Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Movie, 2014, R

Premise - An ex-superhero Hollywood actor tries to make his comeback with a prestigious Broadway play. Meanwhile, he struggles with the chaos of the theater environment as well as the chaos in his own mind, as his superhero alter-ego in his head continues to shame him for what his life has become.

Review - I FREAKIN' LOVED THIS MOVIE ACTUALLY. It's been sitting on our shelf for about four years. My parents tried to watch it when it first came out and couldn't get past the first 20 minutes, so they forgot about it. Meanwhile, it's been on my list of movies to try ever since. Every year when the Oscars season hits, I have an uncontrollable curiosity to see either current or past nominated or winning films. To be honest, a lot of the times my taste doesn't line up with the Academy's (and I'm sure most of the general public feels this way), but this is a case where 100% agreed that this deserved to win Best Picture of the year.

When I first heard of Birdman at the Oscars a few years ago, I had no knowledge of the plot or why the film was so highly praised. It wasn't until years later, when I saw that phenomenal episode of Mr. Robot in Season 3, that the film came back into my radar. The episode of Mr. Robot I'm referring to appears to all be one consecutive shot, and takes place in real time. After watching it, I had to read all about it, and found out that of course it wasn't ACTUALLY done in one shot, and edited in a very seamless manner, but the faux-one-shot was done a la Birdman, and now I really had to see this film. Still took me like a year to finally get around to it though...

I don't know why so many mental barriers were in place before I finally just sat down and started watching it, but I'm so glad it finally happened. I started watching the film when I was eating lunch one day, got about 30 minutes into it, thought, "Wow this is really, REALLY freakin' good," and then had to go to work. When I returned that night to finish watching it, I actually just started the movie over. This is a style of film where not only should you truly watch it in one sitting, but you should watch it in one sitting while never breaking your attention. Honestly, your head feels a bit compressed afterwards because of how long you have to concentrate. The second you break concentration, you lose the full effect of it seeming like all one shot.

Just think about how much went into the execution of this film to get those super long takes... the scene mapping, and the understanding of space, the coordination of all of the different actors and set pieces... It blows my mind thinking about the production of this film.

Despite it all being in the style of one consecutive shot, it doesn't take place in real-time. On a few rare occasions, it also may not take place in real-space. That means that as we follow around one character from one room to the next, time is not necessarily passing in a linear manner. It'll all of a sudden be the next day, or next week, but the shot never breaks.

This is not the only way in which the film has an element of surrealism to it. The main character, when alone, appears to have superpowers, probably akin to what his character Birdman had. We see him appear to float, fly, and use telekinesis, without any acknowledgment as to whether these powers only exist in his head or not (until the very, very end).

The very first shot opens with the main character appearing to be floating midair. My first thought wasn't, "Oh, what, he can float?" or, "Okay, so we're seeing a guy who can imagine he can float." It was neither. I thought instead, "I'm immediately being thrown into a very stylized film." One genre used to describe the film is magical realism. The way I understand magical realism is that while much of the film is based in reality, there are certain aspects of it that make no sense or don't fit logically. The most important, definable part of the genre though, is that these breaks in reality NEVER require or receive explanation. That's definitely how I took it to be.

Another interpretation, however, is that there is a clear explanation for why the world is the way it is - the main character has schizophrenia. That's why he hears voices, and has moments of grandeur, delusions about his superpowers, and experiences the world in a way that seemingly cut through time and space in irrational ways. The person I was watching with took this interpretation. There's no right or wrong answer, but it does change how you perceive the ending.

The humor was fantastic. It was fast-paced, odd, and unexpected. I loved the cast, especially Emma Stone and Edward Norton, who are both favorites of mine. I thought Edward Norton was fantastically despicable in this. Something funny, too, about the cast was how much they all must relate. Michael Keaton, of course, was Batman in his former years. Edward Norton did a brief stint as the Incredible Hulk, and Emma Stone was in the Amazing Spider-Man films. These are all Hollywood actors who have been in huge budget films, here trying to make something that's more independent to cash in a bit more prestige.

I could go on and on about all the fantastic moments in this film. I think a personal favorite of mine was when he's in the hospital, and we see the bandages on his face appear to give him a mask that looks eerily like Birdman. I can't even put it into words why I thought that was so brilliant but it took my breath away. (97/100)

Quote - "Popularity is the slutty little cousin of prestige."

What to watch for - Like I mentioned, there's no right or wrong answer for how to interpret this film, so watch the ending and try to imagine for yourself what it all means.

If you liked this movie, I'd recommend Mr. Robot!

Directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu
Distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures