“Birdman” is the most intelligently articulated film of the year. However, it is not an easy film to watch and it’s quite demanding on the audience, as it is made to appear as one continuous shot, without any. To further the complexity, it is not filmed in real time, Like “High Noon” (1952). There was only one film shot in real time, in one continuous take, and that was “Russian Ark” (2002).
Like “Synedoche New York” (2008) the film is about theater and the show business. A play is being rehearsed and Michael Keaton, a one-time Hollywood big shot, has written it and is now directing it (and he is also starring in it). Talk about an ego trip. The film is actually about Id, Ego and Superego. The complete title of the film in the poster is- BiRDMAN or (THE UNEXPECTED ViRTUE OF iGNORANCE) - with all the i’s in the lower case. You get the idea.
The ego is literally personified by Birdman, a Hollywood superhero Keaton once played. The spectre of Birdman continues to harass Keaton’s character, gradually driving him insane. The film is about Keaton’s hallucinations, and we are part of that schizophrenia too; nothing we see through his point-of-view is real. This becomes clear right at the beginning when we see him floating in midair.
But “birdman” can also refer to a coward, someone who never had the courage to do the right thing.
The film is really about the real world and the virtual world, real life and celebrity life, real-man and bird-man. Everyone in the film is crazy in some way. The only person who is honest is Keaton’s daughter, only she speaks her mind.
The fact that Michael Keaton in real life had once played Batman may add a biographical feeling to the film. Like Mickey Rourke in “Wrestler” (2008), Keaton, too gives the performance of a lifetime.
The entire cast is excellent. Michael Keaton deserves to get the Oscar this year for Best Actor.
