Alejandro González Iñárritu has built one of the most distinctive filmographies in modern cinema. Across more than two decades, the Mexican filmmaker has moved between intimate dramas, ambitious ensemble stories, dark comedy, survival thrillers, and deeply personal explorations of identity. Although his films often place flawed characters in difficult situations, each project approaches those ideas from a different angle.
With his eighth feature, Digger, arriving in October 2026, the Mexican filmmaker has another opportunity to add to one of the most acclaimed directing careers of the 21st century. Ranking his films is no easy task, particularly when each one attempts something different. Still, some stand above the rest for their performances, storytelling, technical achievements, and lasting impact. Here’s how every Alejandro González Iñárritu-released film ranks so far.
7. Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (2022)
Bardo is arguably Alejandro González Iñárritu’s most personal film, but it is also his most difficult to rank. The story follows Silverio Gama, a Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker living in Los Angeles who returns to Mexico after receiving a major professional honor. His journey gradually becomes a strange mixture of memories, dreams, family experiences, and questions about his identity. The film deliberately blurs the boundaries between reality and imagination.
There is plenty to admire in Bardo, particularly its striking imagery and ambitious set pieces. However, its introspective approach can make the film feel distant when compared with the urgency of Iñárritu’s earlier work. It remains an intriguing addition to his filmography, but its deliberately loose structure makes it less accessible than most of his other features. Bardo currently holds the lowest Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score among his seven released features.
6. Biutiful (2010)
Biutiful takes Alejandro González Iñárritu away from the sprawling structure of his earlier films and places almost everything on one character. Javier Bardem stars as Uxbal, a father living in Barcelona who tries to provide for his children while dealing with serious personal and financial problems. The film follows his increasingly difficult circumstances without offering easy solutions.
Bardem’s performance gives Biutiful much of its power, earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Iñárritu also brings a strong sense of place to the story, using Barcelona’s immigrant communities and working-class neighborhoods as part of Uxbal’s world. It can be a difficult watch, but its focus on family and mortality gives the film a strong emotional core.
5. 21 Grams (2003)
Alejandro González Iñárritu followed his acclaimed debut with another interconnected drama built around lives colliding after a devastating event. 21 Grams stars Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benicio del Toro as three people whose lives become connected by tragedy. Rather than telling the story chronologically, the film jumps between different points in time and gradually reveals how the characters reached their respective situations.
Although the nonlinear structure makes 21 Grams more demanding than a conventional drama, it also gives the story its identity. Watts earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, while del Toro received a supporting-actor nomination. The performances remain the film’s greatest strength, particularly as each character wrestles with guilt, grief, faith, and the possibility of redemption.
4. Babel (2006)
Babel expanded the interconnected storytelling approach of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s first two features to an international scale. The film moves between characters in Morocco, Mexico, Japan, and the United States, connecting seemingly separate stories through a single event. Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael García Bernal, Rinko Kikuchi, and Adriana Barraza lead an ensemble that gives the film its wide scope.
The film earned seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, while Iñárritu won the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Although Babel is not always as immediately gripping as Amores Perros, its ambition is difficult to ignore. It marked the completion of what is commonly called Iñárritu’s “Trilogy of Death,” following Amores Perros and 21 Grams.
3. The Revenant (2015)
The Revenant gave Alejandro González Iñárritu one of his biggest productions and his most physically demanding story. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass, a frontiersman who survives a brutal bear attack and sets out across the wilderness after being left for dead. The film turns his journey into a stark battle for survival and revenge.
Emmanuel Lubezki‘s cinematography gives the movie an extraordinary visual identity, while the harsh production conditions became part of the film’s reputation. DiCaprio won his first Academy Award for Best Actor, and Iñárritu won his second consecutive Best Director Oscar after Birdman. Although the film sometimes sacrifices character development for spectacle, its filmmaking remains among the most impressive of Iñárritu’s career.
2. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
BiRDMAN or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) represents a major departure from the director’s earlier dramas. Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, a former superhero star attempting to revive his career by staging a Broadway adaptation of a Raymond Carver story. The film mixes backstage comedy with a story about artistic ambition, insecurity, fame, and the desire to remain relevant.
While the film’s apparent single-take presentation became one of its biggest talking points, its technical achievement never overwhelms the characters. Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis, and Naomi Watts form a terrific ensemble, while Iñárritu maintains a frantic rhythm throughout. Birdman won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, making it one of the defining achievements of his career.
1. Amores Perros (2000)
Amores Perros remains the best introduction to everything that makes Alejandro González Iñárritu’s filmmaking so compelling. His feature directorial debut tells three interconnected stories in Mexico City, in which the lives of its characters become linked after a violent car crash. The film combines crime, family drama, romance, and tragedy while presenting a city filled with characters making desperate choices.
What makes the movie remarkable is how confident it feels for a debut. Iñárritu established his interest in intersecting lives and moral consequences while working with Guillermo Arriaga on the screenplay. The film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and became the first installment of the director’s “Trilogy of Death.” It remains Alejandro González Iñárritu’s highest-rated feature on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 93% critics’ score, and its influence is seen throughout his later work.
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