In our latest director beginner’s guide, Tom Jolliffe looks at Alfonso Cuaron…
Alfonso Cuaron may be a director you’re familiar with. He’s on something of a high right now having attained at hat-full of Oscar nominations for his latest film Roma. One of the Mexican masters (alongside Guillermo del Toro who took the Oscars by storm last year and Alejandro G. Inarritu, winner of four already). Like a lot of maestros in his craft he has a symbiotic ability to cover the roles that intrinsically connect with direction. He’s regularly edits his films, and occasionally been charged with cinematography duties too (most recently in Roma). Some directors will freely admit to having a sole speciality and a focus on delegation. For some visionaries though, it’s often the case their distinct visions are overseen personally. Cuaron rarely seems to sell his vision short.
Beginning in his native Mexico as a fledgling director channelling his passion into short films (as is common in the directing game), he established himself in TV and then his debut feature, Solo Con Tu Pareja, a comedy romance about a womaniser falsely diagnosed with AIDs. It then saw a pretty quick transition to Hollywood. A Little Princess, as far as debuts go, was a great piece of work. It deals with the tribulations of a young girl in boarding, waiting for her father to return. Whilst it never goes too dark, it’s got a complexity, that for a kids film stays with the adult viewer who may have grown up with it. It is an assured film that doesn’t have all the Cuaron visual flourishes you would now come to expect, but it’s directed with plenty of craft and flair, and a bit of restrain.
Great Expectations would see Cuaron quickly go to a Charles Dickens adaptation with a stellar cast of rising A-list stars. Gwyneth Paltrow was in the era of Sliding Doors, Se7en (what’s in the bwox!!!??) and Shakespeare In Love. The peak of her status. Ethan Hawke too. Dickens adaptations can be a mixed bag, as can modernised adaptations. This one is a little forgotten and it’s not Cuaron at the height of his creative powers. The signs of greatness are there, but the film is inconsistent. Y To Mama Tambien saw Cuaron return to his homeland. His first big budget picture in the US deemed something of a let-down in every aspect. The move back re-kickstarted his career. It would mark a first Oscar nomination for best screenplay. It’s a beautiful piece of work about two young men on a road trip with an older woman. A little like Roma, around that time it was THE foreign language film to get mainstream attention. Shortly after Amelie had held that title.
How do you follow a beautifully minimalist, intimate indie film from your home country? Well you shake things up in a well established blockbuster franchise. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban might have been a gamble. The first two films were solid enough, if directed with rather conventional assurance by Chris Columbus. Whilst Cuaron was riding high, producers could easily have asked for a level of safe restraint to ensure things stayed consistent. But then, and this always amazes me about Hollywood, why bring in a director from another country, of obvious creative brilliance and tie one hand behind his back? Thankfully, Cuaron was allowed to inject a distinct style into Azkaban. It results in the most eye-catching film of the franchise, and whilst the other films had decent directors, Azkaban is the one which has the stroke of flair and genius, of at times reckless abandon (which more often than not comes off). The world would become accustomed to Cuaron’s penchant for dazzling camera glides and long takes. It’s a technique that can occasionally feel overly gratuitous, but Cuaron never makes it feel unnecessary.
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Originally published February 7, 2019. Updated July 23, 2024.
