The play is the thing

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2018)

Alejandro González Iñárritu has made a wonderful technical film in Birdman with the way the set has been constructed and the movement of the camera to make it look like one long shot. It is also a deceptive film as a second viewing gives you more clues apart from the obvious Chekhov's gun principle.
I do wonder if Iñárritu had already signed up Michael Keaton before the script was written or completed. It was well known that before Birdman Keaton was doing inferior films such as Penthouse North and heading television movie land. Although having watched Batman Forever, no reasonable person can fault him for turning it down.
In Birdman Keaton plays Riggan, who once made it big as squawking superhero Birdman, years before the current superhero craze. Since then he has been washed up. He tells his daughter a story of being on a plane where he sat a few seats from George Clooney, the plane encountered some trouble and Riggan realises at this point that if the plane crashed, it would be Clooney's face plastered on the papers. The irony being that Clooney was the second actor after Keaton to play Batman and a few years later Keaton was playing a small role in a George Clooney thriller.
Riggan is directing, adapting and starring in a play in Broadway to reclaim his career. His recovering drug addict daughter Sam (Emma Stone) is assisting, girlfriend Laura (Andrea Riseborough) is a co-star. When the main actor gets injured at rehearsal, it is suggested by another actress Lesley (Naomi Watts) to bring in celebrated but difficult stage actor Mike (Edward Norton.)
Straight off the bat Riggan realises just how good Mike is, how the play comes alive when he speaks the dialogue, yet also what a nuisance he can be, throwing tantrums. Mike only feels real on the stage, this includes being sexually functional.
Riggan needs to get the play working by opening night and impress the theatre critic of the New York Times and she is sharpening the knives for Riggan. A celebrity (she refuses to acknowledge him as an actor) like him does not belong in polluting the New York stage.
Of course Birdman is more than just Riggan getting a play ready. In his quest to be relevant, he hears voices of his alter ego, Birdman. We see Riggan moving things by just thinking about it, is he on the edge of sanity or somewhere between life and death?
The film demonstrates how good Keaton could be, it is an astonishingly good performance from an actor known for light comedies back in the 1980s. It is a film with good performances. Norton like Sean Penn shows how effortless he can do comedy even while being intense. The real plus about the film is how you can interpret the film. It is a satire on Hollywood fame (with all its cultural references it will also age quickly) but also a reflective film about life and death.