Venice 2014: Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Cast: Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone
Length: 119 mins
Country: USA
The 71st Venice Film Festival has begun today, the 27th of August. It is surreal and I find myself taking a boat to the island of Lido at 8 o’clock in the morning, surrounded by fellow journalists (there’re hundreds, all recognisable by the blue of their accreditations). The boat is swaying gently and I haven’t fully woken up yet; and Venice is clothed in a marvellous fog.
After your first steps into the Lido, you’re instantly lunged into the hustle and bustle of this great event; numerous security guards, dressed in black suits and wearing, obviously, black “Ray Bans”, people, queuing outside of the cinema village barriers, trying to catch a glimpse of passing celebrity, paparazzi, judging whether you’re photo material, and a massive queue waiting for Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s Birdman Or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). That was the first film shown in the festival (later to be shown again in the evening, after the opening ceremony), and one which I have been keenly waiting for.As you make your way into the Sala Darsena, encountering probably the largest screen and hall that you have ever seen, you sink into one of the red chairs and wait for the spell to commence. Two guys behind me are discussing the funding options for a film; a journalist next to me is already writing a review for Birdman.
Once the introduction – a melancholic set of animation, drifting from references to Tarkovsky’s Nostalghia to Wenders’ Wings of Desire – begins, the magic starts. I think one of the reasons we fall in love with cinema so easily is the feeling right before a film starts in the cinema – lights go low, one draws a breath – and then it is so effortless to be transported.
Let Birdman begin.
The first shot of Birdman is one of Michael Keaton levitating and listening to a mysterious voice in his head. Keaton’s Riggan is a washed-up actor, famous for playing Birdman in numerous superhero blockbusters, attempting to revive his career by doing a play in Broadway: Raymond Carver’s short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. We only witness Riggan’s existence within the theatre – and that is a chaotic one. Inviting Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) to join his cast, he’s confronted with the unbearable methods of Shiner’s acting, that is, searching for truth on stage no matter the cost. It doesn’t help that Riggan’s daughter Sam (Emma Stone) has just left rehab and wanders around the theatre like an insistent ghost. And the tiresome persuasive voice in his head, the voice of Birdman, constantly nagging him about being destined for greater things.
It is quite clear that this is a very different Iñárritu. Remember the drama of 21 Grams, Babel, Biutiful? Well, the drama is still here, but it is internalised, and the surface is one of comedy. In a press conference after the screening, Iñárritu stated that he’s grown tired of constantly serving spicy Mexican food to the audiences, and Birdman was his attempt to serve dessert. Moreover, it was an experiment, a narrative style he’d never tried, one that terrified him – and what is the use, he asks, to do something you’re not terrified of once you’re older than 40?
Birdman is immensely relatable as it is the struggle of mediocrity and the constant nagging of what one could be.
It is indeed unlike anything Iñárritu has produced before; it carries a constantly intensive pace, one scene blending into another, the camera following every muscle move, every word, every step. These long shots had to be achieved in single takes, requiring immense dedication and skill from the actors. As Norton puts it, they would spend 10 hours a day trying and re-trying, waiting for Iñárritu to go “YES, THIS IS IT!” . Emma Stone compared the shooting of this film to the production of a theatre play, a constant collaborative process where the magic never stops. And, sounding truly enthusiastic, she added that she’s learned more from working with Iñárritu than from any other project she’s done.
During the conference Keaton was asked whether 60 is the new 30 and complimented on the way he looks in his underwear (now I don’t want to spoil anything, but expect Michael Keaton running around in his underwear) . Indeed, thinking about the struggles of Riggan’s career, one immediately thinks of Keaton’s role of Batman and the challenges afterwards. Where do superheroes go once the film is over? Do they stand a chance in becoming “serious” actors? As Tabitha Dickinson (Lindsay Duncan), the most influential theatre critic in New York, out to destroy Riggan’s play, puts it: “You’re not actor, you’re a celebrity”. Iñárritu has a cheeky reference to Roland Barthes: Barthes wrote that God-like mythological narratives have been replaced by film and media; and I cannot help but think, in the light of the recent surge in superhero blockbusters, how superheroes are the newly crafted media gods. But are they ever actors? Riggan claims that he’s risked everything for the Carver production, whereas the critic risks nothing, merely coming and going for the show. And, perhaps, us, writers, are vultures, devouring the images we see on-screen.
Either way, the vultures seem satisfied: everyone I’ve met has been raving about Birdman. The praises to the actors have been unanimous. At one point of the film, it seems like Norton is going to overshadow Keaton, but in the end, it is Keaton’s show. I was pleasantly surprised by Zach Galifianakis’s performance – it is meticulous and precise. The only moment we see him lose his restraint is him mispronouncing ‘Martin Scorsee-s’, but, hey, it appears that Galifianakis is more than a comedy joker.
Stone, Norton and Keaton were greeted by crowds of fans, trying to get a picture or an autograph, and Iñárritu walked along with a satisfied grin on his face. He’s made it: a film that will satisfy both critics and audiences worldwide. Birdman is immensely relatable as it is the struggle of mediocrity and the constant nagging of what one could be. Throughout the film we are inside Riggan’s head and, in fact, we can never be sure whether the events unfolding are real or imagined; and somehow this blending of boundaries and uncertainty is profound. Iñárritu says that we all have a Birdman in our lives. And, with an ensemble of truly brilliant actors and a spectacular crew, he has shown this on the silver screen. It is a triumph on every level. Bravo.
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