Will ‘Pardo’ be Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s third best director in a row after ‘Birdman’ and ‘The Revenant’ wins? It’s a question many have asked on their way to the Venice Film Festival, where the Netflix-powered “Bardo” universe debuted in competition.
The three-hour drama, concluding at 12:15 a.m. Venice time, received a standing ovation for just over four minutes at Sala Grande. A number of audience members began leaving before the film ended at the late hour, but the vast majority remained applauding the president.
Inarritu was clearly affected by the reception of his film, certainly one of his most personal efforts to date, and tears were in his eyes as he embraced his cast and producers.
The film, which has drawn comparisons to Federico Fellini’s “8 1/2” adaptation, has garnered mixed reviews so far, but Venice audiences have largely stayed with the film, delighting Iñárritu’s visuals that were at times zigzag but often deep and poignant.
Written by Iñárritu and Nicolás Giacobone, who previously collaborated on the Academy Award-winning Birdman, “Bardo” tells the story of a Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker, who returns home and works through an existential crisis while grappling with his identity and familial relationships. The film stars Daniel Jimenez Cacho and Griselda Siciliani. It should be noted that “Pardo” represents the return of Inarritu to Mexico since his debut in the feature-length director “Amores Perros”.
“Bardo” is the premiere of the Inarritu film at the Venice Film Festival. Netflix has several films that debuted in Venice in addition to ‘Bardo’. Among his other live broadcast premieres are White Noise by Noah Baumach and Andrew Dominik’s Blonde. The three films compete for the Golden Lion award.
“Alejandro is one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers and one of the leading visionaries in our industry,” said Scott Stuber, president of Netflix for World Cinema when the operator picked up the drama. “Bardo” is a cinematic experience that inspired us to create a release strategy designed for the film to penetrate culture in the largest and broadest way. We will be giving movie lovers everywhere the opportunity to experience the movie with a global theatrical release and worldwide release on Netflix. Having known Alejandro for so long, I personally am very excited to finally be able to work alongside him and present his film to a global audience.”
Inarritu’s latest film, The Revenant, received 12 Academy Award nominations and won Best Director. “Birdman” won Best Picture in 2015 and scored 9 total nominations. It was Inarritu’s first win as best director. Inarritu’s career was determined by his collaboration with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubesky, but for “Pardo” he collaborated with Darius Konje.
“Bardo” will debut in theaters and be released on Netflix later this year.
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