Looking to Oscar 2015: The Incredibly Unique Birdman

BY: ORANGECHAIR

Unique films are not always that easy to come by currently. So many films and television shows have done so much that often times walking out of a theater you can’t help but think that was really good but it reminded me of ______.  Alejandro Inarritu’s new film Birdman is about as unique as they come. A daring film that will make the audience think about it for weeks, Birdman should make some waves come Oscar time.

At its most basic level, Birdman is about Riggan Thompson (Michael Keaton). Famous worldwide for playing comic book super hero Birdman in a film franchise, Riggan has decided he wants to be seen as more than just Birdman. Twenty years after the final Birdman film Riggan has decided to adapt a short story onto Broadway and to direct and star in the play. The film follows Riggan as he attempts to restart his career all while dealing with his just out of rehab daughter Sam Thompson (Emma Stone), pompous Broadway star Mike Shiner (Edward Norton), his best friend and lawyer Jake (Zach Galifianakis) and first time Broadway performer Lesley (Naomi Watts). To top it all off Riggan seems to be losing his mind. Birdman continuously talks to Riggan and often Riggan believes he can move things with his mind using his Birdman powers. There is even a sequence where Riggan flies around the city while a giant bird attacks, something that can only be assumed to have come straight out of Birdman. Riggan tries to keep his mind and struggles to survive while reinventing himself, leading up to one of the most shocking opening shows in Broadway history.

A blog post about this film could go on and on and on. The film was very dense, with every shot perfectly composed and each line expertly delivered. One of the most fascinating aspects of the film was director Inarritu’s technique in making the film look like one, continuous shot. The camera follows characters through hallways and through the streets of New York as they walk and talk. There are very few transitions in the film and even still most of them are continuous shots sped up to show the passing of time. This is one of those films that a screenshot of almost any scene could be dissected. Each line, each vase of flowers and each poster in the background helped to enhance the scene and the film as a whole. Audiences walk out of this film exhausted but in the most satisfying of ways, if you enjoy dissecting film and being sent of of the theater with your brain abuzz with what you just watched.

The end of this film is very bizarre in fact, I’m still not quite sure what happened. I have theories, I have ideas but I cannot say definitively how the film ended. I believe that was Inarritu’s intention. Was the film about a star trying to re brand himself or a mentally unstable man? I think the answer will be different for each audience member. If I was given a vote I would certainly vote for Inarritu to get a Best Director nomination and I would be surprised if the film was not nomination for Best Picture. I also would not be surprised if Michael Keaton or Edward Norton’s appeared on the Oscar ballot. Every aspect of this film was executed with near perfection but the most refreshing part of this film was its uniqueness. This is a 9 out of 10, certainly something that is worth the trip to the theaters.