Movies - TV
All 8 Alejandro G. Iñárritu Movies, Ranked
By MARSHALL SHAFFER
8. Biutiful (2010)
If you like unadulterated misery porn, then “Biutiful” might just be for you. Once the protagonist learns he has terminal prostate cancer, the film is two-and-a-half hours of non-stop cynicism and self-pity, and while Iñárritu aims for profundity, the end result is a movie with a bloated runtime that gestures at depth but lacks any meaningful commentary.
7. Bardo (2022)
“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” is the kind of movie you only get to make after you’ve earned five Oscars. The film runs for 152 minutes (slimmed down from 174 minutes) and contains truly all of Iñárritu’s ideas about displacement and belonging. In the end, whatever insight Iñárritu brings is drowned out by mixed metaphors and self-importance.
6. Carne y Arena (2017)
Iñárritu won an Oscar for “Carne Y Arena,” a 7-minute virtual reality short film that tells the story of an encounter between Mexican migrants and the U.S. border patrol. Yet, while the first of its kind, the film often leans on technology as a crutch, and almost pummels the audience with the filmmaker’s virtuosity and its soapbox messaging.
5. Birdman (2014)
“Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance,” tells the story of a movie star who attempts to put on a vanity play in search of pure artistry, with extended shots that look like an unbroken single take. However, while the characters talk about creating art, no one ever really does, and Iñárritu falls back on gimmickry to disguise the film's lack of substance.
4. 21 Grams (2003)
“21 Grams,” the second film in the “Trilogy of Death” series, is perhaps the most ambitious piece of hyperlink camera but is certainly the weakest entry in the trilogy. Without a chronological order, the film doesn’t follow narrative logic so much as emotional logic, and while the events may be difficult to understand, their emotional impact is deeply felt.