Five Word Review: Intelligently, Importantly Satirical; Fabulous Performances.

Rating: 8/10 (7 November 2015)

Alejandro Gonzalez Iñàrritu, director of Biutuful, directs this satirical drama which tells of the mid-life crisis of a man who was once a blockbuster movie actor in the 1990s. Riggan Thompson (played by Michael Keaton, who himself played Batman in 1989's Batman and 1992's Batman Returns before fading from the public eye) was the star of three comic-book Birdman films in his prime, before the sequels stopped and his career as a serious actor fizzled out. Now, helped (and more often than not hindered) by his attorney/friend (an unrecognisable Zach Galafanakis), his daughter Sam (The Help's Emma Stone) who recently left rehab, and a method actor (Edward Norton, Fight Club,) whose ego and toughness to work with mirrors the actor's real-life persona, along with young girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough), his ex-wife Amy Ryan and fellow actor Naomi Watts, Thompson attempts to better his reputation with a play based on a Raymond Carver story, upon which the entire rest of his career hinges.
One of the most impressive things about Birdman is its cinematography. Under Iñarrittu's measured, accomplished direction, the film is made to look like one continuous shot throughout the whole film, despite the events taking place over the period of weeks. This, and the appropriately satirical plot, makes Birdman seem very realistic. But the primary selling factor is undoubtedly the performances, mostly of Keaton, but also notably those of Stone, Norton and Galafanakis. Keaton manages to lend drama and humanity to his role, whilst expertly portraying the inner turmoil between himself and his 'Birdman' persona which mocks him in a gravelly Dark Knight voice and implores him to abandon his ambition of becoming a serious actor and sell out to make money on another Birdman franchise film. Black comedy also peeks through accordingly due to the sharp, realistic and quotable script. An endless repetitive drum beat pierces through a catchy score, possibly representing the mundane repetition and conformity of society, which again shows just how important this film was to the filmmakers and how well-made it was. Thought-provoking and important to the cinematic industry, I hope that this film has at least some effect on the recent influx of superhero films, reboots, sequels, remakes and general cinematic unoriginality. Not that I dislike superhero films - I love a good bit of fun brainless action as much as anyone else, even if I have seen it dozens of times before - but when the majority of the highest grossing films of any given year are unoriginal, mediocre yet attractive films which can be described as nothing better than fun, enjoyable and perfectly decent, it's all rather pointless. No one is going to claim that Thor: The Dark World or The Amazing Spiderman are their favourite or least favourite films of the year. Like many others, they're pretty good; but when they end up with grosses 20 times higher than Whiplash, it seems to defeat the point of cinema somewhat.
Birdman is certainly a triumphant feat of splendid filmmaking and can't be faulted technically, and evidently has no features of being badly made. My only complaints that stop it reaching the highest ratings are the facts that Norton's character disappears, rudely written out of the story two thirds of the way through. It's a shame as he lit up all the scenes he was in and was a constant joy to watch. Also, it's never really enjoyable or compelling enough to be one of my favourite films of the year. But due to being so incredibly well-made, Birdman definitely reaches at least an 87/100.