Review of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) by Josh B — 14 Jun 2015

All the decisions Inarritu make in "Birdman" are bold in the biggest sense. They aren't bold for the sake of making a bold movie, but bold because this movie required it. Inarritu has got to be one of the most insane directors breathing for several reasons--reasons that all spawn from Birdman.

The technical decision to shoot the entire film in one continuous shot (though there are hidden, seamless cuts, i.e., about two or three) and the decision in the narrative to tell a satirical message mocking specific people who maybe even saw the movie.

To me, there seems to be two fundamental messages in Birdman and tantamount to the movie's comedy-drama genre, Birdman has both a satirical (comedic) message and a serious (dramatic) message. The later I won't talk about, but the former (the bold one) I will.

To quote Mike Shiner (Edward Norton), "Stop living your life through your phone screens people!" I might be paraphrasing there, but the mocking, satirical message that this line conveys is that the majority of our generation of moviegoers are those who watch movies like a juvenile, dim-witted kid.

Those who come to see movies and not be challenged intellectually in the slightest, but to 'ahh' at an explosion and dose off when those stupid characters start talking again. Birdman is supposedly Riggan Thomson's (Michael Keaton) subconscious and is constantly conflicting with him and telling him, "People don't care about this philosophical bull-crap.

" Again, paraphrasing, but this message Birdman conveys is perfectly contemporary for our generation of Hollywood movies. Because of how contemporary this is, it almost feels like Birdman breaks the 4th wall (which it actually does with Antonio Sanchez's all-drum score).

In fact, Birdman almost breaks the 4th wall many times. For instance, there are pop culture references to the Avengers many times. That is why this message works because, as the dialogue mocks, the theme of the movie mocks.

Again, Inarritu is very bold in his decisions, but the movie required his boldness if he was going to tell a message as insane as previously discussed.