Birdman

Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and stars Michael Keaton. Co-stars include Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts and Zach Galifianakis.

Birman is an extremely interesting film to watch, because it appears as though it is all filmed in one continuous shot. There are no clear cuts (although obviously there are some, shooting a two hour film in one go would be near impossible), with all scene changes managed by the camera either panning away to the next one, transitioning through TV screens, or even a transition made possible by one characters drug hallucinations. This effect obviously makes watching the film a very smooth experience, with every shot transition visually logical, but this can sometimes be confusing as well. As a viewer, it is sometimes hard to tell how one particular scene connects to the previous one, as although you can see how the camera got there, you can't always tell why. For example, when you have just watched a scene that follows Michael Keaton's character Riggan Thompson, the camera pans away, only to land on Riggan again, only this time he is in a completely different setting and scenario. This can be extremely confusing, as you can't tell how much time has passed in between each scene, or what is actually happening at the moment.

Despite this however, the cinematography in this film is outstanding- the one continuous shot is still extremely impressive, leaving you often wondering when they cut and how long this scene has been rolling for. It also makes the viewer feel like they really are watching real events through their own eyes, as if they are present with the characters of the film.

Another important aspect of Birdman is the duality between the life of Riggan Thompson and that of his real life actor Michael Keaton. In the film, Riggan is an ex-superstar: The man who played the legendary superhero Birdman in a trilogy of blockbuster films. The problem is that most film critics feel that these films were dragged out too long for the purposes of making a prophet, rendering Riggan "not a real actor". This is a direct parallel to Michael Keaton, who was a comedian before landing the role of a lifetime- Batman. He made 2 films helmed by Tim Burton, before leaving the franchise because the studio wanted to make it more child friendly. This new direction was very poorly received, nearly leading to the permanent demise of Batman in cinema, before Christopher Nolan revived it with the Dark Knight Trilogy. The poor reception of the later Batman film franchise meant Keaton found it hard to find work in the 90's and early 2000's. This made Birdman a huge comeback for him into the world of "real acting" once again, just like the play Riggan is writing in the film.

All of this means that in my opinion, the plot of the film itself, which is by no means bad, takes a back seat (or is vastly improved) by the knowledge of the meaning behind the film, and its cinematography.