Director Alfonso Cuarón‘s latest film, “Roma” falls at the intersection of memory and history. This is Cuarón’s most personal film to date, and in the structure of combining the personal and the political, its easy to see the care the director took to try and get everything just right. Communicating through bold imagery, there’s always movement in “Roma.” Rarely is there a still instance of repose. That’s why there really is no one better to discuss the film than Cuarón, himself.
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In a video from The New York Times, Cuarón provides the commentary of a pivotal scene in the film. Here, the personal and political collide as the audience has been following Cleo (a quiet, stunning performance by Yalitza Aparicio). Set against the historical backdrop of student demonstrators in the heart of Mexico City, violence ensues even when the camera remains still, gliding to capture the pain and cruelty.
“Roma” marks the first time Cuarón has served as his own cinematographer for his feature-length film. The filmmaker has worked as the Director of Photography for short films, a TV movie, and television episodes before, but nothing comparing to “Roma.” Cuarón has worked with Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki for years on projects. Unfortunately, or fortuitously, Lubezki did not collaborate here. “…I designed it for Chivo [Lubezki],” Cuarón said. “The byproduct of that is that we started prepping and I start realizing, ‘No we need more prep time.’ We start looking for locations and I said, ‘We need more shooting time,’ and we kept extending everything until Chivo said, ‘I cannot do this film anymore, I have other commitments’. And that was maybe two and a half weeks before we started shooting.”
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Regardless of who was originally set to capture “Roma,” Cuarón filled the role and thus stocked the frame with stunning, sometimes shocking, visuals. Listen to the filmmaker discuss the scene below.
*Please Note The Scene Contains Spoilers*
“Roma” is now available on Netflix.