Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

There is no doubt "Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths" is one of the most interesting, artistic, and visually stunning films of the year. What's it all about? Simply, it's the story of Silverio (Daniel Giménez Cacho) who is a journalist and a documentary film maker who has left his home country of Mexico to raise his family in the USA. He is returning with his family to receive an award and then travelling back to the US to receive yet another. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu is Mexican and has given us some great films: 'Amores Perros' (2000), '21 Grams' (2003), 'Babel' (2006), 'Biutiful' (2010), 'Birdman' (2014) and 'The Revenant' (2015). "Bardo" is his most personal film yet; I suspect it to be semi-autobiographical. It's also clearly his most experimental and artistic film to date. The closest thing I can compare it to is "Synecdoche, New York" but if it was directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky. It's about a middle-aged man going through a midlife crisis, an artist crisis, about the anxiety and fear and stress revolving around the creation and recognition of his work. It's about his relationship with Mexico, history, his family - his wife, kids, and his parents. It's about life, death and everything in between. It's a lot and with a 2 hour and 40-minute run time, it does covers a ton of ground. Breathtaking, brilliant, and at time times brutally honest. Catch this in a theatre near you. If you wait long enough, it will show up on Netfilx. Best to catch this one on a big screen if you can.