I wrote a little entry for IndieWire concerning the best and most pleasant surprise of this Oscar season:
“The silver lining for me is the fact that an artful and completely plotless film such as Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” is the Best Picture frontrunner. A film that, if it wins the top prize on February 24th, will have most mainstream moviegoers scratching their heads in total and utter confusion. This would have surely never happened in any other decade. You can feel the influence of the great neorealist filmmakers like Vittorio de Sica and Roberto Rossellini all over this film, which justifiably leads me to believe that a win by “Roma” would be akin to an “Umberto D” or “La Strada” winning a Best Picture Oscar back in the ’50s. Unthinkable! Has the “Oscar-bait” film finally died? Can a “Roma” win finally put to rest the idea of what an “Oscar movie” should be? Maybe, just maybe, the academy’s tastes in film are being refined with each passing year. Of course, this theory could be completely sabotaged by a “Green Book” win, and we’re right back at square one.”