If you’ve read many of my movie reviews and impressions over the past, you know that this is the time of year my visits to the theater increase as those Oscar-worthy movies start gracing the screens. I seek lists on the web for what movies might make the cut come nomination time. Birdman was on every list, in multiple categories. It deserves to be.
I knew little about Birdman before I saw it, as if often my case. I saw the trailer once, and I shared a brief conversation over lunch the day before seeing the film. And I was a bit perplexed, with an idea of the basic synopsis, as to just why this was getting such Oscar buzz. But the depths of the layers of complexity in the movie grab the viewer and hold tight, sometimes shaking, sometimes almost choking. It is in these layers that the movie shines.
Yes, in a way, this is a superhero movie, but just barely. It’s to me much more a movie about complex relationships, mental illness, and desperation. (Then again, those three things can be one in the same, yes?) After all, the movie does not portray someone we are to believe is an *actual* caped hero who rescues innocents. (As I sit here and contemplate the story, I’m not sure there even is anyone I could classify as an innocent. Everyone needs to be rescued, but no one seems deserving of much.) This film, instead, dives deep into the places one’s mind can go as it retreats into its own dimensions.
Even though I say this was not a superhero movie, I appreciate how its themes flow under those movies. Birdman certainly speaks to the genre that *is* superhero films—their popularity, their fan base, their casting. My favorite line from the film is, “You’re not an actor; you’re a celebrity.” That this applies to Michael Keaton, a former Batman, should not be lost. Of course, the beauty of that line is found in just how incredible an acting performance Keaton delivers in *this* movie.
Michael Keaton owns his character. I felt his pain as life and reality slipped from his grasp. The rest of the cast is as spot-on: Emma Watts is perfectly distasteful while generating the sympathy of this neglected but codependent daughter. Ed Norton’s character brings nothing for the viewer to like, and that’s just as it should be. In support, Naomi Watts and Zach Galifianakis generate glimpses of sympathy, then as we see more, they too are just struggling for their own worth, seeking it in all the wrong places.
The movie foreshadows throughout, but too often, I thought I knew the coming direction, then the movie veered the other way. I appreciated it not being too predictable, even if I felt a bit like I was watching a boy cry wolf. Still, many will be unhappy with the ending. I still haven’t come to complete terms with it.
I didn’t know quite how much of a superhero guru my ever-so charming movie companion was. We discussed the movie a bit afterwards, and since then, he posted his review a couple of days ago, which I’ve yet to read, sticking to my “no other reviews” before I reduce my own thoughts to writing. (Of course by the time you read this, I will have clicked on that.) What I did read was his lead-in to his blog post, which referenced Birdman as a new go-to superhero movie of his (next to Unbreakable, which although it’s been ages since I saw it, I recall thinking it showed greatness). For me, Birdman doesn’t cross over enough to be of my simple definition of the superhero genre, but Birdman does belong on a high shelf. To me, that’s on a spot just behind A Beautiful Mind as a go-to mental illness movie.
Mental illness as intersected with superheroes. Jason Tondro, what say you?