arts // no. § theotherpress.ca Cuaron’'s childhood from a maid's eye >» ‘Roma’ film review Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist keen Ihe Academy Awards this year are arguably the most diverse edition of the awards yet, with a lot of films about different cultures being nominated. Out of the films that are nominated for Best Picture this year, any of them could win the top prize. Two of them are surprise hits: Green Book and Alfonso Cuaron’s latest film Roma. The film has so far won two Golden Globe Awards and four Critic’s Choice Awards, including Best Picture for the latter. When I watched the announcement of the Oscar nominations this year, I was surprised to see this film receive the most with 10 nominations. In the semi-autobiographical Roma, Cuarén goes back to his childhood and explores Mexico during that era. The year is 1970 and Cleodegaria Gutiérrez (Yalitza Aparicio) is a maid for Sophia (Marina de Tavira), Antonio (Fernando Grediaga), and their family in a neighbourhood in Mexico City called Colonia Roma. When Cleo works, she is with the family the entire time, even during their private moments. Meanwhile, she becomes pregnant after a date with her boyfriend, Fermin (Jorge Antonio Guerrero). We then follow Cleo and the family she works for through a tumultuous year. Before watching the film, I watched the preview of it when the film was highlighted on the Netflix main menu. This preview showed the awards it won and the many great reviews it received. After watching the movie, I can agree that it deserves its accolades. The film is presented in black and white, which gives it a French New Wave look, and it evokes nostalgia for Mexican cinema in the 1970s. It has an upstairs- downstairs aesthetic because Cleo and her co-worker, Adela (Nancy Garcia), live in a house next door to the family’s house. When the family goes outside, the maids stay in a separate room. When they eat food, they go to a restaurant specifically for staff. Roma was filmed near Cuarén’s family home, and one of Sophia and Antonio’s children is based on his own childhood. Although this is a TV movie for Netflix, with a limited theatrical release, it is an epic that deserves to be seen on the big screen. Also, if you are watching the film at home, you should watch it in 5.1 surround sound with a great home theatre system because sound is very important in the film. When someone is in the side of a shot, they sound muffled through those speakers. Cuarén does a lot of one-take shots in his films. In some scenes he does 360-degree shots to follow a person and show what else is happening simultaneously, as well as incorporating tracking shots. Compared to the films Half-baked and over-hyped » Shane Dawson releases part one of conspiracy theory series Roshni Riar Staff Writer kek YY hane Dawson has returned to YouTube and this time, he’s armed with a number of conspiracy theories to take the internet by storm. Following a break from YouTube after the success of his series The Mind of Jake Paul, Dawson has come back with a splash. He delves into the creepy, unsettling world of conspiracy theories including subliminal messaging in children’s media and marketing, deep fakes, smartphone surveillance, and even the recent California wildfires. Part one of the new series was uploaded on January 30 and clocks in at one hour and 44 minutes long. The series is a return to the conspiracy-centric videos that propelled Dawson back into YouTube relevance in 2015, with some of his previous conspiracy Image of Shane Dawson via @shanedawson on Twitter theory videos obtaining anywhere from 10 to 20 million views each. The hype surrounding the new series has been huge—the trailer for the series received eight million views within the week leading up to the release. True to the format of Dawson’s prior conspiracy videos, this new video is filled with creepy, dramatic editing, clips of flickering televisions playing videos of strange occurrences, various news and media clips, and a plethora of audio effects and music typical of horror films. The editing does a great job of setting the mood for the video, even when what’s being shown on screen isn't particularly scary. The tension throughout the video is continually cut by clips of Dawson and his friends—fellow YouTubers Ryland Adams, Morgan Adams, Andrew Siwicki, and Garrett Watts—cracking jokes and freaking each other out. As Dawson narrates and explains the different conspiracy theories, clips of him and his friends testing out the theories are spliced in. These scenes serve as an amusing look behind the curtain and give the video a more relatable aspect. By the end of the video, I can’t say I came away from it feeling convinced by any of the theories Dawson touches on. Sure, it was entertaining but that’s about it. The over-the-top, dramatic audio and visual editing adds an element of tension and suspense, yet the actual content itself lacks w a cy £ rs < ae) ra) fe] = fe) © foe i = [e) o that he worked on with Emmanuel Lubezki, such as Gravity (2013), Cuarén’s cinematography in Roma is smoother. In one scene, Antonio spends almost two minutes trying to park a car in their garage. The most art-house cinema scene in the film involves a party where one person sings a Norwegian New Year's Eve song while everyone else at the party puts out a wildfire. Currently, Roma has a 96 percent rating on Netflix. It could be the first TV movie to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Roma is available now on Netflix and is also showing in the Vancity Theatre until February 25. depth and direction. Theories are mentioned, semi-relevant clips are flashed as Dawson speaks, he muses on the theories with his friends and talks about how crazy the ideas are, and then he moves on. Nothing feels fully fleshed-out or concluded, which left me feeling unsatisfied after the video ended. While the video is almost two hours long, it feels like a lot of the content Dawson discusses is just regurgitated internet lore found on the discussion boards of Reddit. If he really intended to dive in deep on the conspiracy theories discussed, he could’ve parsed away half of the theories mentioned, giving himself more time to get in deeper and offer something unique. Dawson states in the first episode that there will be six parts in his conspiracy series, and he has revealed that he expects part two will be just as long as the first. I'll give part two a try for its potential entertainment value, but I have a feeling I'll be left wanting more again. The editing carries the first part of the series. While it certainly adds intensity and tension, there will inevitably come a point where I'll get sick of the editing due to the lack of substantial content present to back up the overdramatic ambience. When that point comes, I think it will officially be time for me to tune out of Shane Dawson's conspiracy theory series for good.