Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

So I saw Birdman, and I thought it was great-despite the fact that it kind of calls me dumb. Before I get to what's actually in the movie though, I'd like to quickly talk about what the movie is not.  Admittedly I don't do a ton of research for movies I watch beyond watching trailers and stuff, but Birdman the movie has completely different themes and concepts from Birdman the trailer.  From the trailer I got the sense that the movie was about Michael Keaton as a fading movie actor, far past his earlier success in superhero movies trying to gain legitimacy by doing a stage play, but as a twist action movie stuff happens around him all the time and he just might maybe actually have superpowers!

In fact, the first part of that is true, but most of the proof for the second part comes from one extended obvious dream sequence towards the end of the film. While Keaton does spend the film conversing with a "Birdman" voice in his head, to me at least it was pretty clearly just a voice pretty early in the movie. Anyhow enough about what it isn't and more about what it is.

Because what it is is an interestingly shot movie about fame, acting, and the nature of theater. The whole thing appears to be one long take, the camera following people from one scene to another, mostly throughout this theater on Broadway. I'm always a fan of these kinds of shots, and it gives the movie an incredible sense of momentum, as we follow one character until they have a conversation with another character, then follow that new person to a new conversation an so on. To me this gave the movie a very play-like feeling-like the whole thing was actually being performed by the actors in two hours without extra takes or extended periods of time on set-which was a great asset in a movie about the production of a play. Of course according to all the characters in the movie, I wouldn't know what a play is actually like, because I'm the kind of idiot who enjoys superhero movies.

The constant downing of superhero movies, and Hollywood movies in general, is a major theme in Birdman.  Early on while trying to fill the role that Edward Norton will eventually take Keaton lists a number of movie actors only for his agent to say that they're busy making one superhero movie or another. Keaton's character is haunted by the superhero movies he made twenty years ago (though apparently he was Birdman for three movies, instead of the two he did as Batman in reality.) Interestingly, while Edward Norton is basically playing himself-a brilliant actor that can be very difficult to work with-he's a version of Edward Norton that never left Broadway, that didn't star in the Incredible Hulk, and instead stayed "pure" as a stage actor only, both he and a theater critic played by Lindsay Duncan hold this over Keaton's head throughout the movie.

It's with Duncan that Birdman's anti-Hollywood agenda is at it's sharpest. She delivers an extended cutting monologue on the vapidness of movies and movie stars and what they've done to society, and to me Keaton's extremely lackluster response to her speech makes it pretty clear that the movie agrees with what she's said. As someone who really enjoys a superhero movie but is also not against more intellectual pursuits, it was hard not to take it a bit personally.

I don't want to say all that to make this seem like a bad movie, again I really enjoyed it.  I found the cinematography really engrossing and there are some very good performances, especially by Michael Keaton, who I've always enjoyed as an actor but seemed to disappear for me after he did that movie where he was a snowman. Basically, I think this movie is worth the time it takes to see it, it's doing a lot of interesting stuff, but I did want to forewarn you about what you're getting here. Recommended.