Director Alejandro González Iñárritu's bizarre dark
comedy, Birdman premiered last night at the Venice International Film Festival. The first reviews are in and they range from it being soulless to being
relevant and of great consequence. Check them out!
"Birdman flies very, very high. Intense emotional
currents and the jagged feelings of volatile actors are turned loose to raucous
dramatic and darkly comedic effect in one of the most sustained examples of
visually fluid tour de force cinema anyone's ever seen, all in the service of a
story that examines the changing nature of celebrity and the popular regard for
fame over creative achievement."
Source
- THR
"A quarter-century after “Batman” ushered in the
era of Hollywood mega-tentpoles — hollow comicbook pictures manufactured to
enthrall teens and hustle merch — a penitent Michael Keaton returns with the
comeback of the century, “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” a
blisteringly hot-blooded, defiantly anti-formulaic look at a has-been movie
star’s attempts to resuscitate his career by mounting a vanity project on
Broadway. In a year overloaded with self-aware showbiz satires, Alejandro G.
Inarritu’s fifth and best feature provides the delirious coup de grace — a
triumph on every creative level, from casting to execution, that will electrify
the industry, captivate arthouse and megaplex crowds alike, send awards pundits
into orbit and give fresh wings to Keaton’s career."
Source - Variety
"Michael Keaton plays Riggan in an astonishingly
good performance. Not washed up exactly (he can afford to stage a vanity
project of dubious financial wisdom), Riggan's got creative ennui and a
love-hate relationship with the alter ego that made him a success: Birdman. We
don't ever find out all that much about Birdman; we don't need to. He's got a
deep, critical voice, which talks to Riggan constantly. He's the linchpin of a
superhero franchise from before superhero franchises were fashionable. We also
know that Riggan said no to "Birdman 4."" Source - HitFix
"Is it a redundancy to complain that Birdman
lacks soul? Maybe so. It’s a depthless, self-absorbed film about a shallow,
self-absorbed man; jittery and relentless from the first to last gasp. We come
scurrying up narrow corridors and up darkened stairwells, through the exploded
stage-set of Riggan Thomson’s own head. The delegates applauded; they clearly
relished the tour. But they broke for the exit with something approaching
relief."
Source - The Guardian
"And yet this is a film of great consequence and
relevance. Dialogue fizzes, the music – particularly the pounding drums – buoys
us along on the journey and visually the film is inventive and rich. Wonderful
cast, which includes Andrea Riseborough as Thomson’s sexy, mad girlfriend &
co-star, Naomi Watts as the actor who has dreamed all her life of Broadway, Amy
Ryan as Thomson’s estranged wife and Zach Galifianakis as Thomson’s best
mate-theatre producer, all put in stellar performances. But this is Keaton’s
film & he truly soars as the eponymous Birdman."
Source - Hey U Guys
"If the previous Iñárritu picture this feels
closest to is Biutiful (2010) – his oddball, not wholly successful attempt to
blend social and magic realism around the craggy visage of Javier Bardem –
that’s almost entirely down to the statuesque regard in which both films hold
their stars. It lands with a force he hasn’t harnessed since Amores Perros, his
2000 debut. This is a phenomenal start to this year’s Mostra: grand,
spectacular, star-powered cinema that makes us ask anew what cinema is for. Call it a Dark Knight of the soul. "
Source
- Telegraph
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