Birdman film review starring Michael Keaton
Posted on: 2015-01-02
Our rating:
Impeccably acted by a sensational cast, touching, cerebral, relevant, visually stunning and technically gobsmacking, Birdman is a truly kick-ass way to kick-start the cinematic new year.
Let's set the record straight right from the get-go: if Michael Keaton doesn't reap the rewards of Oscar glory when the gongs are being dished out next year, then then there really is no justice in the world.
Keaton's performance - after a far-too-long sabbatical making mediocre movies and off-the-cuff cameos - is truly a revelation. It's a funny, heartbreaking, poignant performance that hits all the right emotional, outrageous character licks of an actor who was once star of eponymous Birdman superhero franchise but has since fallen on bad times and even worse cinematic roles.
As Riggan Thomson, Keaton is on a personal, existential odyssey to reclaim his former glories by staging a Broadway production of Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. But this isn't just an old school let's-put-on-a-show schtick. No, Sir. There are serious, heavy themes to be dealt with here: hubris, narcissism, fatherhood, self-delusion, artistic integrity and the personal dilemma of creative legacy. There's also the question of sanity - or lack of it - as the worlds of fantasy and reality are often blurred to a cleverly ambiguous melange of truth and fiction.
Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Director of Photography Emmanuel Lubezki are true masters of cinematic form, weaving us in and out of the actors' off and on-stage lives with dizzying alertness and activity. The opening scene starts with Keaton sitting cross-legged and floating a few feet above the ground (punctuated by images alluding to some kind of cosmic, transcendental experience), and from there the action unfolds in what appears to be one continuous take for the rest of the film's duration. It's stylish, brilliantly, meticulously planned and astonishingly executed, weaving us through the unfolding events with mesmerizing efficiency and a kind of astonishing, seen-to-be-believed magic.
But it's not just cleverness for cleverness' sake, empty showing off or hollow technical histrionics; it all serves the drama and the characters, underlying their states of mind and emotional beats. From clandestine liaisons, artistic squabbles and embarrassing on-stage hard-ons, the camera is the relentless window to their souls and the defining lens to their actions.
In the supposedly glittering world of self-importance and ego, nothing and nobody is safe here, and there are a few jabs at critics (Lindsay Duncan in superb, ice-queen mode), movie stars (especially those jumping on the superhero bandwagon), and the burgeoning reliance on social media to make or break a career.
Birdman himself appears intermittently, first as a rasping off-camera voice of Keaton's consciousness, then finally - and literally - taking flight in an awesome sequence that quenches the current blockbuster need for explosions and special effects, taking Keaton soaring between the skyscrapers in a sequence that's moving and exhilarating.
It's a film that certainly defies any traditional classification, part skewed biopic (the Keaton/Riggan parallels are undeniable), part fantasy, part theatrical tour de force, part human drama, part psychological and character study of a flawed, washed-up actor. Keaton infuses Riggan with the manic energy of Beetlejuice and his earlier, off-kilter roles, a return to past form but exposing new, unexpected, muscular acting chops.
The supporting cast is also exemplary: Andrea Riseborough as Riggan's leading lady, Zach Galifianakis as his increasingly exasperated producer, Amy Ryan as his calm, estranged wife, and a superb Emma Stone as his rehab-fresh daughter. Cream of the crop, though, is Edward Norton, as the supercilious Method actor, Mike Shiner, full of himself and arrogant, but occasionally exposing a more tender, human side beneath the bravura, particularly in a few protracted balcony scenes with Stone.
Played against frequently relentless jazz drum syncopations, this is a self-knowing, self-referential, dare it be said post-modern movie about the fickle finger of fame, its trappings, insecurities and the transient, inexplicable nature of acting and celebrity. Keaton's dressing room meltdown and dyspeptic, raging exchange with the theatre critic are highlights of an actor at the top of his game, but his entire performance is extraordinary. We've never seen Keaton like this ever before.
Impeccably acted by a sensational cast, touching, cerebral, relevant, visually stunning and technically gobsmacking, Birdman is a truly kick-ass way to kick-start the cinematic new year.
5/5
Reviewed by Jamie Caddick for 365Bristol - the leading events and entertainment website for Bristol.
Article by:
Born and raised in the suburbs of Swansea, Jimmy moved to Bristol back in 2004 to attend university. Passionate about live music, sport, science and nature, he can usually be found walking his cocker spaniel Baxter at any number of green spots around the city. Call James on 078 9999 3534 or email Editor@365Bristol.com.
