Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) was once the big-screen superhero Birdman. Years later, Riggan is flat broke and washed up. He aims to remedy his fortunes by bringing Raymond Carver's short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love to Broadway. A comment from Carver to young Riggan inspired him to go to acting.
The preview phase is a disaster. Riggan decides to bring on celebrated Broadway star Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) to the production. Mike forcefully takes up the spotlight. A critic wants to tear the production to shreds on the basis of it even existing. Riggan's desire for perfection irritates everybody around him. And even worse, Riggan's grasp of reality is fading away. As his cinematic alter-ego taunts him in his mind, Riggan starts to believe himself greater than great.
What you'll notice the most is its camera style. Shot by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, the camera follows its actors along. When pieced together by editors Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrione, the end result appears as one long take.
The story, by director Alejandro González Iñárritu and co-writers Nicolás Giacobone. Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo, is darkly funny. The show's production is one long comedy of errors. The audience can laugh fine at the set falling apart in one scene. But when the play finally premieres, Riggan's grand finale is shocking.
As Riggan, Keaton convincingly plays an artist on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Reality blurs so much that we often believe, as he does, that Birdman and psychic powers are for real. More often than not, we're made aware that he is hallucinating. It all leads to a last scene open to interpretation.
Birdman's tone isn't for all tastes. There are some great laughs out of it, but it turns dark once we understand its main character. As for me, I found it a good balance of humor and pathos. It's one of the funniest satires I've seen.
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