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Ranking Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu Films

Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu is one of Mexico’s biggest talents when it comes to directors. He has made both Spanish and English-language films throughout his career, and is respected so much in fact that he is a double Oscar-winner. While I personally find some of his movies overrated, his best efforts are usually terrific. All of these dramas are very depressing, sad and tragic, but most of them share strong filmmaking and especially themes. So without further ado, here is my ranking of all of his released movies so far.

6. The Revenant

I had very strong reactions upon seeing this movie in theaters back in 2015. I may have overreacted then, but I still find this film pretty bad overall. Not only is The Revenant very pointless in its hollow story, but it’s also ridiculously implausible and simply stupid in many of its ridiculous plot points. The central performance is incredibly overrated and not worthy of any awards, and the movie is overly violent with very shallow characterization in it. Needless to say, it’s by far the worst and only bad movie that Inarritu has directed so far.

5. Birdman

Though Birdman is a much better film than the aforementioned failure, it’s still very overrated in its own right. It’s ridiculous to me that this director got his two Oscars for his two weakest movies, but that’s how it usually goes with the Academy. While I respect Birdman from a technical and thematic standpoint and while it is superbly acted across the board, the cinematography choices are mostly forced as is the endless cursing. And it barely skims the surface of this subject matter, focusing more on gimmicks than sophistication.

4. Biutiful

Biutiful is at its best when dealing with the familial elements, but everything with the Chinese characters felt like an unnecessary, forced and pointless detour. The film is very well acted by Javier Bardem, it features good dialogue and it is very emotional at times, but it’s also incredibly bloated in its runtime and simply needless in many of its parts. So it is a solid movie overall and it can have its very poignant, wonderful sequences, but the excessive runtime really prevented it from reaching greater heights.

3. 21 Grams

It’s no surprise that his initial trilogy called ‘Death Trilogy’ gets the top spot. This is when his movies were a breath of fresh air and truly well-made and memorable across the board. With that being said, the middle chapter 21 Grams is easily the weakest of the three as it’s never as great or as striking. It is very well connected in its parts, very emotional and stupendously acted with Naomi Watts being the obvious standout, but it’s also exhaustingly depressing even for Inarritu’s high standards in that department.

2. Babel

Babel is quite uneven in quality as the Japan segment is particularly weak and uninspired, but other segments work much better with Amelia’s story being the absolute highlight thanks in no small part to Adriana Barraza’s powerful performance in a very emotional role. The film is also very well directed and stupendously shot. It’s weaker than the first movie, but it’s a marked improvement upon its predecessor which is why it deserved its Oscar nominations and the second spot on this list.

1. Amores perros

I am a dog activist at heart as I absolutely cannot stand human lack of care and understanding when it comes to these loyal creatures. That’s why Amores perros spoke to me on a personal level as it’s a hugely emotional, quintessential plight of dogs movie which is incredibly brutal, but all the more powerful and striking for it. But besides that, the movie also serves as a phenomenally connected, thrilling triptych with all three stories working so well and leading into a coherent, amazing whole. It all ends very emotionally, it’s filled with many instantly memorable moments and it’s undoubtedly the magnum opus of Inarritu’s filmography.