Birdman

This is the best Orson Welles movie Orson Welles never got a chance to direct. The story of an actor known for blockbusters searching for respect by producing and starring in a broadway play doesn’t have a lot of unique elements to it. It’s a quest for personal validation. That’s a story that’s been told a lot. What makes Birdman so unique is the who and the how. Having Michael Keaton be the main character, mirroring how his career somewhat stalled out after Batman, is a clever twist that adds a certain level of authenticity and personal touch to the movie. The movie itself stands in for the play within the movie, a serious project that stands against everything he’s done prior. Keaton’s performance is touching and desperate and unhinged and real. The acting from Emma Stone and Ed Norton are equally awesome as his daughter and the mercurial, antagonistic costar in the play. All three got nominations for Oscars and it’s plain to see why. And then there’s the way the story is told, in what is meant to be one long take (minus one scene change). There is some VERY skillful editing, but also clever use of the one tracking shot to cover up the passage of time. The camera floats from subject to subject as the story warrants, giving the movie a real-life feel the way other movies don’t. It’s something that really has to be seen to be understood. It is unlike any other single-take movie I’ve seen, and bears a striking similarity to Welles’ final film, The Other Side Of The Wind, only more focused and story-driven. Really, it’s the kind of movie that a review cannot help. So much of this movie challenges the way movies are made, without becoming a naval-gazing piece of hipster auteur nonsense. The ambition and scope, the acting, the score (a mix of known classical compositions and a jazzy percussion-only original score), all of it comes together in a singular mixture that defies words.