Intense, intelligent, intriguing and original

Rating: 8/10 (18 February 2015)

There's no denying it: 'Birdman' is pretentious, self-indulgent and very high-brow. But it's also a great movie. It's intense, intelligent, intriguing and original.
It's a film about a play that's based on a short story. The characters in the film have things in common with the characters in the play. And one of them also has things in common with the real actor playing him. Michael Keaton, famous for his Batman-character, plays an actor who's famous for his Birdman-character, and this actor plays two different roles in the play based on the short story by Raymond Carver. Yes, it's complicated. And so is the film. Because I haven't mentioned yet that the Michael Keaton character also has an alter ego, heard but (at least in the beginning) not seen in the film.
And as if this weren't enough, the movie is filmed as if it were one long shot. No close-ups, no cross-shots, no sudden cuts. It gives the film a real-life feeling: the audience follows the characters wherever they go, even when they move through the corridors of the Broadway theatre, or when they're walking to a bar. There are cuts, but they are very subtle.
It takes a while before you find out how it all works and connects. But once you do, it's gripping. The film also keeps on surprising with cinematographic gimmicks. The one scene which mocks Hollywood blockbusters is hilarious, but so is the scene which mocks the intellectual New York theatre crowd.
As a matter of fact, Raymond Carver is my favourite writer. After I came home from the cinema, I took his collected short stories from the book case and reread 'What we talk about when we talk about love', the short story the play is based on. It's a great piece of literature. And 'Birdman' is a great piece of cinema.