The Auteurs #45: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

One of the key figures in the new wave of Mexican films to emerge in the 1990s and the 2000s, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu came to the scene as a late bloomer yet would manage to bring something new to the world of films. In creating films that weren’t afraid to be brutal in its depiction of death and despair, Inarritu would create films that managed to be global but also display humanity’s struggle with themselves. Having recently won an Oscar for his fifth film and a new one is on the way, Inarritu is already becoming a major name as he’s managed to explore the complexities of humanity and their fascination with death.

Born in Mexico City on August 15, 1963, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu was the youngest of seven children in a large Mexican family as he spent much of his childhood traveling as he spent much of his mid-teens traveling on cargo ships across the Atlantic. These experiences would have a profound effect on the young Inarritu as he would spend his early 20s working as a radio DJ in Mexico City and eventually becoming a radio director at the age 24. Yet, Inarritu’s interest in films were still looming as he would spend much of the late 80s writing music for features in Mexico until he met Raul Olvera where the two formed a production company called Z Films which specialized on shorts and advertisements.

More can be read here at Cinema Axis.

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