Monday, April 4, 2016

Birdman (2014)

Birdman (2014)




The Tale of a former superhero star trying to stage a theatrical adaptation of a Raymond Carver play is both explosive and philosophical. Watching the movie for a second time made me appreciate it more for it's storytelling style. 

The One take illusion adds a sense of dreadful spiraling down quite similar to what Riggan Thomson has to endure in this movie as he battles with various elements that compound him one after the other. The film also dives in the psyche of Riggan Thomson and make the audiences question his sanity with scenes where Riggan Thomson displays his birdman like powers and when he ends up in the Hospital in the end after having blown off his nose during a scene in the final preview of his play his bandages do resemble a beak!

I never thought of Michael Keaton as a great actor probably because i haven't watched any of his older movies or it could be a problem with my memory. I do remember him as a psychotic person in Pacific heights but i am not sure i watched the movie till the end. One particular moment of his acting brilliance in this move is when he recounts to Edward Norton's character a false account of parental abuse  and for a moment we understand his pain until he reveals it to be a display of his acting chops.

 The Movie is primarily about ego and how we destroy ourselves in our pitiful efforts to maintain our own facades and things that mean nothing. The Primary driving force of the movie and for it's characters seems to be redemption. Every one has their own fair share of bittersweet emotions and fears. I believe the final act is just an imaginary sequence of the main character who just committed suicide by jumping off a building. 

Even though told in a realistic way the film blurs the reality by interjecting the narrative with fantasy and surrealism. The Movie critics explicitly the superhero blockbusters and how it has left the audience in a cultural limbo and everyone else whose job is to be a critic themselves.

Emma stone simply knocked it out of the park with her excellent portrayal of a recovering drug addict who is the estranged daughter and personal assistant of Riggan Thomson as he tries to bring her close. Amy Ryan impress me in everything i see her in with Win Win and  The Wire to name a few. For god's sake, she is McNulty's girl. She is a good wife who ends up getting divorced after Riggan throws a knife at her for making fun of his new comedy film.

 When the critic thereatens to kill his play that's when we realize that it is a reality in modern movie times which somehow narrows down the perception of movies with an addiction to recognizable patterns. Hollywood is,was and always will be a moneymaking beast churning out sequels and universes rather than original, moving works that mirrors to a questionable future. 

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