Movie: Birdman

Okay, it's been a LONG time since I've had my brain blown like "Birdman" has blown it. It's fucking incredible.

This weekend I chanced upon a "Best of Fresh Air" on NPR where Terry Gross was interviewing Michael Keaton about this role.  He said it was filmed in extremely long takes.  It sounded interesting (I'll have to track the interview down now and listen to the whole thing).  How did I manage to not see this when it came out in 2014?

Yes, the film was designed to look as if it was one continuous shot.  There are places when actors enter dark hallways, or people pass in front of them on the street, where you can easily see that two separate scenes are seamlessly joined.  But you have to look for them -- and the effect is mind boggling: how many actors, extras and crew have to hit their mark over a ten-minute take.

But that's just one aspect.

There are several moments in the film where you say "How the fuck did they do that?"  You see Keaton reflected in his makeup mirror -- but there is no camera behind him.  The camera moves up through a metal grating only a few inches across.  Dozens more.

The film uses a drumkit solo as the soundtrack.  Twice in the film, a drummer appears as they're moving about, and he's right in sync with what you're hearing.  Drums turn out to be excellent for changing dynamics to fit different action in different scenes, and it doesn't get boring like you'd expect a drum solo to.

The film has some "magical realism" elements where Keaton's character is telekinetic.  It's not a major plot point, it just exists.  Nobody comments on it.

The film is about acting, and the artifice of putting on a show.  It's a performance within a performance within a performance.

It's about an actor, like Keaton, who had a big success with a role (Birdman, Batman) a number of years ago which has haunted his career ever since.  It is hugely autobiographical and brutally honest about the kind of B-film fame that action superhero films bring an actor.

Actors keep jumping out of character, then being revealed to be out of character in the play within a play.  It's a funhouse mirror of breaking down the 4th wall only to jump behind it and break it down again.

Keaton's character has an "inner voice" critiquing everything he does, which becomes a separate character in the movie.  Nobody comments on it.  Apparently Keaton is the only one who can see or hear this character?

There is more, much much more.

I think I will need to watch this movie about three more times to drink it all in.  It is already among maybe my five favorite films I've ever seen, and may scale higher.

The trailer really doesn't do it justice.