Although Michael Keaton shines in the centre, this is a brilliant ensemble

Rating: Null/10 (22 January 2015)

In "Birdman" very much talked about is the super-long-take, undeservedly. The suggestion that there is an intention to create the illusion (not doing the real thing, mind you) that the entire 120 minutes is shot in one single take is absolute garbage. The story takes place over a period of two or three days and in different locations (albeit in the same vicinity). To suggest that this can be reproduced by a camera with one take in real time is absurdity. To even try to create such an illusion is meaningless. To make such a suggestion is to insult the movie makers' intelligence, as well as the audience's.
What director Inarritu was doing was to shoot his movie in scenes of long single takes. Facilitating this approach is the almost maze like interior of a Broadway theatre, allowing the camera to meander through narrow corridors, following various actors. This technique is not unusual. The best example is the much applauded opening of "Snake eyes" (1998) when the camera follows a flamboyant Nicolas Cage for something like 7 or 8 minutes in one single take. A less known example is the 2005 rendition of "Pride and Prejudice" (starring Kiera Knightley) which deftly uses this technique to handle a grand ball scene. At the undisputed pinnacle of this feat is the documentary "Russian Ark" (2002) which presents a 96-minute guided tour (complete with on-the-spot dance and music performed as a grand ball scene) of the Hermitage, shot in one single take. Long one-take is a technique which just happened to have been aptly employed in "Birdman", marrying well with the style of the movie. However, it should not be allowed to distract from the glory of the movie which are, first and foremost, its script, dialogue and acting.
"Birdman" is about many things but if I were to choose just one, it has to be the live stage and the people who are an integral part of it, both on and behind the scene. Two good examples of this loosely grouped genre are "Mrs Henderson presents" (2005) and "Being Julia" (2004). The main story line of "Birdman" is about an over-the-hill actor (stage and screen, both) making a last-ditch effort to matter again, by mounting a play in Broadway, as playwright, director and lead actor all rolled into one. The trailer is somewhat misleading (intentionally or otherwise, I cannot say with certainty) in overemphasizing the element of surreal. For example, the scene in which you see the protagonist Riggan (Michael Keaton) striding along Time Square with nothing except under pants amidst a throng of people has a simple and logical explanation. While taking a breathing space during somebody else's scene, the actor happens to have accidentally locked himself outside the theatre, with his robe hopelessly caught in the closed back door. He has no choice but to try to make his way to the front entrance to get back into the theatre, hopefully before his next scene. Other things like levitation and moving objects without touching are merely montages reflecting the character's lively mental status.
The beauty of this movie is in the delightful dialogue and superb acting. The assortment of people surrounding the protagonist and the interaction they have with him, as well as with each other, is sheer joy to watch. Emma Stone plays Sam, his daughter-cum-assistant just out of drug rehab, the youngest and ironically the most world-wearied and under a strained relationship with her father. Sam's mother Sylvia (Amy Ryan) and Riggin's ex-wife is still on good terms with father and daughter and often comes backstage to visit. Together with Riggan in the cast are three other people. Laura (Andrea Riseborough) is his current lover who for a moment thinks that she is pregnant with his child. Lesley (Naomi Watts) is a gentle, vulnerable actress quite nervous on the verge of realizing her lifelong dream of acting on Broadway. Mike (Edward Norton) is brilliance and arrogance personified, recruited at the eleventh hour to replace an incompetent actor who, if you must know, is incapacitated by an "accident" arranged by Riggan. Jake (Zach Galifianakis) is the level-headed manager and loyal friend always by his side to help him weather the proliferation of mishaps. Finally, there is Tabitha (Lindsay Duncan), the viciously determined critic who has sworn to "kill his play".
While the characters are not over-written, this movie never shies away from high drama and shouting scenes, delivered with top-notch performances. Throughout the two hours that seem so short, you are dazzled by the scenes generated from the permutation of interactions among this talented ensemble. There are far too many to mention. Among so many of them, two I like best. One is Norton and Stone as Mike and Sam on the roof of the theatre, two strangers tentatively exploring each other's soul through the familiar game of "truth or dare". The other is in the dressing room with the two actresses Leslie and Laura, played by Watts and Riseborough, comforting and encouraging each other, culminating in one passionate girl-girl kiss. There are a lot of others to be discovered in this movie that many consider to be the best in the year.