REVIEW: BIRDMAN
I just watched The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 1 yesterday, and I have to say it is the polar opposite of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Birdman or (The Virtue of Ignorance). Despite the pretentiously long name (just pick one or the other!) Birdman is the movie with the Hollywood cast that's very Broadway, very independent, and very...alive. Of course, anyone who has seen it knows that Michael Keaton's Riggan berates a critic, saying that he takes risks being an actor, but what does she have to lose? This in effect makes this movie critic proof...but Inarritu and his brilliant cast need not worry, this movie is fantastic, and will surely pick up a trophy or two come Oscar time.
Mid-life crises, putting on troubled plays, family dysfunction are all themes here that have been explored to death in other movies, but Birdman has a way of taking them, flipping them on their head and analyzing them in a way that feels fresh and electric. The closest thing I can say it is comparable to is Hitchcock's Rope, merely because they share the same trick of making it look like their film has been accomplished in one take. However, in Rope, it was done like a play, all in one setting. The camera, manned by Emmanuel Lubezki, fresh off his Gravity Oscar win, tracks Inarritu's colorful cast of actors playing actors through fights, physical and emotional, scenes crackling with thoughtful, contemplative dialogue and the deterioration of Riggan's mind, as he copes with trying to separate himself from the titular character he gave up playing in the 90s.
Something else the cameras pick up is some first rate acting. Michael Keaton is dynamic as Riggan, successfully pulling off a balancing act of a man well into his midlife crisis, trying to reconcile things with his just-out-of-rehab daughter Sam (Emma Stone), deal with demanding theater actor Mike (Edward Norton) and have his play go smoothly as he plows through previews to opening night. Coming off acting in my first play, it is no easy feat getting a production together, and add on hundreds of tiny burdens and you get what Riggan is going through. Norton and Stone excel in fully fleshed out roles that suit their strengths, and this is easily Stone's most mature role to date. Norton is perfect as egomaniacal Mike, but he does have a heart and shows it, telling Stone he wishes he could see New York through her eyes again. He's bitter, jaded, but still shows undeniable love for his craft, and that's where he can truly only be comfortable. The scenes these two share display the film's best chemistry, though Amy Ryan as Riggan's ex-wife comes close in her scenes.
Altogether, no one here is really wasted except Galifianakis, whose comic chops aren't really brought to light except for one memorable moment where he mispronounces a very famous director's name. But even he serves a role in this highly stylized, drum-scored extravaganza. It's meta and highly self-referential, and there are some parts I watched that I have yet to understand, and might get on a repeat viewing. Regardless, it's something alternative to the sequels that have plagued the cinemas lately (Mockingjay Part 1 is still really good BTW to the eight people who haven't seen it), and a shot of adrenaline that's bizarre, funny, sad, and reflective of entertainment in general, and serves as great entertainment itself.
Rating: 3.5/4 stars
Mid-life crises, putting on troubled plays, family dysfunction are all themes here that have been explored to death in other movies, but Birdman has a way of taking them, flipping them on their head and analyzing them in a way that feels fresh and electric. The closest thing I can say it is comparable to is Hitchcock's Rope, merely because they share the same trick of making it look like their film has been accomplished in one take. However, in Rope, it was done like a play, all in one setting. The camera, manned by Emmanuel Lubezki, fresh off his Gravity Oscar win, tracks Inarritu's colorful cast of actors playing actors through fights, physical and emotional, scenes crackling with thoughtful, contemplative dialogue and the deterioration of Riggan's mind, as he copes with trying to separate himself from the titular character he gave up playing in the 90s.
Something else the cameras pick up is some first rate acting. Michael Keaton is dynamic as Riggan, successfully pulling off a balancing act of a man well into his midlife crisis, trying to reconcile things with his just-out-of-rehab daughter Sam (Emma Stone), deal with demanding theater actor Mike (Edward Norton) and have his play go smoothly as he plows through previews to opening night. Coming off acting in my first play, it is no easy feat getting a production together, and add on hundreds of tiny burdens and you get what Riggan is going through. Norton and Stone excel in fully fleshed out roles that suit their strengths, and this is easily Stone's most mature role to date. Norton is perfect as egomaniacal Mike, but he does have a heart and shows it, telling Stone he wishes he could see New York through her eyes again. He's bitter, jaded, but still shows undeniable love for his craft, and that's where he can truly only be comfortable. The scenes these two share display the film's best chemistry, though Amy Ryan as Riggan's ex-wife comes close in her scenes.Altogether, no one here is really wasted except Galifianakis, whose comic chops aren't really brought to light except for one memorable moment where he mispronounces a very famous director's name. But even he serves a role in this highly stylized, drum-scored extravaganza. It's meta and highly self-referential, and there are some parts I watched that I have yet to understand, and might get on a repeat viewing. Regardless, it's something alternative to the sequels that have plagued the cinemas lately (Mockingjay Part 1 is still really good BTW to the eight people who haven't seen it), and a shot of adrenaline that's bizarre, funny, sad, and reflective of entertainment in general, and serves as great entertainment itself.
Rating: 3.5/4 stars
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