Written by Matt Kelly
Plot: An actor, famous for playing a superhero on film, has to put it all on the line to direct and star in a serious Broadway play that will either turn his life around or destroy it.
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is incredibly hard to explain.
On one hand, it feels fake. It’s like no movie you have ever seen and that contributes to its artificial nature. But on the other hand, the performances feel incredibly real. The characters are vulnerable and the story they are in the middle of seems so common that you can’t deny that it must have actually happened before. On a third hand, there is a science fiction/fantasy element that takes those first two hands and confuses the hell out of the line between them. You will leave the theatre scratching your head. Did you like it? What happened? It has been a week and I still have no idea.
Now don’t get me wrong. It was really good. You can’t deny how engaging this film is. The story is incredibly human. You feel like Birdman was made at the perfect time in pop culture history. A desperate man tries to regain what he used to value but realizes he doesn’t know what to value anymore. This is easily the most self-aware film I’ve ever seen and its honesty so cool to see it from so many different angles.
As a fan of Broadway, I can’t leave out how much this movie is clearly a play. And I am not saying that this movie is about a play, which is also true. I am saying that this movie is a play. The writing is very deliberate. Characters say what they are thinking in elaborate paragraph after elaborate paragraph. The activation of space is constant. Characters are walking down different hallways and the camera shifts mid-sentence to another door where another conversation is going in. It is like nothing you have ever seen in a film before.
The most incredible single technical achievement is that most of the shots in the film are “long takes” and when I say long, I mean long. Some last for as long as twenty minutes, which really is a lot. The camera is floating between characters and around tables with a technique that screams Emmanuel Lubezki. You may not recognize the name but if you have seen Children of Men or Gravity, you know how incredible his work is. You feel so present in every scene. This is the first movie where every scene is like that car scene in Children of Men. If you know what I’m talking about, you will love this. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, do yourself a favor. [Watch out though. It’s pretty graphic]
Let’s not forget about the director. Alejandro González Iñárritu deserves about as much credit as possible. Not only did he control this incredible production and its giant cast, but he is also credited with writing the screenplay. Now I can’t tell how much he wrote, but I have a feeling it’s a significant portion. Either way, Iñárritu makes this film do things you would never believe. There is nothing extra. No moment feels like it didn’t absolutely need to make the cut. Nobody is phoning it in. Ed Norton is pretty exceptional as the “serious” actor. Emma Stone plays troubled your adult better than anyone I’ve ever seen. Naomi Watts does pretty much everything. Her character rides the emotional roller coaster. Frankly, she deserves way more credit for pretty much holding the film together at times.
Michael Keaton is the best. He’s so great and this really is the role of a lifetime. Screw Batman. This is, hands down, the role he should be remembered for. As the center of the film, we see him go from stable to insane in so many scenes that you have a hard time believing that it is actually a single take. He does entire long scenes where he is just talking to himself and they are brilliant. You will feel happy for him within minutes of him making you feel miserable. I cannot stress this enough. Michael Keaton is the best. THE. BEST.
So go see it. It is labeled as a comedy, but it probably shouldn’t be. Don’t get me wrong. It’s funny, but if you go in expecting Neighbors (no disrespect to Neighbors) you’re gonna be disappointed. Think instead something along the lines of Woody Allen or Oscar Wilde. If you want a reference from this century, the best I’ve got is Aaron Sorkin. Birdman is people walking down halls talking about big crazy themes more eloquently than anyone you’ve ever seen in your life. If you don’t like Aaron Sorkin, disregard that last sentence. It’s still worth seeing. Will it win an Oscar? Yeah, several. Cinematography for sure. Hopefully directing. Michael Keaton deserves it more than anyone else I’ve seen this year but I feel like comedies unfairly get overlooked by the Academy. It doesn’t matter though. This movie will withstand the test of time better than any other movie this season. Film makers and audiences lucky enough to see it will be talking about it every time some actor has a meltdown or some play turns out to be a mess behind the scenes.
Birdman is, at its core, a story about what happens when you let your guard down and take your mask off and put it all on the line. Michael Keaton did that here and there is really nothing else to say except, Michael Keaton is the best.
Rating: 9/10
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Matthew Nando Kelly is a contributing writer for Pop-Break. Aside from TV reviews, he also writes about films, music, and video games. Matthew also has a podcast called Mad Bracket Status where he discusses pop culture related brackets with fellow Pop-Break writer DJ Chapman. He loves U2, cats, and the New Orleans Saints. He can also occasionally be found writing lists on Topless Robot and his twitter handle is @NationofNando
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