The Atlantic

<em>Roma</em> Is Netflix’s Most Compelling Big-Screen Argument Yet

Alfonso Cuarón’s new break-the-mold film could push the streaming company to change its distribution model.
Source: Netflix / TIFF

In the middle of , Alfonso Cuarón’s intimate and epic account of his childhood in early-1970s Mexico City, the film journeys outside of the capital and visits a local strongman in the countryside who’s training a group of young men in martial arts. As Cuarón’s camera takes in the stunning vista of dozens of bodies moving in unison, the strongman announces that he will perform his most impressive feat yet: putting on a blindfold, balancing one foot against the other leg, and holding his handstogether over his head. It looks so simple that the crowd reacts with confusion, until he bids the men to try the same and they all wobble helplessly, unable to maintain their balance.

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