Review of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) by Peter F — 10 Apr 2016

Some films are great cause they show restraint and a minimalist design...Birdman is not that type of film. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu has thrown in everything plus the kitchen sink for his latest picture, a visual-feast and poetic satire that's as thorough as it is ambitious.

Shooting the film in the appearance of a single long-take (with the most subtle of cuts), Birdman's cinematic flourish actually accentuates it's themes regarding artistry, as it makes the film carry the look of a play, only wistfully projected through the world of cinema.

Iñárritu also comments on virtually every spectrum of the entertainment world here (criticism, budgetary-concerns, low-brow vs. high-brow), yet the movie never feels messy, and wraps it all together in a truly sublime and uplifting fashion.

Carried by a wide-range of familiar actors (many of whom are gloriously breaking their type-cast here), the film remains highly accessible and entertaining even when most cerebral, and in many ways it resembles the perfect comic-book film that Hollywood has tried so long to film.

An ensemble dramedy masterpiece, that can join the likes of Boogie Nights and Pulp Fiction as an instant classic!