Bardo (A False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths) may be the first first film to give away its entire plot in the trailer — and still not reveal a thing.
Long, self-indulgent and probably expensive as hell, Bardo looks every bit a film by a 5-time Academy Award winner, which it is, Alejandro G. Inarritu. And that’s a glorious thing.
When was the last time you were halfway into a movie and thought, ‘What the hell is going on?’ — in a transfixed way? Adaptation? Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? Memento?
Films that require the viewer to catch up are rare in Hollywood, and nearly non-existent among American filmmakers. The great American directors — Spielberg, Coppola, Lucas, Scorsese — have surrendered rebel yells and rhetorical ransom demands for the confines of being in The Industry. From our comic-book heroes to our Top Guns to our Fast & Furious, American moviemaking is about flexing.
But if American flicks are about the impression a hero makes on the universe, international movies seem more willing to ask: What impression does the universe make on the hero? Witness, Bardo and Pinnochio, the latest from Guillermo del Toro.
Like Bardo, it’s a visual feast. Like Bardo, it’s made by one of Hollywood’s hottest director from Mexico. Like Bardo, it takes a profound look at death.
What a concept! What an alternative to a serialized franchise movie, which has become the new American cinematic soup du jour. Movies in the U.S. are suffering because heroes don’t die for real. The stories are as suspenseful as a video game with unlimited lives.
Streamers, though, have become the new Scorses. Netflix, which produced the film, must have loved its collaboration with Alfonso Cuaron in 2018, Roma. Because the streaming service apparently cut a blank check to Inarritu: The film is lush, exotic and musical. Inarritu pays homage to Stanley Kubrick in half of Bardo’s frames. Except Inarritu can direct a sex scene.
Not that Bardo is 2001; it isn’t, not by a long shot. But at least someHollywood filmmakers are still trying to get ahead of their skis.
