There are a number of semi-autobiographical dramas that are inspired by their director's life and trials. Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans retells his post- WW II childhood with warm nostalgia, mother-son melodrama, and a giddy love of cinema. Armageddon Time pitches us into chilly Reagan-era America while we tangle with guilt and regret. Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu's Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths focuses on an old man who looks back on his life with a mix of pleasure, anxiety, and intellectual posturing.
The films are unavoidably decadent, probing into a storied filmmaker's soul with the thin mask of fiction to allow them to be as honest as they dare. The subjective device of indulgence is wicked. Death by chocolate is not something you can have if you have a sweet tooth. The layers on the saccharine could make your teeth ache. It's not a question if Irritu's latest is a good one. I don't know.
Credit: Netflix
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is a film directed and written by Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu. On the verge of accepting a major award for his work, Silverio returns to Mexico to reflect on his career, life choices, and where he fits in his homeland. The comparison is clear as Irritu has earned Oscars for movies like Babel, Birdman, and The Revenant. His internal war of identity is a fascinating and frustrating experience.
Silverio was given a lifetime achievement award and had to look back at his past. The script by Irritu and Nicols Giacobone is similar to how our brains slide through thoughts and up and down our own timelines. Re-enactments of Silverio's thoughts come to life in a lecture on Mexican history. A subway car blinks to become a humble house with only a passenger and a parcel to connect them.
It will take hours before Irritu fully explains what this slipperiness means. Early on, the audience will know. It can sometimes feel torturous to wait for a narrative to unfurl over two hours.
Bardo is not all about the third act. It was difficult to emotionally engage in the cerebral battle played out across neon-lit rooftops, sun-splashed resorts, and scorching deserts. Irritu's execution can't be broached with this framework.
Credit: Netflix
The visuals and cinematography are rapturous and reminiscent of Irritu's sharply frenetic Birdman. Silverio's inner turmoil is reflected in the dancing girls and crushing reunions. There is a chillyness to the film. We might gape at their oddness, like when Irritu shows a full grown man shrunk down to child size as Silverio confronts his dad. A musical number where all the guests of a party move meaningfully to a David Bowie song reflects the hero's hard-earned but brief happiness. We can't get close because of the coolness of this.
In scenes of death, defeat, and even genocide, Irritu puts on a dark bemusement. At the beginning of the movie, Silverio and his wife face the death of their baby. A graphic birthing sequence where a baby whispers that "the world is too fucked up" and politely requests to be returned to his mom's womb is what makes uncomfortable comedy. The doctors make for some gynecological physical comedy that is first shocking and silly but then moves into a gross-out gag as the befuddled mother wanders down a hospital hallway.
Credit: Netflix
The humor suggests that faced with darkness, what are we to do but laugh? There are times in Bardo where we might laugh in defiance of the absurdity of life, our own mortality, and the battles we pick as our time in this fucked up world races by us. There are at least three or five that lumber by with big ideas but don't bring much return.
The cast goes in without fear. The family of Silverio's grown children bickers with authenticity but slides into the absurd just as easily. Cacho is a good guide through this cerebral crisis because of his confidence. The film's slipperiness made it hard for me to grab hold of him and feel his pain.
Bardo is more cerebral than emotional. It isn't satisfyingly gripping. A man at war with himself is explored in this film. Irritu doesn't seem to know what it means to win or lose that fight. Maybe the destination is not the point. Bardo is a rocky road with moments of tenderness and outrageousness, as well as great swaths of ponderous conversations and tedious ennui. It's possible that your mileage is different.
The expansion of Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths took place on November 18. The movie will be available on the streaming service in December.
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