Review of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) by Timothy S — 31 May 2015

On the surface there's a sense of petty egotism to the Michael Keaton character's motivations, of feeling more important and entitled than those around him. I myself felt this tied into a more universal theme though, one of a man trying to control his legacy and his impact on the world around him, make his time on earth mean something if only just to him. There's a blurring of the line between fantasy and reality on a couple levels, perhaps meant as a commentary on how the former can impact the latter. In the role of an obsessive, self important actor, Ed Norton personifies a certain kind of personality to comedic extremes, someone focused on his work to where hostility and aggression become totally impersonal tools of the trade. Emma Stone's cynical blogger rang as a touch two dimensional, but at the same time there was a humanity to how her upbringing pushed her in this direction. Other thematic focuses seemed to be on a sort of a pull between devotion to one's art, and the personal havoc in wreaked on ones life, and the conflict between Keaton and Norton does seem to bring up whether a work is a product of the director or a collaborative effort.

Stylistically there was a kind of 70s movie inspired tone mixed with modern surrealism. I'm not exactly sure on what cutting the film to look like a single continuous shot was meant to achieve, perhaps to create a sense of the elements of the characters' lives and fantasies blending together. At any rate, it meshed well with the style of the movie. In some ways, it felt like some of the cynicism running through the film was an excuse for covering up insecurities about the screenplay, that cliches could be evoked "ironically" to avoid accountability.