Birdman (2015)

With 2015 shaping up to be an excellent year for films already, and the glowing reviews that Birdman has already acheived, not to mention it's 10 BAFTA nominations, I went into the screening of the film with high expectations. I am yet to decide whether or not it actually met them. Perhaps I'll have come to a conclusion by the end of this post.

Birdman begins with a shot of Riggan Thompson, played by the seemingly perfectly cast Michael Keaton, levitating in the middle of his dressing room. Thompson is a former movie star, famous for his superhero franchise, Birdman. His turning down of Birdman 4, on principle (not dis-similar to Keaton, who himself, turned down Batman 3 'on prinicple') sets him on a course for finding prestige over popularity. He adapts, directs and stars in a theatre adaptation of a Robert Carver novel.
It is rather egotiscal to assume you can adapt, direct and star in your first theatre production as Keaton's character is doing. This egotism shines right through the film. Though I can't critise the film for its subject matter, I do think it throws away its hard work by regarding itself fairly highly.  It's mockery of the industry comes across as arogant. I find it ironic that the film in question has gone down a storm with critics despite is clear jab at crisiticism as career.
Everything about the film feels disjointed and fragmented. We are introduced to characters and plots that come and go, Edward Norton as the passionate thespian, for example. He appears after some excitment from Riggan, brings a new dimension to the show, then destroys the preview, falls out with his girlfriend, kisses daughter and then barely shows up again.The score is equally as fragmented, it never seems to fit. It's bolshy and disjointed drumming offers an interesting take on the usually forceful way scores draw out passive viewers emotions. This score had no real lead, we were left to reacted to the narrative and imagery in our own way entirely. The camera work again did nothing that you'd expect. Shot in one long take (with the expection of one cut about 10 mintues from the end), we were lead through the narrative by a continuous shot.

What interests me most about this film is the way in which it deals with the matter at hand. The film devles into the lives of 'washed up' stars trying to gain themselves a little crediblity when perhaps their earlier work may not have offered them this. James Franco and Shia Labeouf are two names that come to mind when considering actors that may have done just this. Granted, this is a clever, fascinating peice of work with plenty to get you thinking, I'd take that over a film that makes go 'yeah, it was alright'any time,it's just that it seems all too self-indulgent and confident.