In 2016, Alejandro G. I帽谩rritu found himself walking up to the Oscars stage to pick up the best director award for the second time in two years. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 believe this is happening,鈥� he said.
With his consecutive wins for 鈥淏irdman鈥� and 鈥淭he Revenant鈥� he had become one of only three directors, the others are John Ford and Joseph L. Mankiewicz, to do so and the first since 1950. If there is a peak in the movie making business, that might be it. But then, I帽谩rritu disappeared 鈥� at least from Hollywood features. He had some things to wrestle with, about himself, his art, his family, his country. That six years of introspection would bring him back to Mexico to make his first feature set there since his debut, 鈥淎mores Perros,鈥� from 2000.
鈥淚 needed to find a little bit of peace and order in things that were manifesting in me emotionally,鈥� I帽谩rritu said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. 鈥淭o shoot in Mexico was a consequence of the process that I went through. It was not the destination.鈥�
The result, 鈥淏ardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,鈥� is a surreal journey into the subconscious of a journalist and documentary filmmaker, Silverio (Daniel Gim茅nez Cacho), who left Mexico City with his family some 20 years prior and found success in Los Angeles. As he tries to write a speech to accept a major honor in his adopted home country, he finds himself paralyzed by the weight of, well, everything, from Mexico's history to his anxieties about his art.
The title plays into various meanings of bardo, as both a limbo between death and rebirth, in Buddhism, and bard in Spanish, and the film is a sprawling, droll dreamscape of emotion, family, home, identity and mythmaking. It opens in theaters in limited release Friday before hitting Netflix on Dec. 16.
鈥淭his is a story without a story,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very different construction from anything that I have done.鈥�
There are many parallels with I帽谩rritu鈥檚 life in Silverio's story. He also left Mexico 21 years ago and reached extraordinary heights in Los Angeles. In the film, a former colleague, one who stayed in Mexico, criticizes Silverio鈥檚 work and life and skewers the hubris of artists. It is as though I帽谩rritu is writing his own negative review about himself and it is just one of many dense scenes in which you can see the filmmaker dissecting himself.
鈥淚 included some thoughts that I have about myself,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I can be harsher with myself than anybody else. Much harsher. I know what people think. And as (Silverio鈥檚 wife) Lucia says to Silverio in the film, 鈥楽ometimes we become what we think people think about us.鈥�"
It was a humorously meta exercise, but it is important for I帽谩rritu that people see also 鈥淏ardo鈥� as fiction. It has to be. Autobiographies, for him, are only lies and hypocrisies.
鈥淭hey claim truth and facts, but truth and facts do not exist,鈥� he said. 鈥淔iction is something that helps us to arrive to do a higher truth and reveals what the reality is hiding.鈥�
I帽谩rritu likes to say that he made 鈥淏ardo鈥� with his eyes closed, looking inward to find a superior kind of reality or truth that is 鈥渋nfinite, chaotic, contradictory and terrifying.鈥�
The cast also had their eyes closed in a way. They didn鈥檛 get to read the script prior to joining, but instead did extensive rehearsals starting six months before the shoot. By the time the cameras were rolling, they felt so at home in their characters and with their fellow actors that they could simply be present.
For Ximena Lamadrid, who plays Silverio鈥檚 grown daughter Camila, this process allowed her to separate from thinking too much about the big picture dream construct.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 like, oh, we鈥檙e part of this huge dream or this Silverio鈥檚 conscience,鈥� Lamadrid said, 鈥淚 really felt and I still feel watching it, that my character, our characters, are based in truth.鈥�
Her character is considering a return to Mexico, while her younger brother Lorenzo (脥ker S谩nchez Solano) questions his father's romanticism about Mexico and tells him that he feels more at home in the United States.
鈥淲hen we started rehearsing and started to connect with each other, a lot of beautiful things came out. And those were really good tools to use when we were shooting,鈥� Solano said. 鈥淭he characters had some specific things that were actually going on in our personal lives. That was a really crazy coincidence."
Many of the main players found themselves relating to and being affected by various threads and themes. One scene, in which Silverio is conversing with his dead father, had a deep impact on Cacho. He鈥檇 lost his own father over a decade prior but hadn鈥檛 thought much about him until that moment.
鈥淲e were shooting and the presence of my father was suddenly there,鈥� Cacho said. 鈥淲hen he died I just forgot about him. From that day to now, I鈥檝e been having beautiful chats with him. This was very special for me.鈥�
鈥淏ardo鈥� had its world premiere earlier this fall. It was the first time I帽谩rritu had seen it with more than a few people. Thousands saw it, and dozens of reviews were written off of the official festival cut. But, in that moment, watching it with 2,000 people, I帽谩rritu made the bold decision to go back and re-edit the film before its theatrical and Netflix releases.
鈥淧ain is temporary, but the film is forever,鈥� I帽谩rritu said. 鈥淚 knew I was dealing with a situation, not a problem."
The resulting film that will play in theaters and on Netflix is 22 minutes shorter, with some scenes cut entirely, others trimmed or replaced and an overall tightened focus on Silverio鈥檚 family who are straddling two countries and two identities. And he鈥檚 happy with it, whether it goes on to get Oscar recognition or not.
鈥淚t鈥檒l be interesting to see if this film really can touch the heart in a universal way. But there鈥檚 nothing really we can do,鈥� I帽谩rritu said. 鈥淚 have a friend that says this line that I like, which is 鈥榣ow expectations, high serenity.鈥� And that鈥檚 how we are navigating this.鈥�
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
