Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron’s thrillingly diverse career encompasses everything from Gravity to Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to Y Tu Mama Tambien. Roma is his masterpiece. An evocation of middle-class household in Mexico City in 1970 (Cuaron would have been nine years old at the time), this scintillating black and white film focusses on Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a live-in maid, who tends to the two children, cleans and cooks, and observes, discreetly, as her employers’ marriage falls apart. But Cleo’s own love life is just as fraught…

Spanning about a year, Roma conveys not only tender and sometimes painful memories of the domestic space, but also suggests wider tensions in the social sphere. Innocent pleasures - going to the movies, a trip to the country, an initially curious reference to martial arts training - take on a darker hue as we learn more about the turmoil roiling within the country. These themes are developed with subtly and grace, leading to a climax that is both heartbreaking and deeply compassionate. Roma is one of those unforgettable films that reveals the depth and preciousness of ordinary lives.

Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in September, and placing in the top 3 in TIFFs’ Audience Awards, Roma has received rapturous reviews from the critics and is being touted as a serious prospect for Best Picture in the Oscars race. Released simultaneously on Netflix and in select theatres, this may be the best advertisement for cinema we could ask for.

"A majestic feat of filmmaking, an intimate portrait of a family that also serves as a broad portrait of a changing nation. Cuaron creates such a vibrant world that it demands to be seen on the biggest canvas possible." Barry Hertz, Globe and Mail

"A richly textured masterpiece, Roma is cinema at its purest and most human." Tomris Laffly, Time Out

"One of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen." Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal