Emotionally Volatile and Bizarre Masterpiece...

Rating: 9/10 (8 May 2017)

Either "Birdman" is too simple but tries to make its nervous directing and real-time editing pass for intellectual complexity or if it really flies over these considerations with the insolent confidence of a real birdman. Well, I'm not sure the film is as original as it intended to be, but the treatment is one of a kind and maybe one of these cases where the form and the content redeem each other and contribute to one of these puzzling experiences that look too good not to be intentionally made to impress you, yet the result is so efficient that you almost feel guilty to fall for it.
Again, Inarritu displays some infuriating wizardry, using long takes and transitions from scene to scene, that are nonexistent so that in the end, you have the confusing impression to have endured in less than two hours, a dizzying and mind-bending three-day journey swinging between arguments, confessions, improvisations, outbursts of anger, passions, feelings, reconciliations etc. It is noisy, talkative, the drum beats popping up here and there highlight the torments that can invade an individual's mind like so many hits in the head, but, say what you want about "Birdman", the movie is alive and full of characters with a purpose that goes beyond the simple story-line. Well theoretically, they're all present for the release of an adaptation of Raymond Carver's play, but they're also free electrons moved by their own instinct, pasts and personal issues.
They all have a particular endeavor and they're all tormented enough to pull the blanket in their side when they feel the need. The result is confusing but somewhat exhilarating and that everyone stays dedicated to the play allows the film to keep its common thread, so this mess has a reason to be, and to happen. And there's the central pillar, Michael Keaton as Riggan Thompson: the has-been star. Riggan is an alter-ego of Keaton that fools no one, Keaton ensured the transition between the 80's and 90's with his portrayal of Batman, but only to sink into relative oblivion after Burton's "Batman" movies have been relegated to the status of their corny 60's counterpart by Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale. This is not just Riggan but Keaton's comeback and the similarities are so vivid that the performance was probably harder, because it really takes courage to laugh at yourself.
Thankfully, the film isn't devoid from a sense of humor in its constant meta-referential take on showbiz; even actors find the strength to laugh at themselves, like Edward Norton playing Mike Shiner, a very difficult and volatile method actor who's a ticking bomb of unpredictability. Besides Mike Shiner, there's Riggan's daughter, Sam (Emma Stone) who just came from rehab and tries to rebuild her relationship with her Dad, there's his ex-wife (Amy Ryan), a Broadway debutante (Naomi Watts) and the manager (Zach Galifianakis), all these people gravitate around Riggan, who's like the ringmaster and the player of his own bizarre show, trying to find himself while he's not even sure to be worth whatever his conception is, constantly invaded by the voice of "Birdman", like a phoenix awaiting to resurrect from the ashes of the past. The conflict is between Riggan's past and future and structures the film's present made of an attempt to conquer pride and self-esteem.
And it's quite impressive that, in this existential swirl, the film had time to make parallels between Riggan's struggles and the obsessions of going viral, dictated by society and affecting the youth. Speaking of celebrities, there is an important scene, Riggan meets respected critic Tabitha Dickinson (Lindsay Duncan) who's like a theater 'Pauline Kael', she doesn't take him as an actor but a celebrity, a media phenomenon, a fraud who tries to steal some prestige, he tells her that all she does is labeling things, giving sterile epithets to hide out the fact that she didn't nothing in her life, they're both part of the same hypocrisy but no one deserves resentment who tries at least to stake his life and do something about it, any Youtube commentator could get a taste of Riggan's rant. Yet these comments are relevant because everyone seeks approval and popularity.
I guess what "Birdman" shows is that we're all driven by opposite forces, one that tells you what you're really worth, or that you're a God, or a bum, it's all about perceived, real and felt value, and how we can express any of them. The film is an eye-opening experience about people's inner needs to be accepted, but it's more about reaching the kind of state where a man can master his being and control himself in order to accomplish what he feels he's meant to do. Maybe unconsciously, but it borrows a lot from another stage-themed film about aging, John Cassavetes' underrated "Opening Night" where Gena Rowlands played a character in conflict with her self-perception and yet wanted to make her performance worthwhile for the audience as if the people in the theater were the incarnation of life. There might that idea that there's something in theater that encompasses life, as there are many moments where the line between reality and fantasy gets confusingly thin..
Were these bits pretentious? Well, I don't think one's work wouldn't reflect part of his ego and maybe what we take from pretentiousness is the strong presence of a man's personal vision in his work. In that case, this is a real masterwork, and a dazzling drum-beat driven journey that feels like a good companion to "Whiplash", a co-nominee of the same year. "Birdman" took the Oscar home, maybe because it wasn't as linear as "Whiplash", it tried to go beyond the limits of imagination, or because it fooled the Academy, but maybe the talent it takes to fool the audience deserves an Oscar after all, maybe, it's all about fooling people as long as you don't make them look like fools.