Roma is a semi autobiographical tale from Alfonso Cuarón, the director of Children of Men and Gravity. It tells the story of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), who is a maid for a middle class family in the Roma district of Mexico City. Set across approximately one year in the early 1970’s its focus is on the personal experiences of Cleo with political and economic information filling the background.

It is also a groundbreaking film for Netflix as they have given it a cinematic release prior to its appearance on the streaming site. Albeit an extremely limited one. Here in the UK that amounted to 2 weeks in a handful of cinemas. What this means though is that Roma is now eligible for Oscars and with the Venice Festival Golden Lion win under its belt and universal critical praise this is a very real possibility.

Cuarón’s film is clearly a personal labour of love. He has taken on the mantle of writer, cinematographer, editor, producer and director to ensure the finished article is exactly as he wanted. And the film is dedicated to Libo, the maid who lived with his family as he was growing up. Aparicio, as a first time actor gives a beautifully natural performance and given the personal challenges her character faces it’s even more impressive.

Cuarón’s technical attention to detail is also present. The film is shot in black and white and differentiates its Spanish subtitles from the Mixtec dialect that the maids speak. Knowing that the majority of people will be watching via televisions a comprehensive TV settings guide has been released as well. Which you can find here. The camera work and technical effects might not be as showy as his previous two films but you can see they have been constructed with precision. Earlier in the year I mentioned a fantastic shot in Widows that showed the rich/poor divide. Roma has a similarly brilliant juxtaposition where the maids servants quarters has a fixed camera facing out, unable to move. Whilst there is a 360 degree rotating shot of Cleo turning off all of the lights on the ground floor of her employer’s home next to it. It looks simple, but is technically brilliant and conveys an efficient message.

It also has an emotional wallop. Cleo’s employers clearly love her whilst seemingly being indifferent to what they ask of her. And Cleo is very much devoted to the children in her charge. The pacing is sedate though, and without the scope and sound of the cinema I really suggest that you commit to watching this with no distractions to allow it to wash over you and really make a connection.

Technically brilliant, emotionally powerful, I hope that people will take the time to watch a 135 minute subtitled film in black and white without any distraction to really get the most from it.