Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Movie Review (2014)

birdman, comedy, drama, movie review,

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Birdman stars Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, and Emma Stone. This film is about a man who used to be really famous for playing a super hero called Birdman, that man is Michael Keaton. He since become rather washed-up, his public image isn’t very strong anymore, and he scrambles the fun together to put on this play. He’s directing it, he’s writing it, and he’s watching it, all crumble around him.
But it’s not just about that play, it’s about existence, it’s about one’s place in real life, it’s about how you view your own life, it’s about duality, it’s about film critics, it’s about family life, it’s about drinking, it’s about special effect blockbuster. This movie is about everything, and it is one of the best movie I’ve ever seen in my life.
I’ve been waiting all year for a movie like this, a movie that I can sit down and go, “Oh my gosh, this is why I watch movies and talk about them.” This is why I go to movie theater, for movies like Birdman.
A lot of people are focusing on the way of the movie was filmed. It’s made to look as if it is one continues shot. A clever editing technique and a really long take and some really skilled actors accomplished that. For that reason, the entire movie feels like it has this veracity, this unpredictability about it, with just mere by its drum only score, which also feels as if it was made up in the moment. The score is very jazzy, it’s feel like off the cuff, it’s feel unpredictable similar to the film.
Michael Keaton plays Emma Watson’s father in the movie, and they have a very estrange relationship, she’s had problem from the past, she’s dealing with one side of her feeling one way and the other side of her feeling in other.
Edward Norton plays a replacement actor who comes in the last minutes who feels like he owns the theater, he just wants to take over this play. He’s also dealing with the fact that he feels as if he pretending in real life, and when he is acting, he feels as if he’s home.
Throughout the movie, Keaton’s character literally hears the voice of Birdman in his head, telling him to do certain things. He ignores it and sometime he’s able to actually respond to it and sometime even see him. And he might just have mysterious powers of some kind which he can use telepathy to move things. This movie is weird !
What I’m getting at is almost every character in this movie is dealing with an intense psychological issue of some kind that make them feel split as if they are two halves in one. The movie also touches so much on life existence, what your place in the world is, what your here to do, the movie is filled with brilliant metaphor imagery that instill thoughts and emotions into your brain as you watch the movie, that no character is speaking, there’s no exposition that can say these things to you. These things are told through brilliant film making and excellent writing.

I got to give a mega praise to these actors. Keaton pose off the best performance of his entire career. Edward Norton is the best he’s been in years. Emma Stone is maybe the best she’s ever been. Naomi Watts is also terrific. All of the acting in the movie, even Zach Galifianakis, is perfect. These guys hit all of these tough marks throughout this very long takes and I got to give major admiration for that.

I love some action movies, I love some big fun entertainment movies, but I also respect art film like this that are really trying to be art. A film that has so much thought provoking emotions behind it and so much to say about humanity and relationship, and also the movie business. It was a flawless movie. I have not one problem with Birdman.
This movie is what I’ve been waiting for, a movie that feels like an experience, a movie that I never ever forget how I felt sitting in that theater, a movie that I can truly say is a masterpiece.

Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Writers: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (screenplay), Nicolas Giacobone (screenplay)
Stars: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone
Duration: 119 min