Upstairs, Downstairs in Roma

Netflix's big hit came out last week. Roma has the same name as Fellini's somewhat autobiographical film about growing up in Italy, but this Roma is somewhat autobiographical about growing up in a middle-class barrio in Mexico City. (You can't copyright a title.) 

The children growing up in Roma don't get much attention. The movie has one developed character, a servant, a young Mixtec, who lives in the big house. We learn nothing about her culture, her education, her goals. The first half of the film is a slice of her hard-working life. She picks up dog waste (most of us have done that). The children seem to accept and like her. The mother blows hot and cold. The father isn't competent or nice. The movie gets off to a long dull start.

Then all hell breaks loose. And so on.

That structure--a long dull start and then hell breaks loose--is rare. In general movies want to grab your interest right away and keep you involved. The director took a big chance. There is something painfully honest in the film: life can be long and boring, followed by horror. 

Roma has received high praise from everyone  It's a contender. I'm not sure it works, but it is memorable and real in a way that movies nearly always are not. It ends with a shot of the back part of the family home, and all the structures are canted expressionistically.