best film of the year for me. can see how lots of people feel it’s overindulgent, etc. But nothing else this year besides avatar came close in terms of putting something on screen that I’d never seen before. Inexplicable and beautiful. Though obv should have been 35 minute shorter.

I'll fall in line with most of that. It's a beautiful movie with lots of great moments, but it's pretty unwieldy. I think that's what stops it from being a favorite for me. I enjoyed it, i was amazed by parts of it, but I'd be hard pressed to recommend it.

Got to see this in theaters prior to Netflix's release. I know this film is getting very diverse responses but I liked it.

I have been keeping up with Alejandro González Iñárritu for sometime as he has made some great films in recent times. Films like Amores Perros, Babel, and Biutiful are absolutely amazing. Here, while it does feel a bit overindulgent, I still found it to be unique. The camerawork, production, sound designs and performances from the cast members were all pretty good. Amazing shots throughout the film helps build the scenarios and colorful sets, and the performances did help to add some energy to the characters. The soundtrack is good and there are some strange but interesting or clever dialogue used throughout.

The narrative definitely has quite a lot of interesting concepts and themes explored about politics, existential crisis, and identity throughout. Most of these concepts and themes were well-explored through it's main character and story but admitly, some of the elements were unnecessarily stretched out and does feel a bit sloppy at times. There are some notable terrible audio-dubbing I noticed that really felt out of place. Some of the pacing could use some work. Being one of my most anticipated films, it wasn't as amazing as I hoped for but I still enjoyed it. Overall, it's an interesting watch tho it’s not the best work from Iñárritu.

7/10

I saw this one in theaters about a month ago and my main takeaway was that while the weirdness of the film was interesting and visually beautiful, that weirdness kind of got in the way of whatever point it was trying to make, and ultimately it came across as a bit of a muddled mess. I don't mind films getting weird so long as they serve a purpose to the story its trying to tell or is thought provoking in some way, and I can't say that the weird stuff that happens here really accomplished that in my view. It doesn't help that this film was just way too long for what it was trying to be. I try not to be a clock watcher while in the theater, but this film kept making me wonder how much more there was

i’m a sucker for iñárritu’s films as is, but that middle sequence with cortes was absolutely incredible. couldn’t look away. also the sort-of offputting way they initially present mateo was developed really well and was really heartbreaking. amazing film.

This is daring

Yea was enamoured by the opening shot. Slowly it became quite boring and I didn’t see the point… but then in the last 30-40mins it really came together and felt quite impactful.

I actually liked it. yup, it's messy but i like when creators allow their imagination run wild

Copy pasting my original comment:

Bardo was actually an enjoyable movie that left me thinking a lot afterwards

When the previews dropped I was super excited about Bardo since I am such a huge fan of Alejandro González Iñárritu, but once reviews started to come out I was really scared to watch it. Sadly I didn’t have a chance to watch it on a theatre and watched it last night on Netflix and was pleasantly surprised…

I don’t think this is his best movie, if anything I would put it in the last spot. But under no circumstances I would say this is a bad movie. Although maybe until the first half ended I was extremely confused, I never found myself wanting to leave the movie unwatched, I was rather curious to figure out how it all tied together and I think what made me want to stay and enjoy that confusion was the fact that a lot of the movie is choreographed and therefore the rhythm never fell flat, plus many of the situations have an absurdity to them that made them even funny.

Surely this is Alejandro’s most abstract work so far and probably his most personal (as far as I’ve read), and when more abstract movies come along it’s easy to simply rate them as “bad”, but I feel like these movies need to be appreciated more as a mixture of pieces that come along to make us think; and granted, something abstract doesn’t mean it will accomplish the thinking, but in this case it did it to me. It’s been 24 hours since I finished it and I am still wrapping my head around so many [beautiful] shots and complicated discourses, and that to me is already a great sign. ​ Overall I truly enjoyed this movie and think the execution, even though super ambitious and at points confusing, was all well-thought. The topics it touches are also incredibly relevant especially for Mexicans (identity in terms of a place, people’s disappearances, success and ego, family, social classes, history…) and it does so in a way that is engaging and given the magic-realism elements it makes you truly think the deeper meaning of things, not only for the director and the characters, but also for yourself.

I think the only scene that felt a bit much for me personally was that Mateo scene. You know, that one. Otherwise I just enjoyed the movie full-stop.

I do wonder if the movie would've hit the same way if I hadn't spent as much time in Mexico over the last few years, though. The desaparecidos scene hit me like a ton of bricks but I can see it going over the heads of a lot of people who don't know this issue.

The Cortes scene was phenomenal.

The thread linking the absolutely terrifying Narco interview > the "missing" on the streets of Mexico City > the colonial genocide of indigenous people > Cortes' conquest of Mexico by divide and conquer? Heavy stuff, man.

EDIT: the movie gets a lot of flak for being self-indulgent and overly autobiographical, but this here is exactly why I think the movie also has valuable commentary on Mexico and the US. It shouldn't be taken as pure navel gazing by Iñarritu

It tried to be too many things at the same time, but overall I was happy with the ending. Could have trimmed a few scenes in the mid section

I feel like this happens with many of the themes of the movie, if you're not Mexican or at least don't know a bit of their history and culture and haven't been to México, it won't make the same sense.

Incredible imageries. It’s too bad the main character was shaped after Inarritu himself. I had the same problem with The Fablemans. It’s very distracting to know that the director was basically depicting his own life. Ironically I appreciated Armageddon Time; in that case, James Gray was extremely harsh on his younger self. Here (and in The Fabelmans), Inarritu wasn’t really critical of his protagonist. Bad things might happen but the character never felt at fault.

Still, the cinemagraphy was top notch. Worth watching for that alone!

what was going around in hollywood that got SO many self-indulgent movies made at once?

Bardo

Fabelmans

Babylon

Amsterdam

Empire of Light (the only one of these under 2 and a half god damn hours)

can tell you've seen just about none of these

It’s very openly his 8 1/2.

The opening shot of the man jump/flying is very similar to Guido’s floating dream at the beginning of 8 1/2. The scene near the end where his family follows him in the desert and disappears is reminiscent of the parade of characters at the end of 8 1/2. The internal narration that is (or isn’t) dialogue heard by other characters is also similar. A lot of the sound design is, actually.

The central conflict is different in Bardo, and I think it’s more interesting than the conflict in 8 1/2. In that film, the conflict is Guido’s creative block and his womanizing. In Bardo, we’re dealing with Mexican identity, and how that meshes with living in (and being recognized by) the US.

I also dug the Marquez-like magical realism and the references to Octavio Paz.

8 1/2 is one of my favorite films of all time. So while I appreciate the execution of 8 1/2 more than Bardo, I see what the director was going for, and I respect it.

The director seems to acknowledge this similarity, too. There’s the scene where his famous tv host friend critiques the main character’s documentary, saying it was plagiaristic, and that he barely covered his tracks. Anyone familiar with Fellini would be able to clock Bardo as an 8 1/2 clone very quickly. Not saying Bardo actually is plagiaristic (again, the central themes are wildly different), just that the director consciously used 8 1/2 as a template.

I never thought I would cry watching a CGI baby.

Is this as good as Amores Perros?

the ending was excellent. definitely not the strongest film of his but i can’t say i didnt enjoy it

I have never loved the technicals of a movie this much while being so let down by everything else.

What a weird creature this ended up being, for good and bad.

I get why it’s not some people’s thing. But man this movie spoke to me on a deep level. The idea of moving on from your place of origin and how you represent that in your work is something that I deal with a lot. The idea of being true to your roots big also prospering in your new life is a personal issue for me and I really connected with what the movie had to say on it.

I’m not a big Inarittu fan. I’ve only seen The Revenant which I didn’t like that much. But this completely blew me away. It’s definitely an art movie and like an impressionistic painting or a piece of classical music, you don’t interact with them by discussing the “plot.” What is the plot of A Starry Night? It’s all about how it makes you feel on an individual level, and in that case Bardo is truly a work of art for me.

I didn’t expect to love it but it’s one of my favorite movies of the year.

It is certainly his 8 1/2 and it might be blasphemous to say, but I actually prefer it to 8 1/2 because it hits a little closer to home for me personally.

i loved this film the whole way through, its so personal and vulnerable thats is just admirable, it really feels like a dream, and a visually stunning one at that. yes it drags on sometimes but whatever, inarritu put his heart on the table and that takes guts. people also should understand that its of course not for everyone and thats okay, theres universal themes in this movie but it particularly resonates with people who have left their home country to chase a bigger dream and for better or worse end up feeling... displaced, confused, and begin questioning who they really are, touching stuff in my opinion

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i agree completely, theres nothing like bardo in recent years, nothing

lol, no

How would you rank Bardo in his filmography? I love Birdman, the Revenant, 21 Grams, & Babel. Haven't seen anything else. Looking forward to watching Bardo later today.

Currently watching "This Place Rules" on HBOMAX. Holy fuck this country is weird.

Its more similar to birdman

instead of watching Bardo, watch "Amores Perros" , I think is the best one of the bunch and part of Babel and 21 grams "death" trilogy.

The movie are 3 stories that engage in a single event and its awesome

Just a heads up, if you cannot stomach animal cruelty, its going to be a heavy movie.