We’ve all
seen it happen before. A young, relatively unknown actor makes it big, getting
cast as the next big super hero; the franchise is popular and immediately
spawns sequels; the actor is suddenly one of the biggest stars in the world and
gets casting calls from great directors like Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, etc.
Then one day, the franchise no longer feels fresh; the actor is booted and some
other young rising star takes his place in the reboot. The old actor is now a
shell of what he once was and desperately attempts to cling to relevancy while
the world laughs and forgets. The complete and elaborate exploration of the
aftermath of this story is what Birdman is about, but that is not necessarily
what makes Birdman such an intriguing art piece and one of the best films of
the year.
There’s
likely only two movies released in 2014 (that I’ve seen so far) that I can say
truly blew my mind (sorry but Interstellar is totally not one of them) the
first is Boyhood and the second would be Birdman. Now, if Boyhood is a long
overlooking picture dedicated to the journey of childhood, Birdman is almost
the opposite; Instead, the film is more of a snapshot taken near the end of a
man’s life, and contained within this snapshot is every fear, failure and
regret that Riggan (played rather admirably by an intense Michael Keaton) has
ever had and still has.
There’s a
lot to love about this film, but one aspect that really makes this film unique
is the cinematography; throughout the entirety of the film all the way to the
last fifteen minutes or so, the movie is filmed as one, single take. The camera
seems to be a character itself as it follows people down hallways, jumping from
one character to the next without a single cut, panning to show reaction shots
and pulling back from the scene at just the right moments. Certainly, the
cinematography here is deserving of all the accolades I’m sure it will be
receiving in the coming months; the timing alone is mind boggling throughout
the film.
To focus too
much on the camera would be to ignore the truly unique storytelling in this
movie; from the very beginning we’re thrown straight into the situation without
any setup and we’re forced to catch on as we go. This method works perfectly
and mostly avoids any (terribly, awfully) boring exposition-type dialogue,
while also managing to keep the viewer interested and engaged rather than lost
and bored. We’re also left to wonder who’s perspective we are seeing in the
film as time goes on, I don’t wish to spoil anything so I won’t get into the
details here, but suffice to say there is at least some doubt as to whether our
“narrator” (being the camera here and not an actual voice-over thankfully) is
actually reliable or not, and the end of the film leaves plenty of room
interpretation.
Another
element of Birdman is the depth of the characters, and for once the characters
in this film actually feel real and believable. Not since Boyhood has there
been a film where I really appreciated the writing of not just the main
characters but the supporting characters as well. Without ever having to
necessarily say anything we can feel the history between characters and it
definitely feels real. Also, kudos to Edward Norton for completely pulling off
the pretentious, douchey actor role (it doesn’t seem to exactly be a difficult
role for him to channel) and bringing the very idea to a whole new level.
In essence,
Birdman is a parody of Hollywood and a parody of those who hate Hollywood and a
parody of us all, and it works beautifully. At one point, Michael Keaton chews
out a theater critic who boasts that she will ruin his play; he calls her out
as a fraud who merely puts a label on things and never actually puts anything
on the line herself. He claims that he’s the real artist because he works his
ass off and puts his all into his acting, baring his soul to the world and thus
making himself ultimately vulnerable. This definitely got me thinking (being
someone who likes to write reviews as a hobby) and I have to say it’s something
I’ve always felt about a lot of critics. Too many are simply slamming a film
without thinking, wrapping up an entire film with some pretentious, snazzy
one-liner that maybe someone will glance at on Rotten Tomatoes and then say
“well, I heard the reviews were bad.” On the other hand, many clamor to praise
a film simply because it’s hyped and the director is really famous and because
all the other critics are praising it, without even evaluating the film on its
own merit. However, to say a critic doesn’t put anything on the line I think is
false. Anytime one makes their opinion public, it invites its own criticism and
putting out a review, while certainly not on the same level as putting out a
film or play, is also risky and means opening oneself to the public, something
that is scary no matter what. Really, I think that may be one of Birdman’s
better points, and it’s definitely something that we should all keep in mind,
especially when critiquing someone’s else’s beloved self-creation.
-Ryan Maples
Rating: 9.75
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