Ignorance is bliss, thought is rewarding

Rating: 8/10 (16 February 2015)

An interesting story about an action-moviestar wanting to be something else. More important than explosions, bombastic scores and fast editing. To do this he re-writes Raymond Carvers "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" and plans to put it on Broadway. During the film he battles his past as-well as the stress of being a "neglecting" father wanting to make his daughter proud of him, trouble on set, bad reviews and growing tired of himself and his work.
The film has impressive editing that is flowing and seems to be filmed in one take, very impressive and something that should be used in other movies. Could be interesting in war- movies for one, following the protagonist "uncut".
The acting is really great, especially Keaton. Could be due to the parallel with Keaton and his character, Riggan's career. Both played a popular action-hero, both are getting "irrelevant" and due to this movie, both tries to do something with more thought and meaning behind it. The frustration in Riggan is amazingly portrayed. Very well one of Keaton's best performances' during his career. Aside from that you have Norton and Stone to elevate Keaton even more. Norton plays a cocky actor, well known on Broadway, just taking another job. And Stone portrays Keatons daughter, in a role she's not to unfamiliar with. A woman not giving two ****s about anything, but luckily her character changes throughout the movie.
But is this movie a masterpiece? I can't rightly tell, it's obviously full of metaphors connected to Riggans ego paralleled with his former character "Birdman". So obviously the film deserves credit for trying something different and trying to make people think about the things they consume, art, TV, movies, books. You name it. But there is so much stuff that is irrelevant in the movie, if the point is to convey a story about an actor trying to be relevant again then why do you need so much stuff in between? Sure, stuff happen all around us. But here you have the opportunity to show things that are important, relating to Riggan and the frustration he suffers. Like the relation with the actress that he had a pregnancy scare with, or the other actress which he shares like two moments with... It's not often I find Zach Galifianakis important to the story, but in this case he's downplayed when he should've been given more screen time as Riggans manager and friend.
Well as for the ending, I'm not gonna touch that one. Everyone is entitled to their interpretation and that is the point of this movie. Give it a watch!