"This place is terrible"

Rating: 9/10 (9 February 2015)

What would you do when days of glory are past? When stardust falls no more. When all that is left are haunting memories. What would you do when sacrifices turn into regrets? When you balance the terrible cost paid for smoke and dust. Would you run? Would you die? Would you live a lesser life? Or would you try rising from ashes despite having already met the darkness that comes after?
Birdman is an extraordinary tale of great loss. Special because it is truly legit. Personal because while most of us never reached (public) heights of Michael Keaton's character, to each of us, our own tragedies are greatest, just because we need to live them. In that sense, every sadness in this movie, every fear, every doubt, every spark of hope that we see take an eerily familiar quality. No matter that what happens in the movie is not possible, it is just a marvelous screen writing twist that invites us to dig beneath the surface and find ourselves in our darkest and loneliest hours. Plot summary would not have you expecting a great movie. Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, a former superhero movie star, that tries to restart his career by writing, directing and acting theatrical adaptation of Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love". What we get is a movie about producing a play, taking place inside 3 days leading to premiere.
First of all, anyone who ever tried to produce anything, including school play, will find a very realistic representation of what goes on behind the scenes. Naomi Watts and Andrea Riseborough both show two brilliant separate examples of what it means to act". Michale Keaton is strong and convincing, but it was to be expected as he essentially plays himself. For me, most outstanding performances were Edward Norton's and particularly Emma Stone's. Norton delivers probably his best weird" act of entire career, steps ahead of Fight Club", but Emma steals the show with one of the best delivered monologues of the big screen (of course, done as one take, partly featured in trailer) and several stellar cue-ins to other actors' scenes. One could argue that movie is about her character as much as it is about Keaton's.
Much has been written about editing and camera work. Entire movie appears to be a single shot, and although time-lapses are also technically cuts, the illusion is spotless. But for me, the value here is not technical. It is how this special editing seamlessly fits the narrative and does not feel forced or tedious to watch. Definitely way more enjoyable then e.g. Memento", that also tried to be different through editing.
Ah, yes, ALL of the superhero scenes are in the trailer. So you are in for a real surprise if you come to theater expecting action. But there is action everywhere and all the time, just a different kind of it.
Birdman is a breathtaking achievement. I'd say it's definitely worth an Oscar.
9/10