Birdman (2014) - Movie Review

"A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing."

Birdman is a film about a washed up actor, who was once famous for starring as Birdman (Superhero), and his battle with himself and those around him during the final days of his broadway play premiere.

This film boasts an immense ensemble of talent, and you definitely get the result. Micheal Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Zack Galifianakis and some others all deliver amazing performances. It is truly a feat to see everyone just acting their best.And at the center of it all is Micheal Keaton and his career's best performance. He was awesome. Period.

Because of awesome performances, every scene was a joy to behold, the dialogue delivery was great, the dialogue itself was great. Another thing I really enjoyed about this film was that how its story paralleled with Micheal Keaton's and Edward Norton's real life. Micheal Keaton is most known for his role in Tim Burton's classic Batman film and its sequel and his character in the film has a similar scenario. Edward Norton is quite famously known for being difficult to work with on set and his character in the film is definitely like it too. Gives a nice meta feel to the film.

The greatest achievement of the film though is its cinematography. I was completely floored by it. The whole movie feels like a single long take. Technically, it consists of a couple of extra long takes joined together by great editing to make it seem like a one take. Either way, I have never seen longer takes then in this movie. And it just feels really raw and realistic, like you're actually there. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to deliver long dialogues without cuts. Makes you appreciate the acting even more. Kudos to the cinematography team.

With everything so top notch in this film, the story itself felt like the weakest part to me. I'm not saying it was bad or anything, but it just didn't felt fulfilling. Maybe they had to sacrifice the story for the shooting style, felt like that to me. When you have everything else great, something not near their level sticks out like a sore thumb.

Regardless, it was a great movie overall, definitely a sight to behold. A piece of art if you will. All the Oscar nominations are well deserved and I have feeling it will bag a lot of them too.

8.7/10

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