A modern masterpiece that demands your attention

Rating: 10/10 (28 November 2014)

The film stars Michael Keaton as a washed-up actor named Riggan who had previously been made famous for his portrayal of a superhero called Birdman, a theme that fans of a certain late 80s superhero film may already be familiar with. In this movie, Riggan is attempting to create a new name for himself as a theater actor and put on a Broadway play in which he is both starring and directing. As the play draws closer to its premiere, Riggan is forced to deal with not only the pressures of uncontrollable actors and a ravenous public eye, but also his own past as Birdman coming back to haunt him as he tries to reinvent himself.
This has been one of my most anticipated movies of the entire year, and I'm happy to say that all of my expectations for it have been met. The duality that Riggan suffers as he's torn between his movie star past and his Broadway present serves as the core of the movie that seems forever divided against itself, and this struggle is blown up to unimaginable levels in the movie itself not just through Riggan's own personal ordeals, but with the conflicting ideals of the entertainment industry as a whole. There is a ton of back and forth between what constitutes a celebrity versus a "real actor," the popularity of summer blockbusters versus the art of true storytelling; even the idea of going viral versus becoming a legend is fleshed out to an incredible degree, but still manages to share the spotlight with Riggan as a person.
This movie even takes time to take a jab at movie criticism as well. I, myself, have had a lot of problems with what critics will often write in a review because they use a bunch of flowery language and "intellectual" phrasing to belittle a movie, yet never take the time to actually sit down and take in what the movie is really offering them, and there's one scene in this movie that addresses this problem to a T as Riggan just digs into this critic who tells him that she's going to give his play a bad review simply because she hates what he represents, and it is by far one of the most gratifying scenes that I've ever seen on the big screen.
Even with all of that, the movie never forgets that it is still a piece of entertainment, and delivers an enthralling level of struggle within each major character in the film, accompanied by some of the best acting that I've ever seen. Edward Norton plays a theater actor who struggles with the idea of him acting in real life and only being truly himself when he's on the stage, and his character incorporates notions of method acting and obsession with realism and takes them to a whole new degree. Emma Stone plays Riggan's daughter who is going through her own issues with her relationship with him, Naomi Watts shows the internal struggles of an actress who's finally made it to Broadway, Zach Galifianakis plays Riggan's agent and lawyer who's trying to keep the play from falling apart at the seams, and every single one of these actors gave an incredible performance that I won't be forgetting any time soon.
The technical side of the movie also exceeds expectations with a style that makes it appear as though the entire film was taken in one shot, which I honestly could not believe until I actually saw it. Sure you can pick out where they probably cut to move to another set, but the fact that every single scene moves seamlessly into another was not only incredibly impressive, but also gave the sense of the film never stopping to catch its breath or giving it any sort of lull. This movie feels incredibly fast-paced almost the entire time, and the way it was filmed certainly had a lot to contribute to that. Even the films all-percussion score, interlaced sparingly with clips of public domain works for added effect, seemed to drive the story forward with an unrelenting beat that refused to slow down.
Birdman is, quite frankly, a modern masterpiece that demands your undivided attention for its entire run time. It is a film that transcends mere entertainment and becomes an experience, and my only regret is that I was unable to see the movie when it came out two weeks ago. You do not want to miss this film.