Thursday, March 28, 2024

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Review // Birdman

First Published:

[projekktor id=’15844′]

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman is a lot of things. It’s a soaring achievement in technical filmmaking, an unambiguous celebration of the actor and an obvious broadside attack on celebrity culture, entertainment media and the superhero genre. It also marks a career resurgence for its lead actor who’s real-life career oddly mirrors it’s protagonist. But it’s also not a lot of things. It’s not subtle, it’s not apologetic, and it’s not a movie you want to drink a large soda before watching. Seriously, missing two minutes of this thing, while not a disaster in regard to understanding the plot, would certainly ruin some of it’s hypnotic magic. Because above all else, the film is an absolutely engrossing cinematic experience.

If you hadn’t seen the trailer you’d be forgiven for thinking the film sounded kind of…well, boring. The film’s website described it as “…a black comedy that tells the story of an actor – famous for portraying an iconic superhero – as he struggles to mount a Broadway play”. And it stars Michael Keaton! Woo…hoo? Furthermore, if you were familiar with the director’s previous films (Babel, Biutiful), you might expect an over-serious morality piece. You would be wrong. While it might be a bit of a morality piece (Iñárritu has never been afraid to voice his beliefs quite clearly on screen, and the addition of three co-writers hasn’t changed that) the film’s message plays second fiddle to it’s craft.

At the heart of the film, and at the heart of all the hype surrounding it, is Michael Keaton. The veteran actor was, of course, the star of the Batman franchise over twenty years ago, a height of fame from which he’s been descending ever since (although who but George Clooney has ever plateaued at such a height?). Keaton plays Riggen Thomson, former star of the Birdman franchise who is now attempting to legitimize a fading career via a Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” which he wrote, directs and stars in. With his weathered face and receding hairline Keaton looks more like your friend Kevin’s Dad than the Dark Knight, and this fact is played for more than a few laughs in Birdman.

Stalked by a literal embodiment of his superstar ego (a gravel-voiced man in a bird costume) and dealing with a young daughter (Sam, played by Emma Stone) who is fresh out of rehab, Riggen is just nights away from the play’s premiere when one of his lead actors is injured by a falling light. Enter Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) a Broadway golden boy and a real piece of work who’s eye quickly fixes on the enigmatic Sam. Shiner joins an already dysfunctional cast including his neurotic girlfriend Lesley (Naomi Watts) and Riggen’s current beau Laura (Andrea Riseborough). Add to that mix Riggen’s ex-wife Sylvia (Amy Ryan) and his friend/producer Jake (Zach Galifianakis), and the theatre is a boiling pot of ego and dramatics. You know, like every stage production ever.

It’s a mad-cap walk-and-talk, like The West Wing on acid, and it’s an awe-inspiring achievement.

The majority of the film circulates within the bowels of New York’s historic St. James Theatre. Beginning on a shot of Thomson as he meditates while hovering over the floor of his dressing room, Iñárritu and famed cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity) launch us into a single-take march through the labyrinthine hallways, dressing rooms and rooftops of the aging building. It’s a mad-cap walk-and-talk, like The West Wing on acid, and it’s an awe-inspiring achievement. In fact it almost becomes distracting as you search for the cuts while the film takes you through the multiple preview performances leading up to opening night.

The film is a complicated and multi-layered idea (a play starring a guy who played a bird within a film starring a guy who played a bat) but the single viewpoint means it’s actually a pretty straight-forward viewing experience. We’re just tagging along for the ride inside Riggen’s head, and because of this biased viewpoint we get to see just how off the deep-end this guy really is. Riggen throws furniture around his room via unexplained telekinetic powers (either a residual effect of his Birdman experience or completely in his head), flies through New York high rises and summons fireballs from the sky in a fit of pure id. You’re never really sure what’s real and what’s not, but it all serves to draw you further into the madness.

Birdman is a pretty tough film to review because it really gives you very little time to think about what it’s saying. The film is certainly a celebration of the artist, highlighting the difficulty and sacrifice behind the creation of a piece of art. It’s also a takedown of the ego and the idea of celebrity, showing the extent to which such things can break a man and how violent it can be trying to separate yourself from your public identity. But it also lobs some quick jabs at the idea of criticism via Tabitha (Lindsay Duncan), a theatre critic who vows to “destroy” Riggen’s play before she has even seen it. It’s a small subplot that has irked some critics, but it’s also a bit of a contradiction. Tabitha’s dislike for Riggen stems from his participation in Hollywood superhero blockbusters, the same type of films Iñárritu recently called “cultural genocide”. So while the director sets Tabitha up as the villain in the film, her views are clearly not that far from his own. And even after Riggen has told off the theatre critic he reads her review eagerly, showing that whatever his feelings, her words still carry weight.

Whatever Iñárritu’s intended statements on showbiz however, the film’s construction says much more than any of it’s characters. From the brilliantly tongue-in-cheek casting, to the splashy drum score, to the sparse but impressive special effects, the film will certainly be a major contender in many categories come awards season (Emmanuel Lubezki is probably already replacing the “Cuarons” with “Iñárritus” in last year’s Oscar speech), and rightfully so. Rarely does a film come along that so joyfully flouts our expectations. It has also brought the talents of Michael Keaton back to the forefront, and it’s hard to think of a more deserving actor. Perhaps twenty years from now when Christian Bale has faded into relative obscurity he’ll get his own Birdman. Every actor should be so lucky.

Reviewed by Evan Arppe.

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