--- title: "Roma: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/roma/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/roma" critics_score: 85 critics_reviews: 22 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Roma (2018): what the critics said Critics' score 85 from 22 reviews: 18 positive, 2 mixed, 2 negative. Most critics warmly praise Roma, with admiration clustering around Alfonso Cuarón’s black-and-white photography, the detailed recreation of 1970s Mexico City and Yalitza Aparicio’s performance as the housekeeper Cleo. The long takes and wide compositions draw particular attention for placing domestic routines alongside the city’s wider social upheaval. Many reviews find the film deeply moving, crediting Aparicio’s quiet expressiveness and Cuarón’s attention to the women whose work sustains the household. The disagreement concerns how close this carefully controlled filmmaking brings us to Cleo. Variety admires the images but finds the perspective detached, while The Times argues that the formal devices privilege Cuarón’s memories over a searching account of domestic servitude. Reservations elsewhere concern the slow pace and limited character connection. The spread is wide despite the strongly positive consensus: the same watchful distance strikes admirers as compassionate and dissenters as a barrier to feeling. ## Financial Times — Nigel Andrews Rating 5/5. 28 November 2018. Cuarón's wonderful Roma is a modern-day neorealist classic in Spanish, a compassionately caustic tale of a rich family's maid knocked up and knocked about amid social injustice. Aparicio's performance gives simple-hearted goodness and defiance a transcendent emotional conviction. [Read the review](https://www.ft.com/content/2529acd6-f30a-11e8-9623-d7f9881e729f) ## Little White Lies — David Jenkins Rating 3/5/5. 30 November 2018. Cuarón’s masterpiece, an artwork that towers above the pretenders; a monumental love poem to Mexico and the woman who made him a man. The film eliminates narcissism to achieve pristine purity in its voyage of personal memory and self-expression. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/roma) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Rating 5/5. 2 December 2018. Cuarón's most personal film yet is a bravura, richly detailed evocation of 1970s Mexico City childhood, centered on two resilient women from different classes abandoned by the men in their lives. The widescreen monochrome images and intricate sound design stand out for their eerie beauty and authenticity. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/dec/02/roma-review-alfonso-cuaron-ode-to-childhood-70s-mexico-city) ## The Telegraph Rating 5/5. 22 January 2019. Cuarón's sweeping, heart-quickening period piece is the film of the year, a personal story told on a blockbuster canvas with levels of beauty and daring that are continually amazing. Its crisp monochrome images and grand-scale sequences reaffirm him as the master of the teeming set-piece. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/roma-reviewalfonso-cuaron-returns-mexico-sweeping-heart-quickeningly/) ## Time Out — Tomris Laffly Rating 5/5. 2 September 2018. A richly textured masterpiece and cinema at its purest and most human; an absorbingly rich tribute to the resilient women who raised him. The film features astounding interplay of foreground and background in long takes that honour unsung domestic rituals. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/roma) ## Empire — John Nugent Fi1m's normalised score 95/100 (inferred from the text). 21 November 2018. The critic calls Roma a masterpiece, praising its grounded yet ambitious domestic drama and profound humanism. It singles out the stunning technical prowess and authentic emotional portrait of its characters. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/roma-review/) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 30 August 2018. Festival review. Alfonso Cuarón has made his most personal film; it may also be his best. The director writes a love letter to devoted women while spurring himself to a glorious technical achievement that feels like reading his autobiography. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/roma-venice-review/5132140.article) ## Slant Magazine — Jake Cole Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 20 September 2018. The review commends Cuarón's thrilling formal artistry in using long takes and deep-focus compositions to reveal Cleo's inner life and social position, framing the film as autobiography and autocritique. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/roma-2018/) ## Evening Standard — Guy Lodge Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 30 November 2018. The critic praises Roma as a true intimate epic that deftly positions the bigger societal picture alongside one woman’s personal struggle. It highlights the central performance of Cleo and the film’s rich, human scale. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/roma-review-a-gorgeous-tale-of-seventies-mexico-a4004471.html) ## Film Comment — Jonathan Romney Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). Festival review. The critic praises Cuarón's achievement in blending intimate domestic detail with historical sweep, presenting the story through the perspective of a young housekeeper in 1970s Mexico City. It highlights the film's humanist realism, meticulous production design, and the magnetic performance at its center. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/venice-film-week-roma/) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 19 November 2018. The critic says the film lives up to lofty expectations with a beautiful, deliberate and ultimately moving portrait of domestic life. He singles out its meditative quality and exact recreation of a specific time and place from the director’s memory. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-roma-review-20181119-story.html) ## Radio Times — Karen Krizanovich Rating ★★★★. 14 December 2018. A striking, heartfelt historical drama that opts for art house black and white to tell this poignant semi-autobiographical story. Cuarón takes over lighting and camera duties to striking yet effortless effect in a sublime love letter to his youth. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/roma-netflix-movie-review-a-striking-heartfelt-historical-drama/) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 7 December 2018. The critic finds the film persuasive in its beauty and wins the viewer over with its serene stoicism and sumptuous recreation of the past. He singles out the lead performance and the film’s ability to evoke both innocence and the intuition of its collapse. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/12/17/alfonso-cuaron-bears-witness-to-peril-with-roma) ## Variety — Owen Gleiberman Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 30 August 2018. Festival review. The critic describes it as a luminous vision and Proustian reverie that is gorgeously done but ultimately a hermetic art object rather than a masterpiece. He singles out the lordly detachment and God’s-eye view that keeps viewers absorbed more than deeply moved. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/roma-review-alfonso-cuaron-1202919033/) ## The Times — Kevin Maher Rating 2/5. 30 November 2018. Cuarón's festival smash is specious, timid and dated, a beautiful-looking dirge too in love with its formal devices to grapple with contradictions or fully engage with its central premise of domestic servitude. The episodic structure and godlike perspective privilege the director over the material. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/article/roma-review-w6t2lx7jd) ## IndieWire — Eric Kohn 30 August 2018. Festival review. The review hails it as Cuarón's best since Y Tu Mama Tambien, a riveting personal black-and-white drama centered on a silent indigenous witness navigating family upheaval and historical events. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/roma-review-alfonso-cuaron-venice-1201998623/) ## Sight and Sound — Nick Pinkerton 1 December 2018. Cuáron’s magnificently crafted memoir casts us back to a 1970s childhood in the throes of family break-up, ruptures on the streets of Mexico City – and a Mixtec housekeeper given the weight of the drama. The film decentralises the artist as a young man by showing dissolution through the eyes of a domestic. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-roma-reframes-alfonso-cuarons-boyhood-through-eyes-his-familys-maid) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Todd McCarthy 30 August 2018. Festival review. The critic praises the film's exceptionally beautiful black-and-white imagery and Cuarón's masterful control, noting its dispassionate yet compelling focus on the overlooked lives of the maids, especially Cleo, set against family and social turmoil. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/roma-review-1137976/) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis Rating Critic’s Pick. 20 November 2018. The critic calls it a masterpiece and an expansive emotional portrait of life buffeted by violent forces. She singles out Cuarón’s use of both intimacy and monumentality to express the depths of ordinary life. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/movies/roma-review.html) ## Vulture 30 August 2018. Festival review. The critic describes it as a technically stunning epic that masterfully blends intimate personal stories with broader historical forces through innovative camerawork and panoramic sequences. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2018/08/roma-movie-review-alfonso-cuaron.html) ## /Film — Chris Evangelista Rating 10/10. 11 September 2018. Festival review. The critic hails Roma as a singular masterpiece of humanity and empathy that draws on Cuarón’s childhood to tell a visually resplendent tale. The theme of empathy and the film’s compassion are singled out as what makes it remarkable. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/560898/roma-review/) ## HeyUGuys — Daniel Goodwin Rating 5/5. 16 October 2018. Festival review. The critic calls Roma a harmonious masterpiece and cine-sonnet to Cuarón’s home and childhood that operates with complex mechanisms beneath its surface. It is praised as breathtaking, commanding and epic, with visual splendour singled out for its profound effect. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/roma-review/) ## Collider — Adam Chitwood Rating A. 14 December 2018. The critic hails the film as a masterpiece and an epically intimate chronicle of family change seen through a domestic worker's eyes. They single out Cuarón's direction and cinematography for creating an objective observer viewpoint that makes the emotional impact and performances, especially Yalitza Aparicio's, profoundly affecting. [Read the review](https://collider.com/roma-review-netflix/) ## The Ringer — Lindsay Zoladz Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 14 December 2018. The critic declares it a masterpiece that turns the viewer inside out with its personal, grand-scale story of memory and endurance. They single out the breathtaking wide-shot cinematography, emotional climax in the final half-hour, and Yalitza Aparicio's exquisite lead performance amid themes of class, gender, and absence. [Read the review](https://www.theringer.com/2018/12/14/movies/roma-alfonso-cuaron-netflix-review) ## Polygon — Karen Han Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 25 February 2019. The critic praises the film as an impressive, immersive work that builds like a symphony from personal memories of abandonment and pregnancy. They single out Yalitza Aparicio's remarkable performance as the unflinching core and the way the film handles class, colonialist issues, and quiet episodic moments connected by epic images. [Read the review](https://www.polygon.com/2019/2/25/18233268/roma-movie-review-netflix-oscars-alfonso-cuaron/) ## Den of Geek — Peter Stuart Rating 3/5. 30 November 2018. The review finds Roma visually striking and thematically rich in its portrayal of strong women amid personal and political turmoil, but notes that its slow pace and focus on subtle character dynamics may leave some viewers underwhelmed despite the acclaim. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/roma-review-will-cuar-n-s-oscar-favourite-win-over-the-netflix-crowd/) ## The Skinny — Philip Concannon Rating ★★. 28 November 2018. The critic admires the film's ambitious technical execution and rich period recreation but criticizes its emotional distance, flat visuals, and overreliance on spectacle over deep character connection, making it easier to respect than to love. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/roma) ## Deadline — Pete Hammond 14 December 2018. The critic hails it as a unique, personal work from a master filmmaker with real emotional impact and breakthrough techniques. They single out the impeccably authentic performances from the mostly non-professional cast, especially Yalitza Aparicio as Cleo. [Read the review](https://deadline.com/video/roma-review-alfonso-cuaron-netflix/) ## The Playlist — Jessica Kiang Rating B+/A-. 30 August 2018. Festival review. The critic describes Roma as an immensely moving and stunningly personal project that refocuses on the housekeeper Cleo with remarkable empathy. The recreation of the past world and the act of gratitude toward the real-life inspiration are singled out for praise. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/alfonso-cuarons-roma-review-20180830/) ## The Wrap 12 December 2018. The critic calls it a heartfelt masterpiece of mood and nostalgia that proves Cuarón can deliver powerful storytelling on an intimate scale. They single out the quiet, quotidian moments and Yalitza Aparicio’s expressive performance as the housekeeper Cleo for particular praise. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/roma-film-review-alfonso-cuaron-netflix/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/roma.md