I Can See Why It Was Popular With The Thespians

Rating: 6/10 (4 April 2015)

Somewhat surprisingly the Oscars this year were heavily weighted towards Indie cinema . This is a good thing in my opinion if only because I'm old enough to remember previous decades where Hollywood had a reputation for giving Oscars to studio films with a feel good factor or in recent years awarding films that were being produced by Miramax . Nominating films not made and marketed by the big studios brings some deserved attention to a mainstream audience that would have probably been ignored at the box office otherwise . If a film wins Best Picture then it's got to be worth seeing so that's why I went out of my way to see BIRDMAN
With hindsight the Academy voters have played it very predictably and safe . A film where the protagonist is burned and on the comeback role is something that appeals to award voters . Cast someone like Bill Murray in LOST IN TRANSLATION or Mickey Rourke in THE WRESTLER and you've got something that's approaching meta-fiction . Put Michael Keaton in a film where he plays a washed up actor and BINGO we have a film voters will love . Add constant name checks to other actors working in Hollywood today and you'll have voters falling over themselves filling in those ballot papers
I'm sounding a little bit abrasive and cynical here aren't I ? Yes I am and it's deliberate and I don't want to over state my case here but BIRDMAN is a mildly enjoyable film but no more than that . I can imagine the Oscar voters - the majority of whom are actors - watching the screening and departing to the bar and saying " Hey I remember that happened to me on Broadway" and " Do you think that was supposed to be ... " . In other words you can understand why it didn't do any spectacular business at the box office but got a lot of awards