in the past. Children of Men was especially good and I like Gravity as well. But while Roma is beautiful to look at, it has no story. I just didn't get it.

[CincyDem]

1. Agree - I napped to it Friday night.

As you say, wonderful photography but...

[TexasBushwhacker]

3. Sadly, it's the favorite for "Best Picture" tonight

I like a good art film as much as the next person, but they can still have a plot. I'm halfway through Roma and I have no idea where it's going. I also don't really understand why he went with black and white. When I think of Mexico, it's in vibrant COLOR.

[still_one]

2. That is a problem, it can get boring real quick

[samnsara]

4. THANK YOU!!! i was debating about watching it but i get bored easily...

..im still hoping for Queen!

[cyclonefence]

5. I thought it was beautiful

and loved every minute. I'm a woman; maybe the rest of you are men? I'm truly boggled that you all had such a negative reaction to it. And there is a story--several stories, in fact!--maybe you didn't stick with it long enough? It is slow and meditative in parts, but are you seriously telling me that that car scraping the sides of the tiny parking area didn't crack you up?

[walkingman]

6. The car scene reminded me of a trip I made to Monterrey in the 70's.

I thought it was a moving story but I thought more of a documentary rather than movie. A good movie but not my idea of "Best Picture". I am male.

[TexasBushwhacker]

7. I'm female n/t

[cyclonefence]

9. I had thought maybe it was a "chick flick" but I guess not n/t

[Cuthbert Allgood]

13. Male. Loved it.

The filming was gorgeous. It is a slow movie, though. I think it watches like a book reads and that doesn't do it for a lot of people want out of a movie.

The shopping for a crib while the riots went on was brilliant and so well filmed.

[cyclonefence]

14. My husband loved it, too

but I thought he might be an outlier! Such a sensitive telling of an intimate story, and so funny, too. I thought it was great.

[applegrove]

8. I loved it. You were just supposed to be immersed in her love for the family.

And them her. I loved those party scenes too. Classic 1970s shin digs with people like a flock of birds some doing one thing some doing another but being a whole in the end. I sometimes wondered where it was going but I wanted to be there to see.

[Highway61]

10. No, you are not alone

I thought it was good but just didn't get it as well. No disrespect but don't understand the notoriety at the Oscar level. Just my opinion.

[bif]

11. I enjoyed it. Didn't think it deserved all the hype, though.

A film buff I work with thought it was the second coming.

[llmart]

12. Thank you for saying that.

I thought maybe I was missing something what with all the buzz about this movie. Like you, I tried - once and then I tried to pick it up again where I left off. I think I got halfway through the movie and like some books, I've decided (this decision comes with age) that I can stop watching and stop reading if I just am not "getting" it.

As someone else said, it may be more documentary, but I didn't find it entertaining. I have no desire to even find out how it ends.

[Lulu KC]

15. You don't have to like it, but here's why I did

Spoiler alert if you haven't seen it. This is only a partial list.

1. I love black and white. We just saw Cold War in a theatre--also black and white, and new. It feels like the actual "cinema" of my youth.
2. Cleo was lovable.
3. Yes, we love you, Cleo, but don't you dare sit and laugh at the television for two minutes. Nope, get up and get the doctor some tea. Wife not lovable.
4. Two abandoned women with children to take care of, living under the same roof. Clear contrast between the white privileged one and the indigenous woman. Wealthy mom could have fits, take it out on the kids and Cleo, get drunk, and wreck the car. Cleo had to just stay strong and quiet and keep cleaning up after the dog and everyone else.
5. Fermín was a vermin. Love a good villain.
6. Scene in furniture store great--interesting to refresh myself on history afterwards. I was young and pretty oblivious to the events in Mexico in 1971, but the power structure hasn't changed and is paralleled in current events, with the wealthy and the poor still playing their roles.
7. The care given by the family's mother and grandmother were lovely, except that when it was check-in time at the hospital and all the grandmother knew were first and last names.
8. Still birth profound--then revealed complexity later. Oh, and the doctor dad showing up and being the same coward he's always been was good.
9. Beach scene--again, wealthy mom can just run off to we don't know where and expect Cleo, who can't swim and whose instructions the children regularly ignore, is left to manage. Cleo is a hero. Mom showed no signs of regret about creating the situation.
10. They get home and everyone collapses post-vacation. Except for Cleo, who has to just keep on moving, doing the laundry, or ? on the roof.

I do see what the critics are saying about it being from the point of view of the white wealthy family member--but since that's what it actually was, why is that a criticism? It would be interesting to see exactly the same story from Cleo's perspective; that's not what this movie was.

Loved it. Watched it alone and will watch again with hubby.

[NRaleighLiberal]

16. It didn't do it at all for my wife and I. Solid average at best. A bit like watching paint dry.

And we even love My Dinner with Andre, Babel and English Patient!

[TexasBushwhacker]

17. We are peas in a pod

Those are 3 more movies that I scratched my head about, especially The English Patient. I thought the more interesting relationship was the one between the nurse (Juliette Binoche) and the Indian bomb specialist (Naveen Andrews). I like Ralph Fiennes, but I'm not fan of films that romanticize adultery. I'm not a fan of The Bridges of Madison County either.