Movie Reviews – Birdman: Or(The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Movie Reviews – Birdman: Or(The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Movie Reviews this week looks at the odd mix of comedy and drama aka dramedy Bird Man or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, starring the always impressive Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice), and Edward Norton (American History X).
It stars Keaton as Riggan a former tv super hero of the titular name, who is now considerably older, and now a washed up actor. He invests everything he has into a play about love, aided by his daughter Sam, played by the gorgeous Emma Stone (The Amazing Spiderman), and helped by a charismatic stage veteran Mike played by Edward Norton.
We get to see the action from a documentary style angle, and it is charming to see the actors move from one room to the next and continue their impromptu conversations, and those conversations are what makes this movie stand out, not only are those conversations relevant they are also hilarious.
Matters get complicated as the teaser for the show begins to run into all manner of troubles, notably Riggan getting irritated with Mike as he doesn’t seem to follow the rules, and would rather have things authentic so as to be believable for the audience. Riggan also has unresolved issues with his long suffering ex Sylvia played by Amy Ryan (Escape Plan).
Riggan has risked everything into the play, and having squandered his fortune from the Birdman movies, this is all he has left, and despite pleas from Sam that he is no longer relevant and should move on, Riggan is determined to see the play through, even against an outwardly hostile critic, Tabitha played by Lindsay Duncan (Alice in Wonderland).
Added to all this, he is hearing voices that remind him of his old super hero life, but alarmingly we the audience are unable to figure out if he is still sane, or whether the voices and what he does are real or he is going delusional.
Bird Man is one of the oddest movies you will see all year, in terms of improvisations, oddity and tongue in cheek diagloue it has it all, and you can see why it did so well at the oscars, it’s self deprecriating humor trying to be relevant in a world that has passed you by is not lost on the audience and more importantly its stars; and the acting from the theatre point of view is top notch all through.
Movie Reviews is constantly updated with good reviews of great movies you don’t want to miss.
Filed under: Movie reviews