Cuarón’s career to date would not have led me to predict a film like Roma. He is known for directing Gravity, a sci-fi space drama, Children of Men, a sci-fi story of a dystopic future and one of the Harry Potter films. This autobiographical story of growing up in Mexico City is definitely a step in a new direction for him, simple, straightforward, and no special effects. Like much of his work in the past this film has won critical praise and now 10 Academy Award nominations including best foreign language film and best picture. While I liked the movie, I confess I fail to see the enthusiasm. We are taken into the day to day life of a family in transition and have insight into the relationship between the kids, mother, and the servants who are part of the family in important ways. The film is a tribute to the women who raised him and a beautiful portrait of a family’s life in the 1970’s. The cinematography is very good, and I confess I enjoyed it being in black and white, but ten nominations is, I think, over the top. While I am sceptical of all the nominations I do think this is a film worth seeing and to be fair I have liked many of his earlier but very different films. Cuarón is a talented director with a varied and top flight works so have a look but despite all the nominations I suspect it will not clean up.