A very divisive film for sure, like art

Rating: 6/10 (19 October 2019)

I've read a number of reviews, and am aware that this film won many awards. I have to admit, this is really different from most films out there, with a sombre theme, regarding the terrible state of affairs for actors in Broadway. People who want to make it big but realise it is very different from what they imagined but they are stuck in too deep to extricate themselves, those who have overwhelming egos and seek to destroy everyone but themselves, the very common theme of substance abuse and some other marriage or personality flaws etc.
The execution and presentation was interesting, with the normal band music or OSTs replaced by drumming and there being little real music, so we can actually hear what the actors and actresses say in their entirety.
The issue I have instead is with the story itself, and the addition of many unrelated scenes, which seem to point to somewhere else. For example, right at the beginning, a few scenes hinted that this would be a superhero film, with Riggan Thomson wielding certain powers. Which made things confusing here and there. Yes, like art it is supposed to be abstract, and many scenes seem to suggest something, then later some scenes depict something else. This sort of directing and redirecting certain focus here and there is what makes this film unique, yet when one really reflects on it, I guess I don't really know what I have been watching. More importantly, which scenes are real, and which are not?
To keep it simple and spoiler-free, all I will say is it's a make-or-break basically, looking at the reviews I see either very low scores or very high scores. Kind of interesting, for me it's quite mediocre, and frankly, a depressing film to watch.