 "Birdman")
A man is a critic when he cannot be an artist, in the same way that a man becomes an informer when he cannot be a soldier.” This profound statement by Gustave Flaubert and Birdman, a dark comedy, have something both for the artist and the critic.
The storyline of the film centres on the character of Thomas Riggan (Michael Keaton), a washed-up actor, who, after having played a superhero called Birdman in three films years earlier, now expects to join theatre in the hope of rejuvenating his career. However, not too sure of the outcome, he goes about his new venture in a funny, convoluted manner: he hires Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) at the eleventh hour as a cast member; employs his daughter (Emma Stone) as his personal secretary, but more to make up for the absentee father he has been in her life; and throws tantrums when Shiner steals his thunder after the play has its first preview.
In many ways, this film mirrors Keaton’s career in real life and if the movie manages to pull it off, which it seems to have, he may make a strong comeback. Keaton essayed the role of Batman in two blockbuster films, Batman and Batman Returns, but has been out of the limelight since. It’s an irony that Birdman’s storyline takes a dig at critics. Shiner is shown walking up to a theatre critic and showing his disdain for his work by quoting Flaubert’s line above. It is the film critics who haven’t stopped praising the film.
Riggan’s alter ego is the Birdman, who keeps on chiding and mocking him in his raspy voice. The long-gone superhero wants Riggan to reclaim his fame by becoming the Birdman again. But the actor only wants to become relevant by directing and starring in his play. His life is in tatters: his wife has left him; his daughter has been in rehab for drug abuse because he had never been around; and he doesn’t get along well with his girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough). Stone as the nonchalant daughter puts up a decent performance. Norton is at his best as the newly-hired theatre artiste who has his share of eccentricities. Riggan has a good friend in a laywer (Zach Galifianakis), who helps him put together the play.
This movie is a stream of consciousness that oscillates between self-pity and machismo in the form of Riggan’s alter ego, the Birdman. A memorably quirky scene is the one in which Riggan goes out for a break wearing a robe and the door inadvertently closes shut with one end of his robe till stuck inside. He is locked outside the theatre, leaving him with no option but to queue up outside in only in his briefs in order to get back to the stage.
The real accolade goes to director Alejandro González Iñárritu, who has brilliantly shot the film to look like a continuous single take. By using jump-cuts, he has managed to give the movie a feel of a play. Jean-Luc Godard used to employ this method to make his films, but Alfred Hitchcock might be the most popular director to use the style, in Rope (1948). There are frames shot with hand-held cameras, with even scenes that slide in and out of corridors. Another feature that binds the film is the drum score. With no background music other than the beats on the drum, it builds up the tension as well as gives the film its pace.
This movie shouldn’t be missed. It is by far is one of the best coming out of Hollywood this year.
