Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

I'll start by saying this movie is worth seeing at least once, at least to see what it is doing. It is shot much like Hitchcock's *Rope*, though not exactly. It isn't all one shot, but there are many shots that flow from scene to scene. The catch? Those scenes are not always chronologically continuous. This is a fact you very well might miss if you are distracted or have something inhibiting you (the theatre I watched it in first however many years ago had abysmal audio, so this was me the first time).

This may sound disorienting, but if you change the way you are viewing the movie, I think it will help. Don't look at it as a standard movie: instead, view it as a stage play whose stage is an entire neighborhood, mostly one building, and which was mostly captured as it was being performed by a cameraman. This means that the actors moving in and out of scene have the same flow that a stage play has, and this also explains the presence of the drummer that you randomly see in the background performing the soundtrack to the movie. (Yes, the soundtrack is mostly a drummer; it works really well somehow.)

There's only one tiny wrench in this, the movie has all sorts of elements that are generally assumed to be hallucinations or imaginings of the main character (Keaton). In different scenes where he is alone, we see him using various telekinetic powers. Occasionally, we actually see his younger self as Birdman (an action-movie role from his younger days) in person, although usually he just antagonizes him via voice over. Some of the few hard cuts in the movie that do not follow an actor from one room to another are used to establish that the telekinesis in the previous scene is probably just Keaton throwing stuff around the room in anger.

How to reconcile this is... well, difficult. It certainly plays with the tension between stage plays and movies. In neither is everything you see always taken literally, but in stage plays it is much more figurative (hence the bending of time and space from scene to scene). But on stage, you usually can't perform the kinds of special effects (characteristic of movies) that we are being asked not to take literally. (I'm trying to stay spoiler free, so I'll not say what I'm thinking right now.)

This is where we should look at the themes of the movie, because these formal elements in conflict that I mentioned mirror the thematic conflict between cinema and theatre. Long story short, the premise of the mov... (movie? . . . stageplay? . . . ) ...of the story is that Keaton is a has-been actor, known (very well known) for superhero movies he did ten or twenty years ago, all based around a character named Bat*coughs* I mean, Birdman.

Sound familiar? Okay, good. Well the inciting incident in the story is that he is trying to reclaim his career as an actor in general, and with it his artistic street-cred, so to speak, by writing (adapting), directing, and starring in a play. It is based on a novel by someone who encouraged him to be an actor when he was a child. Therefore, this isn't a move of cold calculation, trying to get famous again after years of not being as successful as he was as Birdman and therefore being artistically inauthentic, although he is certainly accused of this. But it is instead a very real attempt to reconnect with his younger, artistic self, before Birdman, which he sees as the inauthentic detour of his career and as not what he wants to be remembered for.

The conflict is, he seems to be finding that the film world doesn't translate to the stage world. He seems to be hitting the problem that there may not be such a thing as an "actor-in-general" but only two separate things called "stage-actor" and "screen-actor." On multiple occasions, this film criticizes the spectacles that saturate Hollywood and the celebrity culture it grows in the Petri dish of its award shows. Edward Norton plays his foil, someone else who finds himself on stage more than he does in his natural life, yet a stage insider, rather than a film one.

The film isn't all anti film culture, however. In many ways, film has its last laugh when we see that the kinds of things that make the theatre-world fall in love with you and fawn over your talent are superficial as well.

The formal conflict inherent in how the film is delivered therefore mirrors the thematic content that is being delivered, which is almost always the optimum result.

In other words, I have a lot of respect for this movie. I rate it 9 stars because that is how I say I think everyone should give it a fair chance.

Whilst viewing 'Birdman', I spent the first hour of the film trying to decipher my emotions and opinions towards it, what I was watching was a weird, yet wonderful work of art. Truly though, 'Birdman' is a technical masterpiece. Michael Keaton has generally been undermined as an actor (despite a few notable roles as Batman or Beetlejuice) and has instead faced Hollywood picking more acclaimed and popular actors, 'Birdman' however might just be his ticket to an Oscar nomination, and possibly even a win, his performance is mesmerising. Alejandro González Iñárritu has created a truly spectacular character study that arguably features this year's strongest acting performances, alongside a well- executed script, booming soundtrack and a monumental achievement with cinematography from Emmanuel Lubezki in which he attempts a Hitchcockian approach, reminiscent of 'Rope', and displays the story through a seemingly single and unbroken sweeping shot. This is the true definition of a masterpiece.

Former star, Riggan Thomas, once famed for playing superhero Birdman, tries to get his career back on track, writing, starring and directing a Broadway play.

I can't lie, I quit when I first tried to watch it, I got twenty minutes in, and struggled, I found it a little too heavy, this time I stuck with it til the credits rolled.

I'm so glad I stuck with it this time round, it took a little time for me to get into it, initially I found it quite pretentious, but it does settle, and genuinely becomes quite engrossing. The turning point came for me, when Riggan receives a roasting from his daughter, it really helps explain where he's at.

Sublime cinematography, it's a gorgeous looking film, the camera work is impeccable, the film flows incredibly well. You also get to see a great deal of Edward Norton.

The cinematography is great, but even that is trumped by the acting, some superb performances. Art does seem to imitate life, it seemed relevant for Keaton, who of course played Batman, but definitely had a lean spell, his performance here was spellbinding.

Credit to Edward Norton, Emma Stone and Andrea Riseburgh, I thought the whole supporting cast were excellent.

There was a massive hype surrounding this film, I understand why it's loved, I can't say I deem it as a masterpiece, it's somehow too niche for that, it's definitely going to alienate some viewers, the mood was right for me tonight though, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you haven't seen it, or quit early as I did, I urge you to give it a chance.

8/10.

Despite the near-universal acclaim from critics, 'Birdman' very much divided audiences to a quite extreme degree. This division is very much understandable, 'Birdman' has a great many merits but not everything will work for everybody.

To me 'Birdman' was an excellent film. Maybe not quite as good as the hype suggests, but nowhere near deserving of the many 1/10 votes when its merits are a great many that some people seem to have not acknowledged. Although, from personal opinion, a little over-hyped, 'Birdman' ('Gone Girl', 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' and 'Whiplash' were also personal favourites, and 'Boyhood' was also better than given credit for considering the amount of hate it's garnered) was a 2014 highlight and a worthy Best Picture winner.

Not everything in 'Birdman' works. Some of the pace is a touch frenetic in parts of the second half and not everything feels quite as tied up as ought with things left a little loose.

However, 'Birdman' is an exceptionally well made film, with some of the best and cleverest cinematography of the year, some of the cinematography and editing is so dazzling it's enough to take the breath away. The special effects are also tremendous. Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (in the first of his deserved director wins, the best being 2015's 'The Revenant), 'Birdman' is one of the best directed films of 2014 too and shows Iñárritu's immense talent as a director, with breath-taking vision, sense of mood and the ability to make the story as gripping as possible.

The script is fun, thought-provoking and at times touchingly profound. The story mostly, while sometimes thin, is gripping and the characters engage.

Michael Keaton gives his best performance in years, an outstanding performance and perhaps a career-best. Edward Norton is similarly superb, his performance also ranking among his best. Emma Stones charms and delights too.

Overall, very much divisive, with some people adoring or admiring it and others hating it, personally was one of the people who loved it while acknowledging its imperfections. 9/10 Bethany Cox

BIRDMAN just keeps coming at you, time and again, from every imaginable angle, until the end credits, about an hour and 50 minutes in. Is it just me ....or are many reviewers reluctant to state the obvious? Michael Keaton as a down on his luck Ex-Superhero, desperately trying to prove his relevance in 2015, to the entire world, to his rather distant family, but, probably most of all, to himself. Oh yeah, and he talks to himself in a rather smooth, but hoarse and gravelly BATMAN...I mean BIRDMAN, Superhero voice, his last on screen portrayal of which was in 1992! (Yes, in BOTH of them)

So, just where do we draw the line as to what is fact and what is fiction? That is one of many recurring themes dealt with in BIRDMAN. I think it is the central one in the film.... Just where and when do we draw those critical dividing lines? Riggan Thompson is feeling the rapidly escalating pressure of a quickly approaching Broadway opening. It is a dilemma of his own device. His life is in shambles. He finds himself still pining for his ex, while attempting, rather ineptly and intermittently, to bond with his daughter. He has taken on overpowering debt to finance his Broadway play that, if successful, will provide him with the self-vindication he needs to put his life and career back on track. His problems seem insurmountable, or at least, he has convinced himself that they are!

The ensemble cast performance is deliciously superb. Zach Galifianakis as the steadfastly single-minded lawyer/best friend, who has to employ his myriad of abilities to hold the production together and keep it moving forward. Emma Stone, as Sam, the more often than not neglected as a child daughter, just out of Rehab, who seems to be on the road to stability in her life by serving as the reluctant gofer for her neophyte Broadway director/producer father. Naomi Watts, as Lesley, one of the play's stars, perhaps the star struck little girl trapped in the 30 something body of a struggling actor who is on the verge of her lifelong Broadway wish- fulfillment debut!

Edward Norton delivers an Oscar-caliber performance as the obsessed Method actor who's only real moments are the ones he spends on stage. And of course, Michael Keaton, in the title role, projecting a gigantic on screen presence as a man possessed, obsessed, intensely flawed, human and, ultimately, somewhat skewed by his own inner demons! Makes you wonder... Exactly where does Michael Keaton end and Riggan Thompson begin?

I would be derelict in my reviewer duties were I not to mention the effective and original use of the continuous, one-take technique employed in making BIRDMAN...It lends an extreme presence, intensity and intimacy to the overall quality and tone of the film which is quite unique. I'm sure the implementation of this style presented director Alejandro González Iñárritu with a formidable series of challenges, which he dealt with flawlessly. Gonzalez has directed some previously highly recognized films, such as Amorres Perros, 21 Grams, Babel and Biutiful. This highly thought provoking film guarantees that we will be seeing more of his work in the future.

10**********....... ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!