#pretends i didnt write another subtitle to this one

[meziniart]

Can't wait to get him on screen

[th3okamid3mon]

[SPOILERS] Review/Ramble on Roma (2018) Dir. Alfonso Cuarón

So i just watch Roma, a movie around the 1970´s (1971 to be precise) in México, Ciudad de México

For anyone who doesn´t know, there´s this suburb called Roma, that´s why it has that name, its not in Italy or anything jaja. 

By now, probably everyone has seen it or has been like ¨OH, SPANISH! i don´t want to read the english subtitles ¨ (i hope that´s not the case because SO HELP ME DOG), in my unprofessional and cinema student-ish opinion, I like it. 

The movie is recorded in black and white, not sure with what camera or why the decision was to make it that way but the image has great quality and it makes the focus more on the story and characters than the surroundings (not that the art wasn´t important, in fact, it must have been a hell of a work to make certain pallets of colors to make it contrast different to each, also to not make everyone blend together into a weird spot). Cuarón direct, write and was in charge of the photography (which is what he is known for) , his writing was actually really balanced between the serious main parts of the movie, the common daily basis humor and interactions between the characters. 

Most of the shots were master shots with panning, there were no medium shots nor close ups (At least not until the end of act 3) . Doing this type of shots gives the viewer a chance to see the surroundings of the characters and to view whats going on around. I think this is because, even if we follow the main family and the protagonist Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), the main point could be that they aren´t the only ones with a life and with problems. We can see other people, we can see them doing their own thing, it gives the film a more genuine feeling about a really busy street, city or town, we can see there´s more life outside the house of the protagonists. 

The whole story has a lot of tragedy, in fact there´s 2 whole stories full of tragedies: Cleo´s (the maid) story and Sofia´s (the employer or ¨patrona¨) story. Cleo is working like a maid and nanny for a family, she doesnt seem to be miserable, just indifferent about that job. It doesnt mean she is uncaring towards Sofia´s children or anything, its just her usual routine that she already knows. It is really nice to watch 2 people which share the same language talking like a usual common thing, other than just spanish. In this case, Cleo and her friend talk in mixteco a native language of México, im glad to see it treated as something usual for them and not like a surprise because there´s still a big community of indigenous people that still practice certain traditions and still talk languages. This includes more people and shows the diversity in the country as well as introducing more talent to the filming industry (not just certain type of people). Cleo isnt mistreated by anyone at the house, which is nice to see (other than the usual racist comments and mistreament), however she has this impotence appearance when her employer gets angry at her (obviously anyone would be terrified, specially if you lived with them and you could be potentionally thrown out). At some point, Cleo gets pregnant and its horrified when she: a) cant convince Fermín (motherfucker 2) that he is the father, and b) isnt sure wether her boss will throw her out of the house or not. 

Sofia is the employer, her children are Sofia, Paco, Toño and Pepe. Her husband Antonio (motherfucker 1) is a doctor which she loves, but once the story starts developing you get to know in the background that their marriage is crumbling. He goes on having adventures with other woman and lying to Sofia, meanwhile Sofia tries to keep it together while her children are acting like children and pre-teenagers. 

One thing i found interesting is the decision the writer (Cuarón) took when he made almost every male character an asshole. You have Antonio which lies and cheats her wife and then you have Fermin who bails on Cleo once she tells him she´s pregnant, also he threatens to kill her and her unborn child with martial arts (it...got a bit weird...). I would add the kids Paco and Toño because they were acting like disrespectful asshats, but I´ll pretend it was the hormones of teenage years and the whole situation between their mother and father. There´s also el compadre (i think its brother in law) of Sofia who tries to ¨comfort her¨. In general, this movie has certain violence towards female protagonists. 

Another thing i found interesting was how everything was according the era, like everything around the characters was moving independently of the characters. Everyone had to move according to the circumstances around them which they didnt had control over. Most notorious example: 1971, 3 years after Tlatelolco 

[NOTE: the image above is a real picture took from the protests from 1968]

The characters move around while events like the protests of students are still going around, the children are talking in one scene bout someone who got shot and in another sequence we see Cleo and her patrona going to a store to buy a crib which is interrupted by the screams of horror from the students, then a pair gets inside the store screaming ¨They are killing us!!¨. Then a group of porros (people who are paid by the government to start riots and make the opponent side the responsible of the excessive force used by the police, AKA, making them the guilty ones) get inside and shoot them. That whole scenario is independent of the characters, yet they are involve in it because they are there, and they cant do anything because thats what a person would do in a stressing situation: nothing, besides, Cleo is pregnant at that point so she would obviously wouldnt make any dumb move, specially when she sees that one of the porros is Fermin. 

[NOTE: this shot is from the actual movie, AKA: ITS NOT REAL]

Including social and politic events in the movie gives it a more authentic atmosphere, it makes the viewer get inside the story and give a view and let us appreciate how México (my country) looked back then as well as giving us a look to everyones personalities during this different time period. 

The interactions of the children and Cleo was the sweetest most adorable thing i have ever seen. Cleo is looked like a human being and not like a third type character, she has a voice and a personality, which is something we dont usually see when it comes to maids. She shares fun with her friends, she has dates, she laughs, she cries, she is human. She also shares part of her culture, with the children and Sofia isnt bother at all. Cleo sings lullabies in mixteco to the little girl Sofia, who gleefully sings with her. Making it so common, so normal and such a nice moment normalizes it; in the shot Cleo and Sofia says prayers first and then Cleo sings her lullaby. Its great to see the interactions and intersections of cultures like that, both are mexicans but come from different homes and cultures, yes, cultures because at the end of the day México is very diverse, it doesnt have just one way to live. There are different cultures within the country. It is really important that we see it as the normal, our normal because we need to include more people, to make it ok for everyone to feel included in the same place, we are from the same place after all. 

Other important point is the fact that this women have each others back in some sense and in most of the movie. Cleo helps Sofia during her times of need when she is stressing over her husbands infidelity and economic state, while Sofia helps Cleo during her pregnancy. Teresa, Sofia´s mother, also helps Cleo by getting her to a store to buy a crib and Cleo´s doctor is actually a woman, so most of the movie is woman helping woman. NOTE: Im not saying the men in the whole movie are awful people, SOME of them are, the one who have more interactions with the main protagonists. I dont want a radical feminist group to take this movie and twisted like they usually do with EVERY fucking thing. The main point of the movie is looking the hard and tough lives of women from different cultures and how they move on, some man do help like the guy who drive them around or Ramon (a side character which i think it was Adela´s boyfriend, Adela is Cleo´s friend), END OF THE NOTE

CONCLUSION: 

It is a good movie that shows a common part of life which involve good and bad things, from tragedies like infant death or civil massacres to the hopefulness of a better way to live, because the end of the movie comes full circles with everyones life but with hopefulness of a bright future. In this case the saying ¨What doesnt kill you makes you stronger¨ fits perfectly. 

The photography and art departments did a great job making the ambient from the 70s and giving the atmosphere to each scene and sequence a heavy and light feeling depending on what was going on. My mom was delighted to see certain places during those times because she remembers during her childhood looking at those different signs and streets, so the ambience was on point. For some reason I feel Netflix sold their soul or something to make this movie cause THOSE CARS LOOK EXPENSIVE, or maybe it isnt as expensive as i thought (should look up that later). The only complaint i could think of is that it should have pass to movie theaters a bit longer or at least project it again cause it can be more appreciated in those places than in your home with a faulty internet (my internet went out at least 7 times); also the effects of the babies were... really awkward to the point of being distracting and funny. They really looked like dolls, they bounce a bit, specially during the scene where Cleo gives birth to the death child (I shouldnt have laugh to that scene...but that damn doll look so plasticy... ) 

All and all, it was enjoyable to watch, the acting was good, even for the children. They did a great job, some of the lines were spoken awkwardly by the oldest kid, as to sound more mature? i guess that was the direction they went for. The characters were likable, they could make you laugh or cry during different times and make you feel for them. 

I think anyone could watch this but it is, what everyone could consider, a slow movie. So make sure to have everything you got and take time to appreciate everything around them, because i think this is like a candy you need to look around, everything they put its meant to be looked at. I give the movie 8/10 

[LOOKATTHATDAMNFUCKINGSHOTHMMMM!!!!GOODSHITRIGHTTHEREIFIDOSAYSOMYSELF!!!HOLYSHIT!!!NOMAMESESTASUPERCABRONALABERGA!!]

[leesungjongg]

school 2013 reviewww

spoilers i guess

Go Nam Soon: honestly i didn’t know what to think about you when i first saw you? like you were quiet but still knew that hey, bullying a kid bc of his stuttering and stuff was not cool so u stood up for him, and im really grateful for that. when i found out that Heungsoo was not on good terms with u i was like ?? wait what did u do that was possibly so wrong? first u were beaten up then he was beaten up and then i was like oh now it makes sense. not so much in this review but oh well. u ruined his chances of becoming a football star and that’s really sad but that scene where he told u you should’ve been with him when he lost his chance at being a soccer player... that was really important and i get that you must’ve been ashamed like “how could i face him after doing that to him?” but wow so many emotions

Park Heung Soo: when you first came in honestly i was like great another  bully. but you were quiet and you didn’t want to stir up trouble, except go nam soon kept doing things for you without u asking and then everyone was like oh if nam soon’s doing things for him without even saying a word then?? he is a bully??? and you were wrongly portrayed at the bully (when we all know it was actually Oh Jung Ho like wow y’all forgot about him so easily) but im glad you repaired your friendship and you told him that you wished he was there with you.

Overall, I really liked their friendship and honestly I wish there were more dramas focused on friendships rather than love triangles because ultimately, your friends will be there for you if/when you have trouble with romantic relationships and stuff??? idk. i just really kept watching this because of the friendship between nam soon and heungsoo. and also the bully trio, including oh jung ho, Lee Yi Kyung, and Lee Ji Hoon.

Jihoon - ur awesome. glad u took the first step and decided to focus on ur studies instead of brushing things off and pretending to be “”””cool”””” and not doing anything. u worked hard to get into that program, even when the professors told you that it was going to be difficult. you should be proud of yourself for putting in that effort. (also fun fact: Jihoon is the name of my first OC i made while writing? he debuted in one of my fanfics lol but it’s not this jihoon. that fanfic is called Cupid’s Curse)

Yikyung - ur name was v confusing and i didnt know it for the longest time until i read it as ‘yi kyung’ on the subtitles. sorry abt that. anyways, ur very cute too but hey, go with your friend jihoon and study, it’s more important in the long run. im glad you tried to get your friend Oh Jung Ho back to school - you didn’t give up on him, not even ONCE. even when he was being cold to you guys, you were still like hey, still, you have to come to school. you even bought back jungho’s mother’s ring that she gave to him like that is dedication and maximum friendship.

Yikyung and Jihoon... y’all were really good friends. Jungho.. idk if he really truly realized how good of friends you two were to him because he just said that he can’t return the favor to them or whatever, but honestly, they still stuck by you in your worst times Jungho. I’m really sad that he dropped out of high school, and what was really disheartening was when one of the friends said that he wanted all three of them to graduate together. That made my heart sink a bit.

Kim Min Ki - T__________________T you suffered a lot, i really don’t like moms like that, those moms who push their kids to do better and stuff like that? kids need time to have fun and relax too, and also?? seeing your mom pretty much ruin everything for you sucks. she got upset over you getting one “””bad””” grade and tried to fire the teacher like who does that? pretty much anyone with a lot of money -_- it’s funny bc it happens irl too lmao. but Min Ki :( i am so glad you took a deep breath and that your teacher called your mom about you thinking of committing suicide - she definitely needed to know that and i think losing another child would honestly make her live with regrets for the rest of her life. thank you for taking that deep breath and talking it out with someone. im glad things worked out for you in the end and you decided to go into film-making in college. best of luck to you.

Gil Eun Hye: i hate u. ur a snob. learn how to be a human first, grades and school come second.

Jeon Soojin: 1 u are very soft-hearted. and very pretty. i remember seeing you in another drama with the actor who played Yikyung but i cant remember? maybe it wasn’t that but i def remember u. im disappointed in ur friend who spent more time with her phone than you and wouldn’t listen to you. and then when she went back to a flip phone, she was like ‘hey come talk to me next time ok???’ and i was like dude soojin literally TRIED talking to you and you deadass ignored her for a dumbass game, get out of here. but honestly i’ve done that before too so rip

Teacher Jung: thank you for never giving up on your students. at first i was like sigh why does she sound like ?? idk? like some kids just didn’t want to study so it’s like that’s their fault and stuff but she eventually won all their hearts and i was like :’)))) like dude she even won mine. because of this one scene where she talked to Min ki. I was so grateful for that. also i think she should’ve been a counselor instead of a teacher because her role suited that a bit more tbh

Teacher Kang: dang sometimes u were brutal... not sometimes but often times... like did u not have a heart? were u never a student? dang.. but anyways that moment when u told Teacher Jung not to leave bc she was the teacher he always aspired to be was like MINDBLOWING like i didnt even think you had the capacity to talk about your feelings but that was nice of  u. glad u didn’t decide to leave.

Overall, i really kept watching because I wanted to see what happened between nam soon and heungsoo, but min ki was also a special bean to me, i liked him bc he just wanted peace and that’s what i want too. anyways, school 2013 was nice, despite it being an old drama. there were some really poignant scenes idek what poignant even means but i feel like it’s suitable. idek if suitable is even a word but i make up words all the time so its ok I LIKED IT OK that’s all thank u bye. 10/10 go watch for friendship and no love triangles