Ok, so, finally saw Birdman, I know it’s a little late, but better late then never right?
So I had heard a lot of great things about this movie, about how great it’s cinematography was, or how great the directing was, or the story, or pretty much everything about it, so I had some pretty high expectations going into it.
I thought it was a clever, well-written, creative film. The acting was great, and I thought the premise was just as good. I really liked how it was almost poking fun at Michael Keaton in a way, since he was Batman in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The character development was good too, Michael Keaton’s character had the most, obviously, from hopeful and fresh to angry to bitter to lonely to finally done with the play.
For those who haven’t seen it yet, Michael Keaton’s character is a has-been actor, he was in a famous superhero series called Birdman, but since then he hasn’t done anything as big, so in a last-ditch effort he turns to Broadway. There aren’t a lot of optimists in the film and no one is rooting for him. Edward Norton’s character joins the cast and turns everything upside down, proving to be an arrogant jerk. Leading up to the opening night, Michael Keaton’s Birdman character haunts him more and more, as it torments him with hateful thoughts about himself and his career. On opening night, he ends the play with a surprising and dangerous stunt, garnering high praise, even from the harshest of critics.
Now, let me make it clear, it’s a very weird movie. Not a lot of scenes are explained and much of the movie and especially it’s ending are left open for interpretation. I really liked how the Birdman character would appear in some scenes and Michael Keaton’s world would change to look like a Birdman movie, that was pretty clever.
The cinematography was amazing, the way they shot the film made it look like one long take, it was really fun to watch and to try to figure out how it was filmed. The sets were very symbolic too, the narrow, claustrophobic hallways behind the theater, the dark stage, the dressing rooms with mirrors everywhere. I think it represents what happens inside an actor’s mind. The dressing rooms with mirrors everywhere symbolize self-critique, since they can see themselves, the narrow hallways represent confinement and the dark stage is the world that they block out, just a guess…
In any case, it was a fun movie to watch. Michael Keaton was great in it, and there were some pretty funny scenes, but there was also a lot of random stuff in it too, like a 10 second lesbian make-out sesh, didn’t really have a point, and it was never brought up again, thanks for that one.
I would rate it a 3 and a half stars out of 5, I know that seems low, but I had really high expectations for it. Not to say that it wasn’t good, it was, just not as good as I was hoping I suppose, and I don’t think I’d bother to watch it again, but that’s just me!
The Qualmist 