Guillermo del Toro Shares 10 Personal Observations About ‘Roma’
Zack Sharf
“Roma” has been the most prized drama of the 2018-19 awards season so far, winning Best Picture honors from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the Critics’ Choice Awards, but no one is a bigger or more vocal “Roma” fan than Guillermo del Toro. The “Pan’s Labyrinth” director was the president of the Venice Film Festival jury that awarded “Roma” the Golden Lion last year, and del Toro has since called the Alfonso Cuarón drama one of his top five favorite movies of all time on numerous occasions.
After “Roma” took home major prizes at the Critics’ Choice Awards, including Best Director, del Toro took to his Twitter page to elaborate on why “Roma” has become such a cinematic milestone for him. Del Toro launched a Twitter thread sharing 10 personal observations about “Roma,” including thoughts on the film’s bookending shots and a defense of main character Cleo’s silence throughout much of the movie, which has led some critics to take issue with the film for her passivity.
“In my view, Cleo’s ‘silence’ is used as a tool for her dramatic arch,” del Toro writes. “It leads to her most intimate pain being revealed, by water – again – after the Ocean rescue: ‘I didn’t want her to be born.’ Cleo surpasses and holds her emotions in silence until they finally pour out.”
Additionally, del Toro shares his thoughts that “Roma” is not a subjective character study but a living tableau about a person, time, and place. “In every sense, ‘Roma’ is a Fresco, a Mural, not a portrait,” he said. “Not only the way it is lensed but the way it ‘scrolls’ with long lateral dollies. The audio visual information (context, social unrest, factions & politics / morals of the time) exists within the frame to be read.”
“Roma” is now streaming on Netflix and playing in select theaters across the country. Read del Toro’s full list of personal “Roma” observations below.
10 personal musings about ROMA.
1) The opening shot suggests that earth (the shit-infested ground) and heaven (the plane) are irreconcilably far even if they are joined -momentarily- and revealed, by water (the reflection). All truths in ROMA are revealed by water.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 14, 2019
2) These planes of existence, like the separation within classes in the household cannot be broached. The moments the family comes “closer” are fleeting… “She saved our lives” is promptly followed by “Can you make me a banana shake?”
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 14, 2019
3) In my view, Cleo’s “silence” is used as a tool for her dramatic arch- that leads to her most intimate pain being revealed, by water – again- after the Ocean rescue: “I didn’t want her to be born” Cleo surpasses and holds her emotions in silence until they finally pour out
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 14, 2019
4) One key moment, precisely crafted is Cuaron’s choice to have Cleo’s water break just as the violence explodes and her boyfriend breaks into the store holding both a gun and a “Love Is…” T shirt. The baby will be stillborn.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 14, 2019
5) In every sense, ROMA is a Fresco, a Mural, not a portrait. Not only the way it is lensed but the way it “scrolls” with long lateral dollies. The audio visual information (context, social unrest, factions & politics / morals of the time) exists within the frame to be read.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 14, 2019
6) It seems to me that the fact that Cuaron and Eugenio Caballero BUILT several blocks (!) of Mexico City in a giant backlot (sidewalk, lampposts, stores, asphalted streets, etc) is not well-known. This is a titanic achievement.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 14, 2019
7) The Class stratas are represented in the film not only in the family but within the family and the land-owning relatives and even between Fermin and Cleo- when he insults her in the practice field.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 14, 2019
8) ROMA cyphers much of its filmic storytelling through image and sound. When viewed in a theatre, it has one of the most dynamic surround mixes. Subtle but precise.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 14, 2019
9) Everything is cyclical. That’s why Pepe remembers past lives in which he has belonged to different classes, different professions. Things come and go- life, solidarity, love. In our loneliness we can only embrace oh, so briefly by the sea.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 14, 2019
10) The final image rhymes perfectly with the opening. Once again, earth and heaven. Only Cleo can transit between both. Like she demonstrates in the Zovek scene, only she has grace. We open the film looking down, we close looking up- but the sky, the plane, is always far away.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 14, 2019
