An aging, caustic (but good hearted) author has a young writer type up his autobiography, and we see his mostly Utopian childhood, the loss of his beloved father, his love affairs in his early 20s, and his relationship with his wonderful mother, the title character.All of this is set against the background of the changing, ever worsening politics of Argentina.A film I couldn't quite love, but also couldn't help but quite like.It's a little shallow for a 2:30 hour epic tale of a man's life, but it's also always interesting, and the whole thing is well acted , and has both a charm and sadness, along with characters who can sometimes be surprising. I enjoyed it more, not less on a second viewing, which makes sense since the plot isn't what's special, but the details.

I loved this film and am astounded at previous reviewers that found it "slow". Two and a half hours that skimmed by for me and I didn't want it to end. Okay, it is not an action film. It is a reflection on life, relationships, and maturation. The central theme is the influence of an exceptional mother, named Roma, on the life and development of the narrator.This isn't about Argentine history, life in the 60s and 70s in Buenos Aires, none of that except as incidental to decades-long time line. Although there is the incidental, requisite Argentine reference to the terror of the 70s; it is not that story. It is about growing up and growing old and "finding" one's self. This is not a feel-good movie but real and true, if only we were all blessed with such a mother.This is an adult script, not meaning "adult themed", and if you need an action movie with guns and car chases...stay away. The script, casting, performances and production values are thoroughly superb.

Few times in my life I have seen such an intense drama. Intense in the dialogues, superb in acting. The life as it is, not an idealized bit of it, as in conventional films. Characters are deep, well developed, they don't act the standards, but seem to be much more "human" than in conventional stories. Almost every scene is a virtuoso acting near-monologue. But you have rests, including the whole Chopin nocturne's filmed in a way that, only with the actor's expressions, something is still happening into the characters, and the story doesn't suffer for such a long quiet time. Yoy can save a lot of dialogs as a treasure. OK, it is not as much as an archetype of filming language. OK, it is nearly theater. But only nearly. I cannot imagine me enjoying all of the subtleties in actor's faces from so far, in a theater. A tasty drama, full of good philosophy about life, love and feelings, expressed trough complex characters and scenes. Too bad for those who find it "slow" or "overlong"... in my opinion, they just didn't catch it. To me is seemed pretty dense, full of things... I couldn't stick out until the end. I didn't like it. Just the last minute. But it is my opinion. All the rest is more than enough to make the movie a masterpiece. In my opinion.

I happened to watch this film on "the small screen" in Spanish, which was somewhat of a challenge. My linguistic limitations notwithstanding, I felt intrigued enough to put in the effort to follow the dialogue, pacing, and emotional pull. I have not seen other works by this director, but felt rewarded for my time. It was refreshing to see a film discuss philosophy and intellectual points in the context of a Latin American family. The plot revolves around a mother and son through time, utilizing media references such as scenes from the film Grapes of Wrath to embellish this central theme. I enjoyed revisiting the 60s and 70s in Roma, the classical lines and designs, Jazz and literature references. A thinking person's film, regardless of one's language capacity.