Review of Birdman (2014)
Seen in 2020.
An extended commentary on Michael Keaton’s role in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992). Long-take planning and camerawork: Top notch, worth the price of admission. Nervy syncopated jazz percussion: Dull. Acting: Dull. Obsession with acting: Dull. Obsession with social media as a competitor to theatre and film: Dull. Blurry ontology: Dull. The leveldog story of how a bunch of successful middle-class white people in the cultural elite remain successful middle-class white people in the cultural elite: Dull.
I wonder whether the title is meant to suggest Ingmar Bergman. This is right up his alley, except that he was never worried about being the conscience of Hollywood. I can’t recall ever hearing him pretending to say sorry for working in a business that also makes dumb superhero movies.
References here: Marriage Story (2019).