Nominated: Cuarón’s Roma is a very personal project

Editor’s note: Award-winning director Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma received two Academy Award nominations on Tuesday. Roma was nominated for Best Picture and Best Foreign Film. Last month, I wrote about Roma after seeing a sneak preview in Washington, D.C. As I wrote at the time, “It’s a film you can definitely watch with your ears, but you’ll want to see it with your eyes. It’s in theaters and available on Netflix.

In Roma, Academy Award-winning director and writer Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men, and Y Tu Mama Tambien) has delivered an artful love letter to the women who raised him. Presented in Spanish with English subtitles, this immaculately photographed 135-minute film presented in black and white is a beautiful ode to his Mexican childhood. It draws upon Cuarón’s early life experiences growing up in a middle-class family in Mexico City’s Colonia Roma district to create both “a vivid and emotional portrait of domestic strife and social hierarchy amidst political turmoil of the 1970s.” It’s a film about resilience and survival.

As Roma begins, one critic describes its opening as “a mesmerizing four-minute credit sequence – the mopping of a courtyard – the flow of foamy water establishes a rhythm as well as a cleansing metaphor about life and memory.”

The film follows its protagonist Cleo (portrayed by first-time actress Yalitza Aparicio), a young live-in domestic helper, and captures both her devotion to Cuarón’s family as well as detailing her personal problems. She becomes the focal point of the film in what becomes a collection of childhood memories about Cuarón’s family, the house he grew up in, and his neighborhood.

As the film’s writer, Cuarón wrote the script as a stream of consciousness. So, we see a combination of personal and social issues unfold in front of us. It seemed that because Cuarón allowed his emotions to play out, some of the scenes run long without tight editing. However, as the film unfolds it becomes its strength and not a liability.

Roma is meant to make us think. It’s an art film not an entertainment movie. Because Cuarón chose to film it in black and white, we gain more intimate details – and it lends itself toward recalling memory. After all, memory can be subjective – but it can also be objective, too. There is a lot of subtlety, a touch of humor, and plenty of honesty. Several things that are foreshadowed play out later in the movie such as an earthquake, a massive fire and the Corpus Christi massacre of 1971 that is shockingly detailed and restaged by Cuarón.

Roma opens in theaters just in time for the holidays and it’s sure to gain momentum as the awards season comes into full view. It will also be released simultaneously on Netflix, which will allow the film to reach a wider audience. However, Roma is best seen on a large screen and preferably in a classic, single-screen cinema like I saw it on a recent Sunday morning in northwest Washington, D.C. Its directionality of sound is truly amazing. Recently, one critic described Roma’s sound as a “bewilderingly intricate tapestry of distant street sounds, ambient noise and close-up conversations.” It’s a film that you can definitely watch with your ears, but you’ll want to see it with your eyes, too.

On film: Cuarón’s Roma is a very personal project

In Roma, Academy Award-winning director and writer Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men, and Y Tu Mama Tambien) has delivered an artful love letter to the women who raised him. Presented in Spanish with English subtitles, this immaculately photographed 135-minute film presented in black and white is a beautiful ode to his Mexican childhood. It draws upon Cuarón’s early life experiences growing up in a middle-class family in Mexico City’s Colonia Roma district to create both “a vivid and emotional portrait of domestic strife and social hierarchy amidst political turmoil of the 1970s.” It’s a film about resilience and survival.

As Roma begins, one critic describes its opening as “a mesmerizing four-minute credit sequence – the mopping of a courtyard – the flow of foamy water establishes a rhythm as well as a cleansing metaphor about life and memory.”

The film follows its protagonist Cleo (portrayed by first-time actress Yalitza Aparicio), a young live-in domestic helper, and captures both her devotion to Cuarón’s family as well as detailing her personal problems. She becomes the focal point of the film in what becomes a collection of childhood memories about Cuarón’s family, the house he grew up in, and his neighborhood.

As the film’s writer, Cuarón wrote the script as a stream of consciousness. So, we see a combination of personal and social issues unfold in front of us. It seemed that because Cuarón allowed his emotions to play out, some of the scenes run long without tight editing. However, as the film unfolds it becomes its strength and not a liability.

Roma is meant to make us think. It’s an art film not an entertainment movie. Because Cuarón chose to film it in black and white, we gain more intimate details – and it lends itself toward recalling memory. After all, memory can be subjective – but it can also be objective, too. There is a lot of subtlety, a touch of humor, and plenty of honesty. Several things that are foreshadowed play out later in the movie such as an earthquake, a massive fire and the Corpus Christi massacre of 1971 that is shockingly detailed and restaged by Cuarón.

Roma opens in theaters just in time for the holidays and it’s sure to gain momentum as the awards season comes into full view. It will also be released simultaneously on Netflix, which will allow the film to reach a wider audience. However, Roma is best seen on a large screen and preferably in a classic, single-screen cinema like I saw it on a recent Sunday morning in northwest Washington, D.C. Its directionality of sound is truly amazing. Recently, one critic described Roma’s sound as a “bewilderingly intricate tapestry of distant street sounds, ambient noise and close-up conversations.” It’s a film that you can definitely watch with your ears, but you’ll want to see it with your eyes, too.

Serena Williams: There's no wrong way to be a woman

Serena Williams didn't necessarily begin her tennis career thinking she was going to be breaking down barriers, but she has done just that. Over the years, as Williams has become more conscious of the impact she's had on both sport and society, she's found herself with a platform and an opportunity to make a difference. Now, at age 36, Williams embraces being a leader who can pave the way for the next generation of female athletes.

On Sunday night, during the 90th Academy Awards telecast, Nike celebrated the life of Serena Williams. In a powerful 30-second spot, which featured a montage of footage of Williams on the tennis court throughout her storied career, the Nike ad included a voice over by the 23-time Grand Slam tennis champion, who made a powerful statement about womanhood, race and motherhood, saying there's no wrong way to be a woman. 

She said:

I've never been the right kind of woman.

Oversized and overconfident,

Too mean if I don't smile.

Too black for my tennis whites.

Too motivated for motherhood.

But I'm proving time and time again ...

There's no wrong way to be a woman.

Against a dark backdrop, the spot concluded with the words "Until we all win" next to a Nike logo.

The ad was created by Wieden + Kennedy of Portland, Oregon. 

A two-page Nike print ad featuring Williams, also created by Wieden + Kennedy, appeared in Sunday's New York Times. It said:

You told a little girl she was too black for her tennis whites. 

And she grew up to be Serena Williams.

In a statement, Nike said, "As we approach International Women's Day, Nike wanted to recognize and celebrate the contributions and achievements of women everywhere and share our belief in gender equality, in this case, delivered by Serena Williams, the greatest athlete of all time."

Nike, it seems, has always maintained a good pulse on cultural relevancy. On Sunday night, it leveraged an opportunity to elevate Williams's stature as athlete, who breaks down barriers and inspires women, before not only a large and captive prime-time audience watching the Oscars telecast in the U.S., but also a worldwide audience, too. 

"I'm still looking to the future, to breaking down additional barriers, like gender equity and pay equality," said Williams, in a statement released by Nike. "It doesn't happen overnight. It takes a lot of work and I'm going to keep on going and working at it, and I encourage others to use their voice and their platforms to do the same."

Becoming a mother has definitely been a game changer for Williams, and she said her fight for change and gender equality is something she's doing on behalf of her six-month-old daughter, Alexis. "I want my daughter to be truthful and honest, strong and powerful; to realize that she can impact those around her," said Williams. "I want her to grow up knowing a woman's voice is extremely powerful. As females, we need to continue to be loud and make sure we are heard."

Video:  Courtesy of Nike YouTube channel.