Reel Look: 'Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)'

Rating: 8/10 (12 January 2015)

"A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing." So reads a note on Riggan's dressing room mirror. Mexican film director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros, Babel) takes to the skies as a prominent director with his unique, albeit ambitious, American black comedy 'Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue on Ignorance)'. Full of outstanding performances and an original look into the lives of a handful of misfits looking for their niche in the limelight, our primary focus is our main character Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton), a faded Hollywood actor yearning for one last break to get his name-to-fame on the stage despite whatever it takes to do so for his career to once again to take off into the blue. We literally are tapped into Riggan's psyche as he is mentally tortured by the voice of Birdman. He criticizes Riggan about the high-flying successes of his past to the mediocre now of his forgotten name. Riggan also imagines himself performing feats of levitation and telekinesis, only to remind himself of who he once was, all the while hindering himself because of his new career keeps him on the ground rather than from soaring above the crowds into the clear blue sky where he once belonged rather than being spat from it onto an unhappy stage. Famous for playing the superhero decades earlier on film, he now stars in a play he has rewritten, directed and stars in himself, in a Broadway adaptation based off of Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" at the St. James Theater in New York City. The play is produced by Thomson's best friend and lawyer Jake (Zach Galifianakis) and also stars Riggan's girlfriend Laura (Andrea Riseborough) and first-time Broadway actress Lesley (Naomi Watts). Serving as his assailant is his daughter Sam (Emma Stone), a recovering marijuana addict. With all that said, what is it that truly makes 'Birdman' soar? Let's take a look.
When Riggan hires the brilliant but volatile method actor Michael Shiner (Edward Norton), he later regrets it due to him getting all the attention now. During a preview, Riggan performs the final scene of the play, in which his character laments in "not existing" and shoots himself as the audience applauds and the curtain closes. After the performance, Mike tells Riggan he needs to find a more realistic prop gun. After some time, Michael starts getting more and more attention as Riggan feels that his name will soon forever be erased from the memories who used to cheer him on as their fearless feathered hero. And to worsen matters as they already are, local top theater critic Tabitha Dickinson (Lindsay Duncun) threatens Riggan with writing the worst review for his production to stop his shows altogether, saying he fails at being a true artist of the theater and the stage. To prove her wrong with one final act to get his name cemented into publicity for certain, he does the unthinkable in the last scene of the act for the ultimate performance, as what Dickinson later credited in her review as super-realism and for Riggan to personally gain back the self-confidence and redemption he truly yearned for all along.
With brilliant strokes composed to the film as compared to a brush, Iñárritu allows the film and its viewers to glide along with it as well, as the camera paints its way around as would a bird hovering in midair with incredibly smooth cinematography composed by Emmanuel Lubezki. The camera-work and editing of 'Birdman' were manipulated to give the appearance that most of the film is one continuous long take, as if we were on the back of an invisible avian voyeur. Another important touch is Mexican jazz drum soloist Antonio Sánchez providing the throbbing, rapid beats that sporadically pervade the soundtrack and keeps the tempo of the film moving. Nominated for seven Golden Globe awards at the 72nd ceremony with Keaton winning Best Actor, 'Birdman' was perfectly cast, flawlessly shot and, as for all of its originality, is truly unafraid in soaring to new heights.