December 12th in Chicago, IL. This film was and still is getting a lot of buzz. It currently holds a 93% on RottenTomatoes.com and has received a few Golden Globes. The film is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (he also receives a screenwriting credit), who has done some amazing work in the past and sports and all-star cast (Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Edward Norton and ach Galifianakis to name a few). This is considered an independent film that's probably just getting a wide release now.
Keaton is the protagonist, Riggan Thomson. An actor who garnered success and fame as the main character of a superhero film franchise (Birdman) but he stepped down after the first few installments. After he left the cape & cowl, his career kind of took a downward swing. He's now trying to reinvent himself on Broadway by directing, writing and starring in an adaptation of Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." Thomason feels that this is his last chance at a redemption of his career (people only know him as Birdman). The other actors in the play include Mike Shiner (Norton), a douchey Broadway method actor; Laura (Andrea Riseborough), Thomson's girlfriend and Lesley (Watts), Shiner's girlfriend. Sam Thomson (Stone) is Riggan's fresh out of rehab daughter who's helping out around the theater and Jake (Galifiankis), Riggan's partner and attorney, are also spending a lot of time around the theater as they all get ready for opening night.
Thomson is on edge, he is dealing with the responsibility of getting ready for opening night as well as the stress of having a successful (it's his last chance and he's leveraged to the hilt) opening and trying to reconnect with his daughter. He's also got the added problem that his old alter-ego of Birdman is talking to him and occasionally showing up. Birdman tells him throughout the film to just return to the role that made him famous. Things get hectic as opening night approaches; Riggan and Shiner butt heads, Riggan locks himself out of the theater during a preview in his underwear and gets filmed walking around to the front of the theater, he finally has a heart to heart with Sam about what a cruddy father he was and he's informed by the one theater critic (played brilliantly by Lindsay Duncan) who can make his play a success that she despises Hollywood types trying to pass themselves off as real actors and that she will sink his play regardless.
During the opening night performance at the climactic scene, Riggan substitutes the prop gun for a real gun and shoots himself in the head prompting a standing ovation from the audience (the bitchy critic leaves in disgust). At the hospital it turns out that Riggan just shot his nose off. Jack tells him that the review was great and the play is all everyone is talking about. While in the hospital there's a scene where Riggan is in the bathroom checking out his wounds in the mirror and he spots Birdman sitting on the toilet reading a newspaper with a look of contempt on his face (my guess is that he realizes that Riggan no longer needs him so he's relegated to the toilet). Riggan then ventures to the window after hearing birds outside. Sam enters the room seeing that Riggan is gone and the window open. She rushed to the window and looks towards the street for a body and finds none. Puzzled she looks at the sky and smiles. Fade to black.
I thought this was a really good film, maybe not as great as people say but a real good film nonetheless. Excellent acting all-around, especially from Keaton. I felt that Norton's performance was spot on as a Broadway actor (or what I figure to be a Broadway actor). I kind of got the feeling that Duncan's role as the critic is what Broadway critics are really like: the only "true acting" is on the stage. That's probably why Riggan wants to have his career "last stand" on Broadway, to be taken seriously (finally!) as a true thespian.
The main characters are more or less largely unlikeable. Riggan is obsessed with his own success and a bit crazy. Shiner's a jerk. Sam plays the standard rich girl "daddy issues" type. Iñárritu also employed several long shots to give the feel of long continuous shots to make it more like a play (my theory) and it was really cool to see that. There was some stuff that I didn't think was very necessary, like when Riggan would periodically use telekinesis or exhibit other meta-human properties. I get it, he's got a real problem with the Birdman persona. It was not necessary for me to see that, I and I'm sure other, could see the madness trying to creep in. I guess the powers show that the Birdman persona is close to taking him over but what do I know. It would not surprise me if Birdman takes home a couple of Oscars come March. I look forward to seeing what Iñárritu comes out with next (The Revenant in 2015).
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