BIRDBOX
I honestly wasn’t expecting much from this movie. I did not read the book so I had no idea what to expect. I don’t watch scary movies and the movie was marketed as a thriller but I found it a tad bit scary. Like, just a tad. Nothing I couldn’t handle. It is set in a post apocalyptic time where a mysterious entity forces people to become suicidal (and actually kill themselves) when they look it in the eye. To survive, the masses have blindfolds over their eyes. A group of people find themselves in a house and find a way to survive as people in their group get picked off one by one.
I found the premise quite interesting and it was very fast paced. Sandra Bullock did a fantastic job but Trevante Rhodes….Okay, I never really got a full handle on his character, he didn’t seem real. Noone is that good of a person. The role wasn’t meaty enough for him and it’s like he never quite settled into it. I didn’t quite think he had chemistry with Sandra as a love interest. The gnawing question is, whose bright idea was it to name a black character, Tom?
I wonder how difficult it was to shoot being blindfolded and all. Despite having a somewhat happy ending, I don’t think it answered a major question of the plot. But I rarely like a lot of Netflix movies but this turned out to be a pleasant surprise and I liked it.
ROMA
This movie has gotten all the hype even before it premiered. It has made all the year end “best” lists of 2018 and I think I am confident enough to say Alfonso Cuaron will win the Best Director Oscar.
Entirely in Spanish, with subtitles, Roma is the story of Cleo who works for a family in Mexico in the ’70’s. She is the stable force in a family filled with chaos. Always there to provide anything they need and the kids love her a lot. Cleo gets pregnant and thinks this will affect the under the radar approach she has adopted as the maid. But the family is accepting and is kind to her and the movie follows her life as she prepares for her new life as a mother.
Majority of what makes this movie great are the visuals. Shot entirely in black and white, the movie plays like a memory. It feels like having access to someone’s brain. It also played like the antithesis to Dunkirk. A movie with few words and a heavy soundtrack that did the talking. Roma had words and nary a soundtrack. The visuals did the talking. In fact, the movie begins with a soapy floor as it’s being washed for quite a while which foreshadows the slow burn that the movie is.
The added storylines of events that happen in Cleo’s life and the drama in the family’s life were done just right and were not complicated. You never at any point feel like it was convoluted. Once again, every scene just seemed to have had a special touch by Cuaron with an end result like a well choreographed dance. I particularly liked the ending shot.
Both movies are now available for streaming on Netflix.