In equal parts fascinating and disturbing.

Rating: 7/10 (28 December 2018)

The seamless editing that gives the impression that the film was shot on a single camera in one long take brings a dreamlike quality to the film. If you go back and analyse it, it doesn't seem like it should work or fit together, but at the time you are so caught up in the little world inhabited by Michael Keaton's Riggin that it seems to flow. In some ways this mirrors the loss of distinction between reality and fantasy which the film explores in Riggin, an actor who formally starred as the titular superhero 'Birdman' in Hollywood movies, now trying to remake himself on Broadway.
The film is disturbing in its exposure of the shallow, broken lives and fragile egos of Riggin's cast. Edward Norton's performance is noteworthy, but also unsettling.
The film feels weakest in the moments which suggest that Riggin may himself possess superpowers - in a way this makes the whole film seem a lot less real and perhaps it would have been stronger without these scenes.