Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Netflix | Release Date: November 4, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
22
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Original-CinKaren GordonNov 17, 2022
It’s high minded stuff, but Iñárritu, has a knack for wrapping these ideas in movies that are well crafted and exciting to watch. Read full review
100
TheWrapCarlos AguilarSep 1, 2022
Throughout the film’s warranted nearly-three-hour runtime, Iñárritu writes the cinematic verses of an oneiric love poem to an ever-incongruous homeland while simultaneously investigating his own perceived hubris, insecurities and fractured identity. Read full review
97
Paste MagazineKathy Michelle ChacónNov 22, 2022
A deeply moving cinematic experience that entangles threads of Mexican history with one man’s surreal odyssey through life, death, success and grief. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comNell MinowDec 16, 2022
What interactions are “real” and what is imagined or symbolic is left to us to sort through, or just to decide it does not matter. Each moment is presented to us with vibrance and wit. Read full review
85
The Film VerdictDeborah YoungJul 10, 2023
“Mexico for me is a state of mind,” Iñárritu has said, and Bardo is his own idiosyncratic vision of it. It is a handsomely produced creation in which the director has clearly exercised great control and his stamp is to be found on almost every credit. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 10, 2022
The brilliance of what Iñárritu does here is that, if you watch any scene in “Bardo” for 30 seconds, you will keep watching. But you have to be willing to give him those 30 seconds at the start of each scene. You have to work with him a little. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattNov 4, 2022
As an all-in-one viewing experience, Bardo is undeniably uneven, often maddening, and seems to have approximately 17 endings. Still, the movie is a marvel in its own way, dotted with pure cinephile delights and small unexpected pockets of profundity. Read full review
70
Little White LiesRafaela Sales RossNov 18, 2022
It is an exercise in self-punishment disguised as self-aggrandisement, by a director powered by confident resignation and – for those unlucky enough to have experienced the gaping hole of yearning for home – it is entirely worth the self-indulgence. Read full review
70
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganSep 3, 2022
It’s impossible to deny the strength of the startling array of thoughts and concepts which Inarritu has brought to life and, ultimately, brings together, although the impact is clearly diluted by his unwillingness to cut. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMurtada ElfadlNov 16, 2022
Dense and laborious, Bardo sometimes feels like an endurance test. Its moments of visual brilliance carry it far. Just not far enough to become essential viewing Read full review
67
The Film StageLuke HicksSep 2, 2022
When it’s all said and done—the technical marvels elucidated, the stylistic flare appreciated, the wide-eyed self-reflection given a fair shake in retaliation to the all-too-easy critique of self-indulgence—I can’t help but wince a little at the thought of a second watch. If it’ll be great to revisit certain sequences, the thought of stomaching all three hours again so soon is grueling. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJake CoyleNov 2, 2022
As with all of Iñárritu’s films, “Bardo” isn’t just deeply felt but impassioned to the max, with grand designs to not just plunge into his own soul but that of Mexico, too. For a filmmaker always pushing for more — including those titles that stretch on and on — “Bardo” is his most ambitious and indulgent film yet. Read full review
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