The Theatah, the Theatah, What Happened to the Theatah?

Rating: 9/10 (7 December 2014)

While watching "Birdman," the latest from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Babel," "Amores Perros," "21 Grams") I felt an admiration and respect for it that never bubbled over into emotional involvement. The acting is superb, and Inarritu chooses to film his story in what appears to be one fluid shot; there are no cuts in the film, and instead master cinematographer Emanuel Lubezki (currently the best one in the business as far as I'm concerned) sends his camera swooping around the rooms and hallways of New York's St. James Theatre, where most of the action of the film is set. So I noticed and admired the formal aspects of the film, but didn't connect with it on any meaningful level.
But as time has passed since I saw it, the film has lingered in my head and gathered a richness I didn't feel like it had when I first left the theatre. I'm still not sure it will be one of my favorite movies of the year, but I can say I really really liked it, and I certainly liked it much more than any of Inarritu's previous movies.
In "Birdman," Michael Keaton gives a just-shy-of-excellent performance as a washed up actor best known for a superhero series who's trying to prove something to himself and everyone else by mounting a Broadway play. The fiction of the play blends in with the facts of life, and the seamlessness of the actual filmmaking adds to the ambiguity of the story. I've always liked Keaton, and I'm not surprised to find that he has dramatic abilities as an actor that haven't been tapped before (or at least not frequently; he did expand his range in "Clean and Sober"). But he's still somewhat limited as an actor, and I can't help but feel that a better actor, someone like Christian Bale, say, who could lose himself so completely into a character, would have made "Birdman" overall a richer experience. After all, we're with Keaton's character almost non-stop for the entire film, so he has to be played not only by an actor who you want to be with for that much time (which Keaton is) but also who can keep you interested for the entire time (which Keaton does only partly successfully). The problem is, and this is a huge compliment to the casting director, the actors around Keaton are so good that they overwhelm him, and I found myself wanting to follow them rather than stay with Keaton. Particularly good are Edward Norton as a cocky actor, and Emma Stone as Keaton's surly daughter. Naomi Watts is always good, even if she's underused here as another member of the acting company, while Amy Ryan is excellent as usual in a couple of scenes as Keaton's ex-wife.
"Birdman" explores some interesting themes, chiefly the need in humans to feel relevant and how social media has changed the way people go about doing that; and more specifically to the entertainment industry the dynamic between Hollywood and the legitimate stage. But neither theme is as developed as I would have liked.
Still, if I don't end the year thinking that "Birdman" is one of my favorites, I will at least probably think it's one of the most original.
Grade: A-