with birdman and the revenant alejandro gonzlez irritu became only the thirdever filmmaker to win the oscar for best director for two consecutive movies and the first to accomplish that feat in 65 years now irritu returns with bardo false chronicle of a handful of truths and the awards have not exactly been forthcomingafter debuting on the festival circuit bardo received mixed reviews with many critics complaining about its length and dreamlike narrative the film follows daniel gimnez cachos silverio gama a mexican journalist and filmmaker whos struggling to find purpose in his work with the pressures being put upon him and with his family much has been made about the characters likeness to irritu and indeed the movie features many metanarratives including the fact silverio is making his own fictional film that incorporates elements of his real life its tricky at times to separate whats truthful about bardo and whats not but thats the entire point during an interview conducted at the london film festival irritu tells total film that youre meant to read into that subtitle false chronicle of a handful of truths and see that the real truth is in the emotions these characters feel it is truthful but its false he says in the same breath we dived deep into what exactly that means heres the full qa edited for length and clarityimage credit venice film festivaltotal film this feels like a movie about displacement thats very personal to you but also one that will resonate with many who have left their country for others i wonder though why make this film that touches on these topics nowi couldnt do it before i was not ready i was not in the need for it its something that comes naturally organically subconsciously when you accumulate so many emotions that have been trapped that are contradictory one to the other and you have been busy with life then suddenly there is a moment that they have to be manifested and you have to intoxicate yourself in things that have been under wraps so i think that my moment came for me at my age and then i was ready to make an introspection and to share a form of an intimate outer fiction all these slices of memories and dreams and fears and reflections and regrets and things that have been shaping me as a human being as a mexican with stories that have shaped my country and myself to the most minimal intimate details of looking for the whistle of my father that i dont remember in a way all these things are a metaphorical way for me to express what i needed to by why at this moment i dont knowthe movie concentrates on a mexican journalist who becomes a worldwide sensation and there are obvious parallels with yourself theres also the full title of the movie bardo false chronicle of a handful of truths mixing reality and fiction was it