Birdman (2014)

In this article, we will be looking at 2019’s book “1001 Movies to See Before You Die” and going through each film in a random order that I have chosen. We will be looking at what constitutes this film to be on the list and whether I think this film deserves to be here at all. I want to make perfectly clear that I won’t be revealing details from this book such as analyses by film reporters who have written about the film in question, so if you want the book itself you’ll have to buy it. But I will be covering the book’s suggestions on which films should be your top priority. I wouldn’t doubt for a second that everyone reading this article has probably watched many of these movies anyway. But we are just here to have a bit of fun. We’re going to not just look at whether it should be on this list but we’re also going to look at why the film has such a legacy at all. Remember, this is the 2019 version of the book and so, films like “Joker” will not be featured in this book and any film that came out in 2020 (and if we get there, in 2021). So strap in and if you have your own suggestions then don’t hesitate to email me using the address in my bio. Let’s get on with it then.

Birdman (2014) dir. by Alejandro G. Iñárritu

One of the most satirical films I have seen for years, it stars Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone and many more. It went on to win many Academy Awards and more. I’m not going to lie, I found this film to have many different layers on meaning that I think was correct when it came to hiring Michael Keaton as the main character - it did make me giggle quite a bit.

Rotten Tomatoes gave it over eight out of ten and the critics’ consensus, giving mostly positive reviews, reads:

"A thrilling leap forward for director Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman is an ambitious technical showcase powered by a layered story and outstanding performances from Michael Keaton and Edward Norton.”

Richard Kolker compared this film to Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s film “Rope” and stated that “Birdman” is:

"a film about acting, identity, transformation, and the mysterious effects of superheroes, (and) is filmed to create the illusion of being made in one continuous take. As with Rope, the edits are hidden, and the result is a rhythmic slide through the life of an actor in search of his self, a search doomed from the start.”

The New Yorker was critical of the film and its approach to the industry by stating the following:

"Someone could have told Iñárritu that critics, though often mean, are not preemptively so, and that anybody who'd say, as Tabitha does, 'I'm going to destroy your play', before actually seeing it, would not stay long in the job.”

But then again, tells us that the film fails to make a climactic approach upon the audience, which I do not understand because that was not the point of the film at all. But then again look at the process of the storyline approaching this point. Again, I do not believe this is any kind of climax whatsoever:

“Iñárritu does with Keaton what Godard did with Eddie Constantine in "Alphaville" and “Germany Year 90 Nine Zero,” and with Anna Karina in many films: he fuses the viewer’s knowledge of the performer’s previous roles (and, for that matter, life) with the character that the actor plays. Riggan had played the flying superhero Birdman three times and refused “Birdman 4,” and his career went into free fall; Riggan is played by Keaton, who, of course, played Batman twice and refused to do it a third time, and whose career—if not exactly in free fall—hasn’t been filled of late with plum roles. In the movie, Thomson is heralded by the public as a onetime action hero, and he puts on the Carver adaptation (which he writes, directs, produces, and stars in) both to satisfy his untapped artistic drive and to re-establish himself as an actor in the movie business.”

To be honest, the film is not brilliant, but it deserves to be on the list - what do you think? Does it deserve to be on the list of the films you should see before you die or not?