Birdman: A Review by Chetan Shetty

Among the gems that the Oscar season has brought us this year is a masterpiece called Birdman, directed by Mexican-born director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

Birdman is the story of an ageing movie actor Riggan Thompson (played by Michael Keaton) struggling to find relevance and self-respect by now directing and acting in a stage play on Broadway. To make up for lost time as a father, he asks his daughter (played by Emma Stone) to assist him on the  play. Edward Norton plays a popular Broadway stage actor, who can only "perform" on stage! And everyone of the rest of the small cast also have their own little characterizations nicely sketched out.

Riggan Thompson used to once play an action hero called the Birdman in the movies. That role, that brought him wealth and fame at one time, has now become his alter-ego, constantly berating him for scraping the bottom of the barrel on stage when he could be a superhero in the studios. Interestingly, one will remember that Michael Keaton has played the role of Batman in the past - before the Dark Night series made it such a great hit. In a line in this movie, the Birdman alter-ego berates Riggan Thompson, for "handing over the keys to the kingdom to these impostors"

Apart from the great performances by the cast of the movie, the conspicuous technical genius of this film is their attempt to give the movie a feel of being a single take. It's as if there were no cuts - as if the entire movie was shot in one continuous roll of the camera. Now of course that would have been impossible. They did take cuts, but just disguised them very well. You then have to marvel at the screenplay, the  cinematography and the sound recording that allowed this story to be told as if it was one really long take. 

While the movie is about a stage play, these long takes make the movie feel like a stage play. I can imagine that they must have rehearsed and rehearsed so much before shooting this movie. And one sub-plot of the movie is this rivalry and mutual disdain between the movie guys and the stage artists - between New York and LA. In one line, a stage critic tells Riggan "You may be a celebrity, but you are no actor!" The same could be said of so many movie stars - both here and abroad.

The script is powerful, not just in good lines, but in ways that a casual line, here and there,  in the early part of the movie become relevant as the story unfolds. 

I hesitate to say more about the actual story - as it is complex - and subject to your interpretation. Watch the movie - it is a masterpiece of cinematic story-telling!