Roma (2018)

IMDb plot summary: A year in the life of a middle-class family's maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s.
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Starring Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey, and Carlos Peralta.

There are pieces of this I like very, very much, particularly in the second half. But so much of this has the eternally meandering tone that is so common in self-autobiographical films. (I didn't realize it was until I looked it up on Wikipedia, but I maybe should have guessed.) In scene after scene, I find myself wondering why this is here and where this is trying to take me. I do like Cleo a lot, especially in the latter half when both she and the family she works for find themselves relying on each other in ways that don't entirely compensate for the power dynamic but are fascinating regardless. And I absolutely adore the martial arts training sequence -- the moment where everyone is poorly attempting to copy the teacher's stance and the eye is drawn to Cleo, in the center, perfectly balanced, nailing it, is such a gorgeously framed and executed shot. There's a lot to like, but there's also a lot I felt I just had to sit through to get there.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Roma > Wild Zero
Roma < It (2017)
Roma < You Can Count on Me
Roma > Stage Fright (2014)
Roma < Arthur Christmas
Roma > The Elephant Man
Roma < Duel
Roma < Borstal Boy
Roma < The Revenant
Roma > Mudbound
Roma > A Chorus of Disapproval
Roma > Arctic
Final spot: #1250 out of 2976.