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For more information on cookies see our Cookie Policy. (BUTTON) X Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) review: Keaton in flight again Cinematically dazzling and brimming with drama, ’Birdman’ walks a fine line between pretentious and brilliant Donald Clarke Film Title: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Emma Stone Starring: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Lindsay Duncan Genre: Drama Running Time: 119 min Fri, Jan 2, 2015, 12:00 First published: Fri, Jan 2, 2015, 12:00 * * * * It is worth noting that the two most successful films in the continuing awards season involve audacious, nearly complementary structural gambles. Whereas Boyhood features discrete episodes compiled over 12 years, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s undeniably dazzling Birdman gives the illusion of being filmed in one continuous shot. The differences could hardly be more marked. Boyhood constantly reminds the viewer that such an experiment could only happen on screen. For all the effects on display in Birdman, the extended, unbroken stretches of dialogue and cinematic business only serve to emphasise the piece’s theatricality. We know that (unlike, say, Hitchcock in Rope) Iñárritu can use digital wizardry to splice any number of cuts together. But the impression is still of brave actors speaking their way through three acts of unmediated drama. This may be deliberate. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) [sic] is very much a film about the theatre. Allowing pounding comparisons to be drawn with his own career, Michael Keaton, once Batman, plays Riggan Thomson, a mildly washed-up actor who, years after achieving fame as the superhero Birdman, is staging a production of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love on Broadway. Complications come in legions. On the eve of the first preview, a light falls on a cast member’s head and forces Riggan to recast Mike (Norton), a supremely important theatre actor, in the key role. Laura (Riseborough), Riggan’s unexpectedly pregnant girlfriend, and Lesley (Watts), Mike’s much-misused other half, are also in the cast. Riggan’s sour daughter (Stone) hangs out in the literal wings. IFRAME: //www.youtube.com/embed/uJfLoE6hanc Birdman begins with Riggan suspended magically in the lotus position before a backstage mirror. Throughout the film, when alone, he exhibits superpowers, thus allowing the slim possibility that Birdman is real and inviting the more likely conclusion that stress, booze and disappointment have sent him round the bend. So dazzling is the cinematic footwork that it proves easy to overlook the uneasy blend between genuine theatrical navel-gazing and satire of the theatrical navel-gazing mindset. There is not a weak performance on display. Keaton allows all dignity to fall away as he makes an insufferable prig of the increasingly fraught central character. Norton sends up his own persona as an actor who believes the oily hype about his supposed brilliance and perfectionism. He is the sort of fellow who insists on drinking real gin on stage and, though romantically inattentive at home, attempts real intercourse before the audience. Emmanuel Lubezki’s frantic camerawork and jazz drummer Antonio Sánchez’s brilliant score wrestle one another to a brave, endlessly engrossing draw. The texture of the movie alone secures it a place in the pantheon. Yet, for all this admirably odd film’s virtues, its pretensions do let it down at times. Or do they? The choice of the Carver story is perfect for a man who wishes to be perceived as brighter than he actually is. Iñárritu’s own script is certainly wary of Riggan’s self-absorption. But the importance given to the awful trials of being a thespian do suggest scenes from Nigel Planer’s satire I, An Actor. Copies of Jorge Luis Borges’s Labyrinths are waved conspicuously. Darling, that subtitle. “The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance”? I ask you. Either these are all jokes, in which case the film doesn’t amount to very much, or we are touching down too often with adolescent concerns. Still, it is nice that the film- makers feel such affection for a romantic, largely vanished version of Broadway. Lindsay Duncan chews the optics as a theatre critic who lives in a Martini at one end of a Great White Way tavern. Those days are long gone, Alejandro. Fri, Jan 2, 2015, 12:00 First published: Fri, Jan 2, 2015, 12:00 * * * * Subscribe. More from The Irish Times * Music Pop Corner: Selena marks her ex’s spot; Zayn chaffed at control * Books An illustration from Aharon Appelfeld’s Adam & Thomas Children’s book reviews: a trio of compelling stories * Art & Design Giant’s staircase: Utec, Lima has ‘opened up exciting new frontiers for Peruvian architecture’. Photograph: Grafton Architects, Iwan Baan Studio Bravo Lima: the Irish architects designing the ‘new geography’ * Food & Drink The Drift Inn in Buncrana: an upturned boat with huge, semicircular beams divides the main bar. Barfly: the Drift Inn, Buncrana ADVERTISEMENT [adserv|3.0|826.1|4268873|0|170|ADTECH;loc=300;target=_blank;kvtopic=Fi lm;kvcat=arts,+culture+and+entertainment;cookie=info;] ADVERTISEMENT The Film Show The Irish Times Film Show: The Revenant, Creed & Room 7:47 The Irish Times Film Show: The Revenant, Creed & Room The Irish Times Film Show: The Hateful Eight & A War 6:55 The Irish Times Film Show: The Hateful Eight & A War ADVERTISEMENT [adserv|3.0|826.1|4268872|0|170|ADTECH;loc=300;target=_blank;kvtopic=Fi lm;kvcat=arts,+culture+and+entertainment;cookie=info;] Film Reviews Room The walls close in on a mother and child in Lenny Abrahamson’s moving, harrowing adapation of the acclaimed novel Creed Creed firmly overthrows any notions that the Rocky films are trading on an elaborate Great White Hope mythology The Revenant ‘The Revenant’ is short on dialogue and thin on characterisation; however the misery is well worth enduring A War (Krigen) The war in Afghanistan is the inspiration for a tense Danish courtroom drama Shem the Penman Sings Again A delightful, playful study of the relationship between Joyce and McCormack The Hateful Eight Tarantino sinks deeper into his auto-mythology with more haphazard plotting, gooey violence and endless dialogue, writes Donald Clarke Last Hijack: a real-world prequel to Captain Phillips Last Hijack Tommy Pallotta’s documentary is nicely presented but lacks a coherent narrative Ballerinas get bolshie in Babylon Bolshoi Bolshoi Babylon “The world of theatre is cruel . . . It looks beautiful from the outside, but inside it's boiling” Donald Clarke's Movie Quiz You can see Twilight twinkling in the eye of this week's quiz... Screenwriter 10 things to note about yesterday’s Oscar nominations * Screenwriter * Donald Clarke We had Charlotte, but not Carol. The Force Awakens encounters unfamiliar failure. And an actor who wasn't nominated steals the show Movie quiz for January 15th * Screenwriter * Donald Clarke Warm yourself up with a good hard quiz Most Read in Culture 1 Family sugar audit: Eva Orsmond with Louise and Ollie Ryan Television: A sugar-crash course in how we are poisoning ourselves 2 Michael B Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in Creed ‘Apollo Creed meant everything to African-Americans’ 3 Did Philip K Dick dream of electric sheep? Much worse 4 Final bow: Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc at the end of the final Friends, in 2004 Friends: they lived perfect lives in a time of plenty. Of course we want them back 5 ‘I think cognitive enhancers should be allowed for academics’ Unthinkable: Is it unethical to take brain stimulants? 6 Dublin Rapper Tommy KD: “I never dreamt I’d be doing stuff like this, like getting the album out or playing my own shows. But at the same time, it’s important to say that everything’s not rosy.” Photograph: Cyril Byrne / THE IRISH TIMES Tommy KD: the Dublin rapper with one of the toughest stories in Irish music 7 Giant’s staircase: Utec, Lima has ‘opened up exciting new frontiers for Peruvian architecture’. Photograph: Grafton Architects, Iwan Baan Studio Bravo Lima: the Irish architects designing the ‘new geography’ 8 Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards: And the nominees are . . . 9 Joseph O’Connor on David Bowie, pictured here in 1965: “Kurt Vonnegut once wrote that the only plausible mission of the artist is ‘to make people feel they’re glad to be alive, at least a little bit.’ There are not many artists who’ve ever managed to achieve that highest of accolades. In my own life, David Bowie was one of them. He was part of my soundtrack, my passport, my pillow. I feel I was enriched to be around during his spell on the planet.” Photograph: CA/Redferns/Getty Images David Bowie: Irish writers pay tribute 10 The dialogues the author creates between Plato and various contemporary characters, including a marketing agent, a Google employee, a Tiger Mum, a radio host and a neuroscientist, convincingly demonstrate the value of continuing the job that Socrates started in ancient Greece. But they also show just why Plato would struggle to be heard today. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away, by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein Never miss a story. SUBSCRIBE IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/likebox.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook. com%2FIrishTimesCulture&width=292&height=258&colorscheme=light&show_fac es=true&header=false&stream=false&show_border=true Film News Director Lenny Abrahamson, his wife Monika and James Hickey, chief executive of the Irish Film Board, at a party in the Light House cinema in Dublin. Photograph: Dave Meehan/The Irish Times Irish Oscar nominations exceed all expectations Pictured celebrating four Oscar nominations for Irish film Room are director Lenny Abrahamson, his wife Monika, and James Hickey, chief executive of the Irish Film Board at a party in the Lighthouse cinema last night.Photograph: Dave Meehan/The Irish Times Oscars: ‘You have to mark an event like this,’ Lenny Abrahamson says Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has paid tribute to ‘magnificent actor’ Alan Rickman on his death. Photograph: Jas Lehal/Files/Reuters J.K. Rowling pays tribute to ‘magnificent’ Alan Rickman Subscribe About Us Policy & Terms Subscribe * Subscription Bundles * Gift Subscriptions * Home Delivery Irish Times Products & Services * ePaper * eBooks * Crosswords * Newspaper Archive * Dating * Ancestors * Email Alerts & Newsletters * Article Archive * Executive Jobs * Page Sales * Photo Sales About Us * Advertise * Contact Us * The Irish Times Trust * Careers Download on the App Store Download on Google Play * Our Partners * Rewarding Times * MyHome.ie * Irish Racing * Entertainment.ie * Top 1000 * MyAntiques.ie * The Gloss * Irish Times Training * Terms & Conditions * Privacy Policy * Cookie Information * Community Standards * Copyright * FAQs © 2015 THE IRISH TIMES For the best site experience please enable JavaScript in your browser settings Sign In ____________________ ____________________ (BUTTON) Sign In Forgot Password? Don't have an account? 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