It’s been a while since we saw Michael Keaton (Robocop (2014)) at his very best, but in Birdman, he’s managed to surpass the brilliance of even Batman in a role that has more than a passing similarity with his own life. It’s a performance that’s mirrored to varying degrees by all of the members of the cast to create one of the movie experiences of the year and a genuine contender for award ceremony swoops, despite a lot of strong competition from heavyweights like The Imitation Game and The Meaning Of Life.
Released at cinemas in the UK on the 2nd January 2015, a little behind the full U.S. Release back in October 2014, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) is a cinematic tour de force that takes its responsibilities pretty seriously, despite the genius of its comic flair, timing and delivery. It’s cathartic in the extreme and crafted with a brilliant understanding for the intricacies of life, celebrity egos and the art of dark comedy.
The story is a clever, multi-layered pitch into the shadows of recognition, relationships and perception as out-on-a-limb former big-time Hollywood actor, Riggan Thomson, made famous by his part as a superhero called Birdman, tries to rescue the credibility of his career. His plan is to write, direct and star in a Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver’s short story, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, but with a number of demons in his closet it’s anything but a tinsel town walk in Central Park for the troubled antihero.
His biggest issue, and one of the cleverest devices in the film, is the fact that he hears the voice of Birdman in his head, mocking him for his foolish efforts and constantly persuading him to return to the life of the big budget movie star roles of his younger days. This is added to by scenes of contradictory action where Riggan appears to have powers in the real world, but these are countered by indications that it’s all in his mind, leaving a film that’s got as much to thank Black Swan for as it does Raymond Carver, DC Comics and director and co-writer, Alejandro González Iñárritu.
However, the dubious nature of his grip on reality, self perception and ego, which makes up his questionable sanity, is only one portion of his many troubles as he also has an expensive play to finance, a daughter just out of rehab, an ex-wife he’s clearly still in love with, a girlfriend that he doesn’t appear to care about, an actor he wanted off the play trying to sue him for damages, a replacement who’s a bit of a loose cannon and all of his hopes, dreams and delusions riding on the critical success of the play. All of this, and much more, results in an incredible depth to the many facets that make up an incredible story.
Keaton is genuinely astonishing in his portrayal of the slowly crumbling actor, delivering more subtle nuances and sections of acting brilliance than we can feasibly write about in a relatively punch review of the film. When Riggan’s delivering lines from the play during rehearsal without really giving it is all, it’s frighteningly accurate as an actor, playing an actor, acting without being particularly foo. When he’s delivering the same lines with feeling during the full production, it’s just as accurate as an actor, playing an actor, delivering a brilliant performance on Broadway.
It’s this faultless delivery that makes the film so impressive, leaving everything possible, no matter how outlandish it might appear. It makes for one of the biggest shake-up performances of the last two decades, as we suddenly find ourselves with a brand new acting superpower on our hands, in an actor that we love, but just didn’t see it coming from, which makes it all the more satisfying to watch.
While it’s Keaton’s performance that steels the show, there’s a lot of skill in the work of the rest of the cast. Edward Norton (The Grand Budapest Hotel) is impressive as Mike Shiner, the method actor that Riggan manages to hire at the last minute when the previous actor gets injured, allegedly at the hands of Birdman’s telekinesis powers. Norton crafts a performance that is at once comically silly, abstractly challenging and capable of moments of great depth and understanding, building on a pretty long list of great acting roles the Fight Club, American History X and Primal Fear star.
Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) delivers almost as much of an acting about face as Keaton in her performance as Riggan’s daughter, Sam. She’s clearly lost a good amount of weight to get into the character of post drug rehab recovery and the look is capped off well by a number of tattoos, bad make-up and bleach blonde hair, which is a long way away from the fullness of youth, which we’re used to seeing her exude on the big screen. It’s a difficult role to play with a good proportion of angst mixed with an alternative viewpoint on life and a little darkly sweet heart, but she does it all to perfection.
It’s also good to see Zach Galifianakis getting involved in more serious acting films, as he mixes subtle comedy with thoughtful characterisation as Riggan’s lawyer, friend and the producer of the show, Jake. Naomi Watts (21 Grams, I Heart Huckabees), Andrea Riseborough (Oblivion) and Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) all put in strong performances as the other three women in Riggan’s life; Lesley, one of his leading ladies and Mike’s girlfriend; Laura, his own crazy girlfriend, and the second of the two leading ladies in the play; and Sylvia, his ex-wife and mother of
Alejandro González Iñárritu has done an amazing job of pulling together such a breakout film, creating something that’s completely original, filled with stunning performances and feels incredibly relevant. It’s a job well done that’s boosted by a brave approach to shot setup, style and recording techniques by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Y Tu Mamá También, Gravity), which helps the movie stand out even further from the crowd.
The concept of shooting the entire movie like it’s been filmed in one continuous shot is a big part of it, but the most important element is the perspective that the camera films from, feeling like both an intruder and a close friend of the characters. The continuous shot concept, doesn’t always work perfectly though, as the seams can sometimes come across as being a bit too visible, but that does little to take away from the overall quality of Lubezki’s work.
There’s a two sided story to the special effects in the film too, as they shift between faultless brilliance and the 1978 Superman movie. It’s not impossible that this is entirely intentional, but it’s not clear enough, so either its a lack of time, money and effort to make it faultless or it’s a poorly executed homage that doesn’t quite fit.
However, what is undeniable is that the music is sublime in its choice and execution. Focusing all attention on classical music played on a jazz drum kit was a stroke of genius on the part of Antonio Sánchez, and whoever took him on to make his movie score debut.
It’s been more than 1200 words since we started our review of Birdman and we still don’t feel like we’ve done it justice. It’s definitely worth catching while it’s still on at the cinema, but for anyone that misses it, it’ll also be worth watching and re-watching at home when it comes out on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download. It’s a must see.
Birdman review, 4.8/5
