Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is an actor who’s career is waning, some would say washed up. Known for playing blockbuster superhero Birdman 30 years ago, Thomson opens a Broadway play about relationships, hoping to create something more worthy of remembering.
Thomson’s plate is full with the play he’s written, starring in and directing. On top of that his life is complicated: keeping his daughter (Emma Stone) off drugs, dealing with the extreme behaviour of his lead actor (Edward Norton) as well as his own personal foibles, which are numerous.
What is it going to take for Riggan Thomson to consider himself a success through your eyes?
We say, “Birdman is the word, man.”
TAYLOR: Here’s why Birdman is the best picture of 2014: it’s a seven-layer dip, with multiple levels of story and meaning, it’s filmed in such a way that it looks like one take, it contains brutally honest, amazing performances. The script, while quirky in its metaphor, is not beyond comprehension. Birdman has room for interpretation, yet appears light-hearted; we are sympathetic with Keaton’s egomaniac Thomson, we understand it’s his job to be out there killing himself every night. The film is overall a comedy with a serious undertone and a discussion worth having.
HOWE: I don’t know if it is the best movie of the year. I will give you that it is put together fantastically and well-acted, especially by Norton, but I just wasn’t that impressed by the storyline. It has some funny moments dotted throughout that made me smile and laugh, for instance the fight scene between Keaton and Norton in their underwear is great. Yet Keaton didn’t pull me in with his performance like Matthew McConaughey did a year ago in Dallas Buyers Club, when he won best actor at the Oscars.
TAYLOR: Michael Keaton is amazing. Riggan Thomson’s power comes from his belief in himself, but he only believes in himself when he has the approval of other people, which is an exhausting determination. Keaton’s subtle performance is raw and rusty, like an exposed electrical wire that might still be live. He wears his role on his face, in his eyes. I say give the Oscar for best actor to Michael Keaton (which seems like a very strange request). Academy Awards for best picture and best director are probably in order as well.
HOWE: Best director maybe, and I give best picture to The Grand Budapest Hotel. For best actor it has to be Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game. No, it’s not just because he is English, it’s because he didn’t walk around staring blankly into the distance, he actually acted.
Taylor gives Birdman 5 tiny hammers out of 5.
Howe gives it 3 standing ovations out of 5.
Birdman is showing at Galaxy Cinemas.
