THE SUBJECT OF death comes up early in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s conversation with Empire. It makes sense: shuffling off this mortal coil is in part what led the man behind Oscar-winning films The Revenant and Birdman to make Bardo (full title: Bardo (Or False Chronicle Of A Handful of Truths)). “I turn 60 next year,” he says. “When you’re closer to death, there’s an inevitable invitation to look inward and make sense of any questions that have been buried.”
The writer-director is speaking to us on the 21st anniversary of his move from Mexico City to Los Angeles, a deeply formative journey that shaped Bardo’s messages about identity and family, told through the eyes of journalist Silverio (Daniel Giménez Cacho). “Once you leave your country, you find yourself in another territory, physically, emotionally, mentally,” he reflects. “A lot of those things start shaping the things that you’ve lost and the things that you gain.”