Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu.

Producer: Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan & James W. Skotchdopole.

Distributed by: Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Writer: Based on the play; “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris & Armando Bo.

Starring: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Emma Stone & Naomi Watts.

Music: Antonio Sanchez.

Editing: Douglas Crise & Stephen Mirrione.

Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki.

Budget: $16.5-18 million.

Box Office: $103.2 million.

Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins.

Certificate: 15

Release Date: January 1st 2015

The beginning of the year 2015 gives us the 2014 awards contenders that were released early in America. The best picture winner, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) stars Michael Keaton in the title role. With the superhero deconstruction genre more popular than its ever been, its a fitting time to be released. Does Birdman soar high, or does it fall?

Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, a former Hollywood star, who was famous for starring in a fictional superhero trilogy as the titular Birdman. 20 years after walking out of the multi-billion dollar series,  Thomson is hoping to gain some credibility by writing and producing a high-profile Broadway production, which he also plans to star in. Birdman follows Thomson in the lead-up to the show’s opening night and he starts to baulk under the pressure as, his cast, family and friends start to show concern for his behaviour.

The conceit of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is that it is shot and edited in a way to ressemble one-long continuous take. This was the best thing of the movie as you are able to get into the mindset of the its main character; Riggan Thomson. Throughout the movie, Riggan starts to baulk under the pressure, as the days leading towards the Broadway production start ticking away and the audience can really feel Riggan’s frustrations, as he is dedicated to his play and has placed everything towards it. And the audience gets to experience the problems that he is facing in faux real time.

No, the film doesn’t take place in real time; the camera pans over to a wall or pointing towards the sky for a time-lapse to represent the passage of time. It’s a simple concept that is easy to follow and helps the audience even more relate to Riggan and get into his headspace. This is helped by an Oscar-calibre performance by Michael Keaton.

Michael Keaton is the star of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),as he truly is magnificent in the role. I found his character complex and interesting to watch, as his emotions change rapidly from scene to scene and Riggan goes through them in faux real time. Despite that, this is the first proper film in which Michael Keaton stars in that I have seen, it is his best so far, and I am disappointed that he didn’t win Best Actor at the Oscars this year; let alone get nominated.

There are also memorable and scene-stealing performances from the supporting cast in Birdman and none are to be underlooked. Emma Stone gives a fantastic proformance as Riggan’s daughter, Sam who has a drug addiction and it is her best. Edward Norton is entertaining as the antagonistic but beloved method-actor who is brought in last minute to help with Riggan’s show. But, my favorite supporting character is Zach Galifianakis, as Riggan’s best friend and lawyer. Galifianakis totally gets lost into his character and is almost unrecognizable in the role. It is also unlike anything that he has done before, as Zach is known for comedy roles.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a very well made movie on a filmmaking level as not only is the single take aspect brilliantly handled, but also the music; jazz drums that beats viciously in each scene which makes the drama effective. The lighting in the various sets are also top notch as when the camera follows Riggan walking through the corridors of the film studio,  each corridor was dimly lit, setting the mood perfectly. The cinematography is decent as shots in the hallucination sequence and scenes in New York, in particular look gorgeous. I can’t fault Birdman when it comes to its production and its evident that a lot of effort was put into the film.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) focuses on the current comic book movie craze and lines of dialogue and moments are sprinkled in the film to explain this. Earlier in the film, Riggan is struggling to find a replacement actor so he starts listing off real actors and Jake says that they are starring in movies- superhero films. This makes Birdman relevant, because those listed actors (Michael Fassbender, Robert Downey .Jr and Jeremy Renner) who exist in our world, also exist in Birdman.

Also, those movies those actors were starring in; Michael Fassbender- X-Men: First Class, Jeremy Renner- Avengers Assemble and Robert Downey .Jr, also Avengers Assemble are well received and popular superhero movies. Audiences didn’t love them for that reason; they loved them for the characters, their arcs and the themes they presented. This goes to show that superhero films aren’t just mindless action films, but show complexity and share dark themes. Birdman is trying to highlight the current popularity of the superhero movie craze.

While I do like Birdman, I do have one problem with it. I didn’t really “get it”. While this may be due to the fact that I don’t quite appreciate these types of character study films or the fact that I may need to give it a repeat viewings and really analyse it thoroughly next time. I would also be confused at some scenes as well.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a brilliant movie on a filmmaking level. It has great dialogue and a great script. Michael Keaton’s Oscar-calibre performance is worth experiencing, along with terrific performances from the cast. However, the story and certain scenes left me feeling confused with the film, so I have no reason to give Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

8/10