Thursday 5 February 2015

Birdman (5/5, Very Good)

Latest Iñarritú's film is an avalanche of sarcasm, irony and  about a man who once was a successful actor and wants to hit back the summit of fame.

Veteran actor Riggan Thompson (the unbeatable Michael Keaton) is setting a play in Broadway along with other performers (interpreted by Edward Norton, Naomi Watts) who have been forgotten by the glamorous world of fame. Riggan's fight against his faded hollywood figure faces numerous obstacles: a former junkie daughter (a superb Emma Stone) whose grudge against her father is a dagger that keeps on going deeper; a whole world of snobby critics that mock the intent of a 'celebrity' adapting a indie theatre play in Broadway. Nevertheless that is not Riggan's main problem.
He has been possessed by his most famous-role: Birdman. The spectrum of the superhero haunts Riggan by continuously talking to him. Having left the successful Birdman film franchise voluntarily, he will soon come to realise that he cannot escape from what he really is.

Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritú directed a masterpiece: it is, for sure, one of his most personal films. Keaton also gave the performance of his career. It is not only an ode to his personal career (he interpreted Batman with Tim Burton as a director and then both left the successful franchise) but also one of the greatest comebacks in contemporary cinema. His acting is Oscar-worth and the support of good actors as Norton and Stone adds more quality to it. The cinematography is simply stunning. Reminding a style previously seen in Hitchcock's The Rope (1948), the camera seems to be filming with no cut at all. A great care was taken for this optical effect and it is well achieved. The music accompanies the unbalanced rythm of the film: its minimalist one drum-composition fits perfectly in the film. 
 The story reminds us of a social pressure inherent in all societies: everyone wants to be somebody. If we are not, it is like loosing an identity. It is like fading away. Looking for that answer, we tend to go to other people and try to figure out who we really are. However the answer may lie in ourselves. Riggan is an actor but who realises who he really is in an inner process. Instead of projecting ourselves so much to the outside world and try to give an image, maybe we should try to project an image of ourselves to our mind and think about it: is that who I really am? Riggan found the answer and he flies with it. Recommended film!


Trailer:



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