Guillermo Del Toro Shares Profound Observations On 'Roma' And Its Cyclical Storytelling
Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron have been famously close-knit friends for decades, but that doesn't mean that del Toro is going to offer only shallow praise to Cuaron's magnum opus Roma. Del Toro took to Twitter on Sunday to offer some insightful film criticism that perfectly gets to the heart of why Roma is such a masterclass in storytelling — and makes all film writers jealous that they hadn't written a full essay about this first.Spoilers for Roma below.
If you aren't following Guillermo del Toro on Twitter, do so immediately, because other than the beautiful images he shares and the fun glimpses into his filmmaking process, he will occasionally (frequently) remind us that he loves movies just as much as we do.
On Sunday he posted a series of tweets breaking down the cyclical storytelling of Roma, and the deft way that Cuaron foreshadows Cleo's (Yalitza Aparicio) tragic loss of her stillborn child. And del Toro goes beyond that, pointing to specific motifs that make their way in each of Cuaron's films, including Gravity, Y Tu Mama Tambien, and Children of Men, and even offering us some film trivia about Cuaron's struggle with executives over the ending of Gravity. These are the kind of posts that remind us why we keep going back to Twitter.
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
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
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
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
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
Cuaron often uses the Ocean in a metaphorical way: Children of Men, Roma, Y Tu Mama Tambien, etc
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 14, 2019
The studio then said: "Ok what about hearing the helicopters?" Alfonso, once more, said "no". The studio then suggested adding a radio giving her coordinates, promising help. Alfonso said "no". Once more an ending made of Air, land and water.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 14, 2019
Guillermo del Toro was apparently feeling in a film analyzing mood, having just laid effusive praise for James Mangold's superhero film Logan the day before. "Watching [James Mangold's] LOGAN again am struck by the Zen-Western, elegiac poetry of its script and the spartan brutality of its action. It's that rare breed of film that enhances the mythology it closes. It betters the films that preceded it. One of the very best of its kind."
Del Toro raves about Logan for a few more posts (because who wouldn't?) before noting that he was "also struck by how prescient it is. I would beg you to watch it NOW and not see frightening parallels with today's news."
So is everyone's dream screening series now an Alfonso Cuaron retrospective hosted by del Toro, with a surprise screening of Logan at the end? Just me? Make this happen, people.