Review of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) by Abdullah A — 08 Jul 2015

To all the naysayers out there, aside from the unique execution of the film, focus on the DIALOGUE, because pretty much all of it is social commentary or thought-provoking words of some kind, and it is surprisingly deep and amazing. It took a second viewing for me to really get a good grip of the film as a whole as well as appreciate its dialogue and execution but man, this really makes one hell of an all time favorite classic! And what really hits it home for me is that THEY JUST WENT FOR IT! I mean, in everything! Not just the stunning and unique and original way they shot the film, but in the clever commentary, in the parodies, in the surprisingly real and at times hilarious dialogue, in the artsy psychology of the main character, in the crazy scenes (Michael Keaton vs Edward Norton fight, A LESBIAN KISSING SCENE), in the score (which is just drums), everything! It's the kind of film that you can't appreciate in just one or two watches, because this film really is a lot deeper in many ways, and not in the typical way art films are but in a very refreshing, more real way.

And you see, this kind of film wouldn't have worked at all if everything wasn't done to near perfection (I mean, just imagine seeing the script of this along with all the ideas for how it should be executed annotated along the side - CRAZY!). The acting is unbelievably great, not just from Michael Keaton (who, btw, the film's main character is parodying - in case you are not familiar with the guy - in not only how he hasn't really been in anything since 1992, but he last played BATMAN, which is very comparable to the film's main character and Birdman), but the whole cast, all-round, and I was especially surprised by Emma Stone. I already had a good opinion of her as an actress before the film, but she raised the bar for herself! The scene where she just rants out at her father had my jaw drop to the floor, and this is a very different role for her compared to other films that she's been in, and she does it so well.

Now some people talk about how they don't get the plot, and really, this isn't that kind of movie! This is a movie where the dialogue dominates, and not a twisty-turny plot. Aside from the rants of the characters that has got the film critics saying this film is social commentary and what-not, there are a lot of moments that were surprisingly hilarious. And that's really what sets this film apart from other artistic films - aside from the actual deep real things it has to say about life and fame and film, it has a great humor to it.

And just like everything I already mentioned, the characters are also not so straightforward and deep. The character Edward Norton plays, while a jerk, if you listen to what he says, he actually says the truth, and it reminds me of so many of my favorite characters, like House, Sherlock Holmes, just to name the most well-known. The character of Michael Keaton, though to different degrees, really represents pretty much everyone with a dream/failed dream/past-his/her-time, and if you think through what he's going through, you can find what he's struggled through in the movie in yourself, and that just makes the film even grander for me, because that makes me reflect on my life and how I chase my dreams.

I could go on and on and to the reader who has stuck to this point in my review, I wish I could just watch the movie with you next to me so that I could point out all the awesome things this movie has with it, but alas.