Birdman

Saw Birdman (thanks Nina!) It was a fun, fast, messy back-stage drama which, like all good back-stage dramas, hits uncomfortably close to home for the people involved (or at least as far as we audience know.) The film stars Michael Keaton, playing Riggan, a more-or-less washed-up actor known for a distinctly Batman-like fictional superhero, Birdman. Riggan is trying to re-establish himself as a serious actor by preforming in a Broadway adaptation of a Raymond Carver story. This seems like a promising start, but we discover that the play was self-written and financed by Riggan, so it's clearly not going that well. The film tantalizes us with the question of if Riggan will ever escape the superhero ghetto or, indeed, if he even has any art inside of himself at all and in any case what is this all for? If it's just to be loved, then shouldn't he concentrate more on his family?

This struggle by itself is not the sort of thing that puts butts in seats or (or perhaps 'and therefore') which wins Oscars. So, to sweeten the deal, Riggan is also given magical telekinetic powers which may or may not be totally real and also we shoot the whole thing in continuous takes. The continuous takes I can take or leave (I mostly don't even notice that it's one take unless I'm actually distracted by some swooping take) but I am immensely grateful for the magical realism (yes, I admit it, I'm human too.) The soul of the film though is clearly in the struggle to create art.

We a variety of voices tearing Riggan apart: a hot-shot True Artist played by Ed Norton who is universally respected but treats everyone like shit, aided and abetted by an ice-queen critic who sneers at Riggan's attempt for legitimacy. Against these two is the growly voice of Birdman, whispering in his head that he should ditch all these critics whose respect he will never earn and head back to Hollywood where everyone loves him, so long (we discover) as he'll drop everything to sign an autograph. Also in this mix is his daughter, a sad girl who is vaguely disgusted by everything.

This mixture of obvious fiction with obvious non-fiction reminds me of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (another film I enjoyed greatly.) It's a trick I've seen before but it's a very good trick. A very thematically meaty film which is even entertaining on a purely visual level. Good show!