"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Birdman (2014, R)

Now that this film cleaned up at the Oscars, it’s back in my local cinema, so I was able to take a look at this year’s best picture.  And… I’m not quite sure.  There are aspects of it that I really like, others I don’t like at all, and still others that put me at a loss.  The best movie of the year?  I don’t know about that, but I know it’s not everything I hoped it would be.  (A few spoilers.)

Michael Keaton’s Riggan is a Hollywood star best known for the comic-book franchise he headlined back in the ‘90s (possibly just a hint of meta there.)  His career stalled years ago when he walked away from the Birdman films, and he’s now directing and starring in a play he adapted from a novel, a desperate attempt to reacquaint the public with his capabilities.  There’s interpersonal drama, backstage blowups, and onstage flameouts, but the main thrust of the story is Riggan’s drive to convince everyone (and himself) that he’s still relevant.  The film ruminates on ideas of fame and artistry, craft and spectacle, and the need to feel that someone sees us.

We’ll start with what works.  Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s direction is excellent, dizzyingly up close and personal, and Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography is spectacular.  The design and the score add wonderfully to the film, making even the outrageous things we see onscreen feel honest and alive.  The cast, which includes Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Zach Galifianakis, Amy Ryan, and Andrea Riseborough (who played the lead in The Devil’s Whore,) is quite good.  Special mention goes to Edward Norton as Riggan’s costar Mike, a notoriously-difficult but brilliant method actor (maybe another smattering of meta) – Norton has a talent for feeling really natural even when his character isn’t, and that’s especially true here.

The script has some genuine laughs, inventive flair, and good things to say about the nature of acting and celebrity.  However, the script is also where the film stumbles the most.  Sometimes it’s too pointed and tell-don’t-show, while at others it revels in its own surreality and weirdness.  There’s this trippy device in which “Birdman’s” disembodied voice lectures Riggan about the direction his career’s taken, and Riggan occasionally displays superhero powers (telekinesis, flight, etc.) that are almost-definitely-but-not-100%-certainly in his head.  I don’t know – sometimes stuff like that works for me, but I’m not quite feeling it here.

As for the story, I have a few strong complaints.  Pretty much all the female characters are woefully thin, and though Norton is great as Mike, the script does him no favors.  There’s being a difficult, demanding actor – picking apart every line of the script, drinking real gin onstage, and bring a sunbed to his dressing room so he can be “authentically” redneck – and then there’s toxic dickery.  He straight-up tries to sexually assault Watts’s Lesley during a performance, on the grounds that it’ll be much “truer” if they actually do the deed.  I know actresses deal with lots of sexist crap, but I can’t believe that this incident is basically treated as comparable to the other insane stuff he pulls, and I can’t believe he wouldn’t have been fired from the play over it.  That’s either wildly implausible or grossly depressing (probably a little of both.)

Warnings

Swearing, sexual content (including attempted assault,) violence, substance abuse, and thematic elements.

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