So with awards season well in the swing of it all I thought I would do a couple of reviews on some of those that are set to win big. I have chosen to start with Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman or (the unexpected virtue of ignorance).
Set in a Broadway theatre, we follow the story of an aging actor, attempting to reclaim a former glory after playing a movie superhero in a fictional franchise by putting on a play. This play looks to be some kind of kitchen sink drama mixed with influences from Harold Pinter. Michael Keaton plays our lead Riggan, he is the director, financier and actor in this play. Along with his worries over the play that he is struggling to get off the ground. To add pressure he has his daughter Sam working for him, whom has recently been released from rehab.
Michael Keaton endears himself to us automatically as the famed ex-batman actor makes the subject matter so perfect, you wonder if this is how it must feel to go from literal superhero to zero (this is just a pure coincidence thought that I had). Keaton is incredible in this role and one hundred percent deserves any recognition he gets in this award season. Keaton is a powerful story teller and is without a doubt been passed over in Hollywood far too many times.
Keaton’s supporting cast are also equally strong and flawless, with Naomi Watts as the emotional starlet working with an impossible co-star played by Ed Norton, whom himself proved to be a hero of comic performance. On the other side of the scale we have Zak Galifianakis a serial comedy actor turning to focus on the drama as the accountant Jake to Keaton’s director. Jake strives and struggles to keep everything moving with the play, holding all the chaos together; Galifianakis leaves no doubt that he could pursue more drama heavy scripted content. But the real star second only to Keaton’s Riggan is the wide eyed and wonderful beauty Emma Stone as Sam. Stone lays a heavy base of what Birdman is about: the search for love, acceptance and how we all strive for these things. This is the performance that I’ve really been waiting to see from Stone, whom I’ve sometimes found to be slightly on the wishy washy side with her performances.
There are many things that really excited me with the overall design but for me it was the editing and the score that really got to me. The film was beautifully edited to be one continuous shot around the theatre. Filmed around this broadway venue, all the external shots are just outside of the theatre making the continuous shot feel less ‘staged’. There are beautiful pauses in time where the ordinarily bustling space is quiet or you can hear the clatter around the building whilst the audience looks down a dressing room corridor. The overall flow of the film was nothing short of flawless in it’s editing.
The Score is possibly one of the most interesting musical accompaniments to a film I’ve seen in quite some time, the last piece that really had me stunned into silence was Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia. Using only a drum kit to provide the score Antonio Sanchez creates a piece that is it is truly unique, with the wonderful crescendos from the symbols and soft brushes to create wonderful smooth undertones.
With a whopping 140 Nominations and 2 Golden Globe wins and 111 other award wins, I expect this picture to win big at the Oscars. Not only does Iñárritu’s picture have great dramatic gravitas, but it carries a great amount of comedy which is heartfelt and purposeful. It is in its comedy that I think will make it much more appreciated by the academy than its other contenders in the Best Film awards at the Oscars. Any other Oscar-worthy picture I usually find that once watched I rarely go back, but Birdman is definitely worthy of an encore.
No comments:
Post a Comment