The Cutting Room Floor: Birdman

Author: Sydney Reade

Reinvention is something all humans struggle with; such a universal theme makes for a pretty good movie. Enter Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), the dark comedy from the unconventional mind of writer and director Alejandro González Iñárritu.

Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is an actor fallen from grace. He is known for playing the fictional superhero Birdman, but we find him trying to revamp his career by writing, producing, directing, and starring in a stage adaptation of Raymond Carver’s short story, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” Ironic, given Michael Keaton’s former run as Batman and his relative absence from high-profile films as of late.

The play seems doomed from the beginning: Thomson has visions of superhuman powers and lets the voice of Birdman get in his head; one of the male leads injures himself during rehearsal; Thomson’s daughter and production assistant Sam (Emma Stone) is a recovering drug addict who smokes marijuana; one of the actresses might be pregnant with Thomson’s child. To make matters worse, a brilliant but petulant method actor Mike (Edward Norton) comes in to replace the injured male lead and takes over the production.

Thomson has bet everything—his career, his finances, and his rocky relationship with his daughter—that this play will finally cut him loose from Birdman’s bonds. His tireless passion to hit the reset button on his life with one great performance makes for outstanding cinema.

 

 

Modeled after the candid and unedited nature of life, Iñárritu filmed Birdman to look like it was filmed all in one take. This is an incredible feat for actors, because one tiny misstep results in a minutes-long shot having to be redone. Zach Galifianakis, playing Riggan’s lawyer, Jake, navigated this long-take difficulty particularly well, having many Sorkin-esque walk and talk moments with Keaton in the very narrow underbelly of a Broadway theater. For audiences, the shots rival the cinematic brilliance of Boyhood in that they truly give the sensation that we are experiencing Riggan’s life in real time. Keaton pulls off something even greater in his  portrayal of a tired and beaten down man at the lowest point in his life who somehow retains a sliver of optimism. His generally gruff demeanor suggests a prickly actor who can go toe-to-toe with Mike’s hissy fits and Sam’s brash attitude on stage. But behind the curtains, both in his work and in his life, Keaton’s uneasy, quivering mannerisms show Riggan as a man totally unsure of himself.

 

 

The most astounding aspect of Keaton’s performance is that no matter how deep a hole Riggan is in, Keaton never lets the audience doubt that he’ll get out. Even in the movie’s most comical moments – when Riggan locks himself out of the theater in the middle of a performance and walks naked through Times Square – the audience continues to root for the ex-superhero with all his disillusioned visions of grandeur. This is all Keaton’s doing, and if I hadn’t been so sure that Eddie Redmayne was a lock for Best Actor, I’d say Keaton would have had a pretty good shot. At least Michael Keaton got the Golden Globe.

Though Keaton is unforgettable, the rest of the cast isn’t too shabby either. Edward Norton puts on a dazzling show from his off-the-cuff entrance on stage to breaking character to yell at Riggan for replacing his gin with water. He’s the character you love to hate – but he’s so good at what he’s doing that you may honestly feel conflicted over whether or not to like him. Meanwhile, Naomi Watts is sorely underutilized, but I’m okay with it because it gave Emma Stone some room to shine. She challenges herself with more of a pissed-off and f-you performance than she normally gives. Her growth as an actress and as a character is phenomenal to watch, especially when she’s dangling precariously on the ledge of a New York City skyscraper.

 

 

An actual study in good acting (since it’s a movie about acting), Birdman captures the audience’s attention from the first frame and doesn’t let go. This rapt quality is certainly why Birdman took home awards for Best Original Screenplay, Cinematography, and Best Director, as well as an unexpected Oscar for Best Picture.

 

“The Cutting Room Floor” is a handy guide to all things film. Sydney Reade discusses the merits of a movie from the camera angles to that line of dialogue you just can’t get out of your head. Appearances by classic gems, modern favorites, and every movie in between to help you decide what to watch on Friday flick night.

 

 

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