Review: Birdman (2014)

Birdman had me excited when I very first heard about it, probably 5 months ago at a guess, so I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to get round to watching it! I’m so determined to watch all of the Oscar nominated Best Picture films this year, but this one certainly wasn’t a chore to tick off the list.  I think we are doing pretty well on the Oscars tick list :-)  I wasn't that excited about this to be fair but I should have been, it was much better than I expected!

Riggan Thompson (Michael Keaton) is best known for his role of superhero Birdman, over twenty years ago. The franchise was so popular that you could perhaps say that Birdman himself is more famous than the man behind the mask. Riggan now finds himself trying to reprise his career and get his name back out there, and he does so by writing, directing and starring in a Broadway show. He faces numerous problems in the run up to the opening night, not helped by the voice of Birdman in his head and the strange super powers he seems to have.  

The mood and theme of the whole film is easily summed up in the first five minutes as we see Riggan in his room, seemingly meditating, in mid-air, in his pants. His first line is a complaint about how the room smelt like balls, and well, I’m laughing just from typing it! I find dark comedies very hit and miss at times, but this just hit the spot for me.  It felt very inadvertently funny, like it wasn't trying to be funny but that made you laugh.  Zack Galifianakis made me laugh in every scene he was in, even though I'm not sure he was supposed to.

Really early on I noticed some key similarities between Birdman and Iron Man, the poster in the dressing room was very similar to the Iron Man 3 poster and, I thought Keaton resembled an older version of Robert Downey Jr.  I wondered for the first 30 minutes or so if it was sort of based on RDJ and Iron Man but then it specifically mentioned them in a news story. Admittedly, I was a but disappointed that my theory didn't pan out!

I’m not one to pick up on anything technical when watching films, but I loved the camera work (and editing?) in Birdman. Sure, there are long takes which must have been a pain in the butt for the actors involved, but the entire film looked like one take. If you look for it, you can tell where the breaks are, but it’s just so clever! This is the first film I have seen that has used this technique and i absolutely loved it.  I had read beforehand that it was shot as one long scene so I was really looking out for it, however I needn't have known, it was pretty obvious.  It gave the whole film a realistic feel, you almost felt as if you were there walking through the halls of the theatre.  It was so clever.

It pains me to admit I’ve seen very little of Edward Norton. I saw him last in The Grand Budapest Hotel, and the last film I saw where he had a major role was Fight Club. He’s an absolute legend in Birdman, and I will have a strop at Jenna’s if he doesn't win Best Supporting Actor. His character, Mike, makes you hate him and then love him within minutes of each other, and he’s got such a charm about him. I’m already jotting down his filmography… I however am a huge fan of Edward Norton ever since first seeing him in American History X, his character was truly evil in that but he played perfectly.  I think i have seen a fair bit of his work so far, but a quick check of the filmography may prove me wrong.

Speaking of Oscars...can Emma Stone have one too? YES YES YES!!! You already know how much I love her, but she really packs a punch in this. She’s so expressive! Heck, you might have already seen my tweet but just throw all the Oscars at Birdman. I’m sure I’ll change my mind again once I’ve seen some of the other Best Picture nominated films, but this is going to be one of my all time favourites.  I have yet to see all the films on the Best Picture list, but this is coming up pretty high on the list so far, I personally don't think Keaton will have a look in for Best Actor with Mr Redmayne in running, sorry but we all know it's true.

I like to keep reviews spoiler free so I’ll be brief here, but that ending! Can someone please invite me for coffee (I’ll have a green tea though thanks) so we can sit and talk about it for like, an hour? I already have 3 theories floating around in my head!  I think we need to discuss this because I have NO IDEA what to think!!