Starting my awards season movie watch list! So Ill share my thoughts as I see some of the buzzworthy ones. Last night: Birdman. Im still hung up on this film today. It was - impactful. I found myself watching it two ways at the same time. First, the technical elements. It was mind-boggling how long some stretches of the film were. I found myself wondering about actors tearing around the set once off camera in order to be in the next spot. So many things can go wrong - props, lights, seeing the camera, bumping against a wall. Just on a technical level I found it to be elegant in its simplicity and brilliant in its conception. The performances. Michael Keaton is jaw-droppingly excellent. The layers and nuance and shading were heightened into a laser focus facillitated by the lack of extraneous camera work and cutaways. It was inspiring, haunting and sort of Death of a Salesman adjacent for me. Beyond Michael, I found the ensemble more worthy of a Best Ensemble title or award than most. The absolute lack of visible acting was inspring. Ive always been a fan of Emma Stone, but watching her just be onscreen as the damaged yet insightful girl cemented her for me permanently as excellent. Norton was great playing the version of Norton we often hear about. Zach was understated and honest and Naomi Watts and Amy Ryan plus the one girl I dont know - I loved them all. As an actor, it was humbling and wonderful to watch actors simply do the work - none of the performance shifted or adjusted by the director or editor in the cutting process. Just seeing the scenes, as full scenes with the overlaps and reactions and the motivation to move to new scenes - it was exquisite. Combining that theatrical element with a peace set in a theatre - well it tickled all of my I LOVE IT places! Aside from all of the brilliance and challenge in the simple and innovative approach to the film, I loved the commentary. Exploring why we do different kinds of art. What art in film and theatre means versus celebrity. What it means to have impact and power in our modern media age. Asking the questions of whether you should chase relevance in order to have your art seen while exploring the motivations - I loved it all. I thought it asked challenging questions and shone a light on the dilemma that faces artists at all levels in a bottom line driven industry. I loved the exploration of his psyche and the connections and disconnect between his self, his celebrity self, and the character he was identified with. I even enjoyed the low budget effects, because who cares how real it seems when it isnt real anyway? And when is it real? And when is it not? And the tragedy of surviving the gunshot only to have it hailed as genius. I found the controversial drum score incredible impactful as well. It gave a feeling of everything being inexorable to the proceedings. Id be curious to know if they talked to Keaton before writing the piece because there are few actors who hold a place in film and cultural history that could echo so many levels of the conversation in the piece. Id made sort of harrowing to consider since it runs parallel to his truth in some ways. (though for me he is Mr. Mom before he is Batman:P) Particularly if you love theatre, but also if you love unadorned performances - I HIGHLY recommend Birdman be on your list!
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 23:10:57 +0000
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