MOVIE REVIEW - Birdman

To say that the new Micheal Keaton dark comedy, drama Birdman is in very limited release would be generous.  It has gotten very little local play, and is being reviewed as one of the years best movies.

I won't go that far, but Birdman is amazingly smart and original on so many levels, I can see why the Hollywood community has been sufficiently seduced by it.  This has a big cast, an original premise, and is made in a way you really haven't seen before. In addition to Keaton there is Edward Norton Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, and Zach Galifianakis.  All of whom you have not seen before on screen in a movie playing characters like this. In essence, they all had to reinvent themselves for this movie.

This is the fictional story of Riggan Thomson (Keaton).   He is an actor now about 60, who is desperately trying to become relevant again.  He played a superhero character some 25 years ago named Birdman in a series of movies.  He made three then walked away.  He made a ton of cash, but felt like he wasn't doing good and meaningful acting.  So he is now on Broadway trying to open a play that he has adapted from a 70 year old book. A drama about love.  And he is finding roadblocks all along the way.

He's going broke doing it.  He has lost his marriage, and his daughter is recently out of rehab.  He's terrified of being a failure. He's paranoid about his image, his critics, and the whole deal in general.  Plus, he's hearing voices in his head from the past.  In short he's a mess. Will his play be a success? That is Birdman in a few sentences, but it is so much more.

The making of this movie is the real star of it. It is totally groundbreaking as it is shot in one seemingly continuous take. There is no evidence of any hard editing, or any editing at all. The camera follows our characters from scene to scene seamlessly, and this is extraordinary film making in a technical sense.  You've never really seen anything like this, and this scores huge originality points there. The soundtrack, when used, is basically a light drum solo that gives this a real independent feel.  And again adds to its originality.

This is wonderfully, and tragically funny with all of our stars giving really command performances. Galifianakis will hardly be recognized as this is a thousand miles from The Hangover. He is funny, and pretty darn good.  Keaton is great as the complicated Riggan, and the rest of the cast really stands up well.

This also is great parody of the live theater business, and Broadway in general. It lampoons the actors and the business at large in a straight forward, honest, but not vicious way that is really funny.  It also takes to task the whole Superhero genre of movie making, with many references to the fact that these animated and computer generated movies are not art at all, simply mass appeal drivel that mindless patrons support.  All of this ironic too, with Keaton of course being an ex-Batman from 25 years ago.

Birdman.  Some are calling it the best movie of the year, I will not.  But this is insanely original, fun, and really, really well done. Very good.