Back in 1989, Michael Keaton helped invent the modern superhero movie, starring in Tim Burton’s Batman. Although nowadays superhero movies are a dime a dozen, back then it was a gamble, and one which paid off spectacularly.
25 years later and time has not been kind to Keaton. Besides occasional supporting roles in the likes of Toy Story 3 and last year’s Robocop remake, the star of the one of the movies which shaped modern blockbusters had all but disappeared.
It’s no coincidence then that the one-time caped crusader has collaborated with director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros, 21 Grams) on Birdman. As Riggan Thomson, the washed up star of the once-popular Birdman franchise, Keaton delivers the performance of his career, and one which, if there’s any justice, should see him clean up come awards season.
The down on his luck actor has staked everything on his first Broadway play, an adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. It’s not going well, his daughter (Emma Stone) is a recovering drug addict who wants as little to do with him as possible; one of his cast members is threatening to sue him following an accident; his replacement, Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) is an expensive, egotisical nightmare; and to top in all, his superhero alter-ego is constantly talking to him.
Unravelling for the most part in what seems to be one seemless shot, Iñárritu’s film is a darkly comic look at the craft of acting, and the sometimes messed up people the profession attracts. Riggan is a star, but disdainful of the movies that made him famous, as well as their present day counterparts. Shiner is a brilliant theatre actor, but barely able to function in the real world. While the one shot format – actually several long takes seamlessly stitched together through clever editing and CGI – could be seen as a gimmick, it’s one of the best uses of the technique since Hitchcock’s Rope. It takes us inside Riggan’s unravelling mental state in a way traditional film couldn’t. It also, appropriately for a film about theatre, gives us the impression that we’re watching a single, continuous performance, rather than the stitched together performances of a film.
The clever use of what could be seem as a gimmick also applies to the casting. Keaton, an actor whose career mimics that of his character, is no stunt casting. Nor are the co-stars who’ve also appeared in high profile blockbusters. Norton was Marvel’s original Hulk, Stone starred in the last two Spider-Man movies, and Naomi Watts, who plays another of the small group of actors, was in Peter Jackson’s King Kong. All are superb, in a film that’s deliberately dismissive of the kind of movies for which they’re best known. Birdman presents superhero movies and theatre acting as polar opposites – one the easy, commercial end of the profession, one genuine acting.
If this all sounds a bit too serious and self-important, it’s not. You’ll probably not see a funnier sight this year than Keaton walking down Broadway in just his underwear, or more thrilling than the sequence where a New York street is transformed, courtesy of his alter ego, into an action scene that Marvel would be proud of (which also has the possibly unintentional side-effect of wishing Keaton and Iñárritu would make an actual Birdman film). And the film’s frequent flights of fantasy, including one sequence where Keaton literally takes flight above the streets of New York, are a joy to behold.
It’s only January, so it’s probably too early to call Birdman the best film of the year (as several critics have), but it’ll take a hell of a lot to better it. It’s a hilarious, touching, unique film, an amazing technical achievement, and boasts a stunning central performance from Keaton. Not to mention that it achieves the remarkable feat of making you feel guilty about wanting to go and see the latest Avengers movie in a few months.
Birdman will be showing at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 15 January 2015.
Birdman official site
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