Gonzalez

2022 Oscar Shorts Review: Animation and Live-Action

Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

Did you think with this being an Oscar year I would miss my chance to see the films nominated in the short films categories? The chance was there and I took it again. All the films had a unique style about them and all appeared worthy of their nominations. So here I go. Here are my reviews for the nominated films in the Animation and Live-Action categories.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse (dirs. Charles Mackesy and Matthew Freund) –

A boy is lost in the winter snows. A mole finds him. He hopes the mole will lead him home, a home he’s never had before, and wants to grow up to be kind. The two hope the river they find will lead them there, but they’re encountered by a fox. The fox wants to hunt them both down, but finds himself in a trap. The mole frees him and the fox runs away. The next day the mole falls into the river, but is saved by the fox. The fox joins the mole and the boy on the journey to the boy’s home. Along the journey, they encounter a white horse who is an outcast. The three welcome the horse along the journey. Soon they discover the horse has a special trait. He can fly like Pegasus! Soon they come to the village where the boy’s home is. The three animals say their good-byes, but the boy makes a surprising decision.

It seems like every year, there has to be at least one animated short from the UK that’s nominated. This is this year’s nomination. This is an adaptation o f a 2019 children’s book from Charlie Mackesy, who co-directs this short film. This is a 2D short that has been on Apple TV starting this Christmas. It has a quiet soft tone that’s more touching than sentimental. It makes the right moves and is able to be soft without getting too mushy or manipulative. This is one charmer that I give both my Should Win and Will Win pick.

The Flying Sailor (dirs. Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis) – It’s the morning of December 6, 1917 along the coast in Halifax. Two ships collide within each other with one catching on fire. A sailor thinks nothing of it and lights a cigarette. Only the burning ship soon explodes. The sailor goes flying naked in an out-of-body experience. His life flashes before his eyes from childhood to his life at sea as Halifax is engulfed by the blast. The blast sends him out of earth and even out of the galaxy. Then all of a sudden, he’s brought back down into the galaxy, then earth, then back into Halifax into a body of water. Miraculously he’s still alive. He even stares a shocked fish in the eyes.

As I was watching this, I asked myself “Is this about the Halifax Explosion?” Yes, it was. In fact the film makers dedicate the film to a sailor who flew 2 kilometers in the explosion and lived to tell! This film from the National Film Board of Canada is one of of two animated features from The New Yorker Screening Room to be nominated. It’s a clever story that doesn’t need any dialogue for us to get the message. It lets the images and the moments tell the story of a man who’s near a sudden death contemplate his existence. A fast film, but entertaining and even humorous from start to finish.

Ice Merchants (dirs. Joao Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano) – A widowed father and son run an ice selling business. The ice comes from a box they fill with water, let freeze overnight, and break up to sell the next day. They get their freezing temperature by being up on the very mountain they have their house upon. The house is thousands of feet above the ground hanging from ropes and requires a system of pulleys and ropes to get to. They have to skydive down together into the town to sell their wares. The flight always causes their hats to fall off. They use the money from sales to buy new hats. Then one day, the son notices the water in the box didn’t freeze. The temperature is above freezing. The high temperature of the snow is causing an avalanche and the house’s ropes are breaking. The parachute falls from the house. The father makes the decision to jump with his son. Fortunately a female skydiver finds the two in the air, grabs hold of them, and opens her parachute. The two survive, but in a surprising way!

This film from a Portuguese animation company is another film from The New Yorker Screening Room. It’s a good 2D film that is as much about its art as it is about telling its story. It uses only a few colors at a time for each of its scenes. It has the visuals and the music tell the story without having any dialogue. It also does a very good job in showing the drama of the climax. It also ends on a happy and humorous note that works well with the story.

My Year Of Dicks (dirs. Sara Gunnarsdottir and Pamela Ribon) – It’s 1991 in Houston and Pam seeks to lose her virginity as she is approaching womanhood. She, however, is undecided which boy she wants to lose her virginity with. She constantly trusts the opinions of her best friend Sam, who is male. The first boy she tries to lose it with is David, a skateboarder who thinks he’s a vampire. She’s attracted to his mystique, but soon learns what a jerk he is and of the little game he had with his guy friends. The second boy is Wally, who’s a theatre usher. They try to do it in a broom closet during work hours, but it doesn’t work out. Third boy is Robert, whom she finds as nice. She soon learns he’s gay and was interested in Sam. Pam tries a party hosted by her friend Karina. She meets a boy named Joey who appears to be orderly. The party comes to a sudden halt and Pam learns Joey is a Nazi! The story ends with a surprise that Pam learns what she was searching for was there all along.

It’s a story with both intrigue and humor. The rotoscope animation adds to the story and adds to the comedic elements of the story. Pam brings an intriguing story and Sara Gunnarsdottir does a great job of animating and directing it.

An Ostrich Told Me The World Is Fake And I Think I Believe It (dir. Lachlan Pendragon) – Neil is a telemarketer trying to sell toasters. His boss confronts him of his poor performance and threatens to fire him. As he continues working, he hallucinates and notices things missing from his cubicle. He wakes up and he sees an ostrich. The ostrich can speak and tells him this world is a ‘sham’ and advises him to get a better look at his surroundings. Neil soon finds his way out of the animation world and into a prop box full of his own mouths. The following day, Neil is shocked to see all the furniture removed. A co-worker named Gaven tells him it’s a corporate decision, but Neil rips his mouth off. The creator tries to intervene, but Neil falls off the set. With Neil’s body all broken up, the creator puts him back together and on the set. The next day, Neil is confronted by his boos, and quits.

This Australian short is an amusing stop-motion animated film. It goes from the animated story to the world of the production studio. It’s funny how the film knows it’s stop-motion and knows how to joke around about that fact. That adds to the humor of the story. It’s a funny film that goes from the animated story to the real world and back to the animated story. It seems odd at first, but it’s very likeable.

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM

An Irish Goodbye (dirs. Tom Berkely and Ross White) – Two brothers from Belfast, Turlough and Lorcan, have lost their mother. The priest gives the sons the ashes and attempts to give them their mother’s ‘bucket list,’ but Turlough thinks its useless. Turlough, who works in London, wants to sell the farm and have Lorcan, who has Down’s Syndrome, live with his aunt. Lorcan wants nothing to do with it. Lorcan says he has the bucket list and still believes they can fulfill his mother’s wishes with her urn. The two agree to try all 100. However it’s the 99th, skydiving, that her urn smashes. Turlough soon finds out the truth about Lorcan’s bucket list the priest. That leads to even bigger friction, but a resolution does occur after they proceed with the 100th item.

This Irish short film is a well-acted film that’s mixes both tragedy and comedy with the intensity of family drama. It also deals with the issue of Down’s Syndrome in a humorous manner that doesn’t tread on being insulting or having mockery. It’s a story you anticipate to be sad, but instead turns out to be humorous, enjoyable, and even heart-warming. It’s worth seeing.

Ivalu (dirs. Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan) – It’s morning in Greenland. The Queen of Denmark is to visit. Pipaluk is looking for her older sister Ivalu. Her father, who acts like he doesn’t care, says she ran away. Pipaluk tries looking for Ivalu. She sees a raven and thinks Ivalu’s spirit is in the bird. As she continues the search, she remembers the conversations she had with Ivalu. It’s then she faces the facts of a lot of ugly secrets about Ivalu and how her father treated her. Pipaluk feels she has to confront the awful truth. In the end Pipaluk wears Ivalu’s dress for the Queen’s visit.

This is a story that touches on a taboo rarely discussed but is well-known among indigenous peoples. Child sexual abuse is also very common in the Inuit populations of Canada. Although this is touchy subject matter, it does a good job in adapting a short story into a watchable film. The film has visuals that are both mystic and disturbing. It’s a sad story that does come as life-affirming at the end. Its imagery is the film’s best quality.

Le Pupille (dirs. Alive Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuaron) – The story revolves around a Roman Catholic boarding school in Italy during World War II. The central character of the story is a girl names Serafina. She’s an outcast at the school and the nuns are strict to all the girls, including Serafina. Mother Superior Fioralba is the strictest of them all. Christmas is fast approaching and the girls are to put on a Nativity play. The people in the town see the girls as darlings, but Fioralba always finds something to scold them about like singing a romantic song on the radio, which Fioralba describes as ‘filthy.’ She’s angry Serafina won’t admit to singing the lyrics and tells her what a bad girl she is. On Christmas, a rich socialite, who’s frustrated by her cheating boyfriend, gives the nuns a big red cake for the girls. Fiorabla thinks the cake is a bad thing as soldiers are starving. At the Christmas dinner, the girls are about to have dessert of the cake, but Fioralba tries to convince them not to have it. Serafina, shamed by her scolding, is able to get a slice. Fioralba hoped to use the cake for the Bishop’s visit. In the end a chimney sweep is given the cake which, thanks to him falling, is enough for everyone from the schoolgirls to his chimney sweep friends to the alley-way pets to have some of the cake.

It’s a charming story. I didn’t think Cuaron would be the type to do a short film for Disney. And in Italian. At first, you think with subject matter like this, it would be a dark story. Instead it turns out to be humorous and also turns out to be a good lesson in charity the girls and the chimney sweeps end up teaching a stern but dishonest nun like Fioralba. It’s also a story that shows how freeing yourself can even triumph over in a strict religious boarding school. And during World War II in Italy to boot! That’s why I give this film my Will Win pick.

Night Ride (dirs. Elrik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen) – In a town in Norway, a woman with dwarfism named Ebba is waiting for a tram on a cold night. A tram arrives, but the driver is taking a half-hour’s break. Impatiently, Ebba sneaks her way on the tram as he’s in the washroom. She plays along with the buttons in conductor’s controls and is able to get the tram moving. The conductor leaves the washroom shocked to find the tram moving, but Ebba moves on wit the runaway tram. Two rude males board the train along with a woman named Ariel. One of the males hits on Ariel, only to learn she’s trans. The two males get confrontational with Ariel, even threatening, but Ebba stops the tram to face up the men to stop. Even as the men are rude to her about her height, she doesn’t back down. She then tells the men to lead the tram and Ebba and Ariel get off. It’s just Ebba and Ariel on the bus bench as they watch a police car chase the runaway tram. They both laugh together.

It’s very rare that a film can take the topic of transphobia and make a comical situation. Here we have a case of a woman with dwarfism who steals the train and the trans woman whom the woman prevents from being attacked. It’s almost as if the runaway tram was a miracle for Ariel as it prevented physical abuse from happening. Not to mention the eventual comeuppance of the transphobes as both Ebba and Ariel see the police car chasing the tram on a bench. Both are cold, but they’re both safe, unlike the transphobes. And an unlikely friendship to boot!

The Red Suitcase (dir. Cyrus Neshvad) – Ariane, a young woman from Iran, has just arrived at the Luxembourg airport. She looks fearful. She has her red suitcase but refuses to leave past security. This causes suspicion among the guards and they check her suitcase. All that’s inside is clothes, pencil drawings. and art supplies. Nothing threatening. The true threat is past security. A middle-aged man her father arranged for her to marry. Her father even instructs her to approach the man through text message. Ariane has to escape and try to avoid catching his eye. She tries to get her money exchanged for Euros. It doesn’t exchange to much. She then tries to go out to look for an escape. She sees an airport bus and boards it, using her exchanged money to get on. Meanwhile the man is impatient as he has a big wedding planned that day. He received a message from Ariane’s father that her flight has arrived. He notices her money envelope so he knows she is outside. He searches in the bus area. He boards the very bus Ariane is on. Ariane finds an escape. He sees her suitcase but can’t find her. Ariane hides herself in the baggage area of the bus and won’t leave until it’s safe. Even a text from her father promising if she returns home, she can have anything won’t calm her. Then the bus drives off with the man on board and Ariane still at the airport.

The theme over here has to be the subject of arranged marriages. This is especially an important film as the Iranian feminist movement has been fighting for their freedoms since October. Those scenes where Ariane takes off her hijab and one where she cuts her hair are definitely part of the message. Even though the film is important because of its subject matter, the way the film plays out as we see one side of the subject matter and we learn more as it goes along is a creative element. Even the scenes of near-misses add to the intensity. We all wants Ariane to avoid being with the husband she doesn’t want, but we fear for her safety. We get the relief at the very end. Ariane is alone at the airport with all her money spent and without her suitcase, but she is free. It’s because of this that I designate this film as my Should Win pick.

And there you have it. That sums it up for the Animated and Live-Action short films nominated for this year’s Oscars. Those that aren’t normally film buffs, watching these shorts are more worth it than you think!

Advertisement

Animated Movies Review

Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

2016 was a stellar year for animated movies from Zootopia to Moana to Kubo And The Two Strings to Finding Dory. 2016’s line-up gave people lots of reason to come to the movie theatres. 2017 was very lackluster in comparison. We’re talking about a year when The Boss Baby was nominated for Best Animated Feature and even the mere existence of The Emoji Movie. 2017 almost made it look like if Sausage Party were released that year instead, it would be a Best Animated Feature nominee! However the best animated movies of 2017 slowly made its way on the screen in the latter months of 2017. I was lucky to see Ferdinand, Coco and Loving Vincent: three of the best of the year.

Ferdinand

Ferdinand

When I was about to see Ferdinand, I wondered how they would able to take the small story and turn it into a feature-length picture. I myself remember an animated short made by the Walt Disney studios made decades ago that was very humorous. However I wondered how would a feature-length adaptation play out?

The story starts out well with an entertaining look, but a bit of sadness at the beginning. As it progresses to adult Ferdinand, Ferdinand is funny and charming as a husky but flower-loving bull. John Cena adds to the characterization of full-grown Ferdinand. The characters of Lupe, Una and the other bulls add to the story.

There were times I wondered how will they get to where Ferdinand is scouted out by his accidental outburst? How will it be written out? Although it’s not true to the fable, the writers were able to create a way for Ferdinand to be discovered and sent to the bull rings to fight.

Another case that had me wondering was right in the middle of the story. It had me wondering how on earth the story would have a happy ending? Of course the film needed to have a kid-friendly happy ending, but in a situation where the bull either becomes a fighting bull who dies in the ring or to the slaughterhouse as meat? Nevertheless the writers were able to make the story work with good events to the plot and not just simply drag it out over the time. Even creating an ending where Ferdinand wins over the crowd and getting them to want him to live works for the film.

For the most part, Ferdinand is not all about the type of intricate story you’d expect to find in a Disney/Pixar film. Instead Ferdinand is about creating a charming modern adaptation of the short fable with charming and entertaining characters. It succeeds in charming the audience as well as entertaining the children. Despite the story being elongated into a feature-length picture, the film does not waste time. It succeeds in being entertaining. It also adds in some other elements that gets one nervous of what will happen to Ferdinand, even if they know the story. The story works in its feature-length and will not disappoint fans of the fable. It’s also good at winning crowds too as it made a good $282 million at the worldwide box office.

coco

Coco

Very often you know the Disney/Pixar collaboration will deliver something fresh and original in its arsenal that’s able to win us over. This year, they deliver Coco. Coco is unique because it’s of a Mexican family situated in Mexico. The question is will they make something original and unique entertaining to the public?

The team of writers and animators at Disney/Pixar are known for their innovations and their frequently-successful way of trying new concepts. First there was 1995’s Toy Story: the first-ever 3D animated feature. Then came A Bug’s Life which created an engaging story revolving around insects. Then Finding Nemo not only told a story about fish, but successfully took us to another world. The Incredibles was good at teaching morals in an entertaining way. Ratatouille made an entertaining story involving a rat. Wall-E magically gave us an engaging story about two robots in love with very little dialogue. It was Brave where they not only gave us their first female protagonist, but welcomed a female writer on their ‘dream team.’ And there was Inside Out which made character out of emotions.

Coco is not just a new movie from the Disney/Pixar collaboration, but a new chapter for them. They hired Mexican/American writer Adrian Molina as the scriptwriter along with Matthew Aldrich. Molina had already been part of Pixar as a 2D animator for Ratatouille, a storyboard artists for Toy Story 3 and Monsters University, and even wrote the script for Walt Disney Studios’ The Good Dinosaur. The voice cast is predominantly of Mexicans or Mexican Americans. Disney/Pixar even hired a ‘cultural consultant’ group of three Mexican-Americans including one former CEO of the Mexican Heritage Corp to make sure they were doing a film respectful of Mexican people.

The result is a film that has garnered praise even from both critics and even Mexican-American communities. The film even received excellent reviews from Latin American film critics. The film was also a top box office winner having grossed $730 million so far. Even in Mexico, it spent three weeks at #1 in the Mexican box office and grossed a total of $57.8 million in Mexico.

Now the film itself does what Disney/Pixar films have a reputation for: taking the audience to a new world. Here they give an excellent depiction of the Land Of The Dead that looks very intricate and maybe too big, but succeeds in making sense to the viewer. Once again the animation team does an excellent job in creating this new world and even the smallest detail is done with perfection. Once again Disney/Pixar is tops in animation quality.

However there was one time I was confused by the story. I’ll admit like most, I thought Ernesto was the great-great-grandfather. I was shocked when I learned that Ernesto killed Hector with poison. It left me wondering if Miguel’s great-great-grandfather was in fact a dirty killer. Even seeing Ernesto send Miguel to die in the cenote pit left me shocked. ‘Why would Ernesto do this to his own great-great-grandson?’ It’s in the pit with Hector that we learn that Hector is really the great-great-grandfather. That was a relief. It was there where it became better sense why Miguel needed to redeem the name of the family through the spirit of Hector. The story was very well-written and very entertaining. Also the song ‘Remember Me’ is an excellent song for the movie that makes for the perfect tearjerker moment you don’t feel manipulated by.

One again Disney/Pixar delivers a masterpiece in Coco. It is as top-quality as it is magical to watch.

kinopoisk.ru

Loving Vincent

Now the previous two films in which I just talked about are both the more family-friendly films. Loving Vincent is the polar opposite of both. It’s not cute, it’s less family-friendly, and it’s not even 3D computerized animation. It also didn’t even make $10 million at the box office. Nevertheless it is charming in its own ways.

The film is a plot where Armand Roulin is asked by his father Joseph to deliver a letter from Vincent Van Gogh who died a year earlier to his brother Theo. After learning Theo died, Armand looks to find the right person to give the letter to. Throughout the journey, Armand tries to get the answer to whether Vincent’s death was a suicide or not? He was released from a hospital after found to be in good mental capacity six weeks before.

Armand comes across many people in Vincent’s life. Some have positive things to say. Some negative things. All have something to say about the person of Vincent, the various people he met with or fought against, and his personal feelings before his death. This still leaves Armand confused and his question of Vincent’s death unanswered. It’s right after Dr. Gachet promises to give the letter to Theo’s widow that he learns van Gogh’s suicide wasn’t of mental agony, but to free himself and his brother. Later Armand receives a letter from Theo’s widow thanking him.

This animated film about Vincent Van Gogh couldn’t be a simple animated film. Instead this is a film in which the images were done by 100 painters trained to paint like Van Gogh. The object of the film was to create a story involving characters of people Van Gogh painted and was close to in his life across a backdrop that’s just like the paintings he painted. Basically an animated story about Van Gogh that captures the essence of Van Gogh’s art. The story may be fictional, but it succeeds in playing out like a Van Gogh painting. It even gets one that knows very little about Van Gogh’s works or his life intrigued. It even gets fans of Van Gogh’s art admiring the film for capturing the essence of the artist and his works. I also like how the film ended as “Vincent (Starry Starry Night)” was playing. It would make those who never understood what the song was all about understand it better.

So there’s my look at three of the best animated films of 2017. All three are nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. All three are enjoyable in their own way.

Movie Review: Birdman

Jon The Blogcentric3 Comments

Michael Keaton plays a movie star trying to escape the image he was famous for en route to a comeback on Broadway in Birdman.
Michael Keaton plays a movie star trying to escape the image he was famous for en route to a comeback on Broadway in Birdman.

I know the awards season is just starting to declare winners en route to the Oscars. I will have a lot of movie watching to catch up with. I finally did see Birdman, one movie with a lot of big buzz, and I’m glad I did.

Riggan Thomson is a former Hollywood movie star who hit the big time as Birdman: a movie that propelled his fame and had him act in two more sequels. However he soon became yesterday’s news after he left the Birdman franchise and he’s aiming for a Broadway comeback. His plan is a stage adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love which he plays lead, directs and writes. However something is knwing at him. He hears a voice and he has telekinetic powers.

Upon rehearsal, he is pissed off with the male lead actor. Suddenly a stage light lands on his head. Everyone is shocked and fearing for his life except Riggan, who just walks away. He soon admits to his lawyer friend Jake that he rigged the light to fall on him to get popular stage actor Michael Shiner into the play. Getting Michael came from him refinancing a house that should belong to Sam, his recovering drug-addict daughter and assistant.

However friction eventually happens. Riggan is unhappy with how Mike does a scene during rehearsal and he storms off violently. Even Mike’s suggestion of using a more realistic gun for the suicide scene doesn’t sit well with him. The feelings are justified when Mike is scene in a news story and how he mentions Raymond Carver made him want to become an actor. On top of it, reviews of the dress rehearsal are not impressive at all and it hits Mike bad.  Meanwhile the voice inside his head is either supporting him or mocking him for turning his back on Birdman. Adding to it, Sam is unhappy with him and tells him that his play is garbage and that he doesn’t matter. Not in this day and age of Facebook and Twitter, media streams he consistently rejects.

Things actually take a turn for the better but through some of the most unlikely of methods. Right in the middle of a preview, Riggan accidentally locks himself out of the theatre with the door accidentally catching hold of his robe. He impulsively walks around Times Square in nothing but his underwear to get back to the theatre and catches the notice of everyone whom he walks by and even enters the theatre leaving the audience confused and delighted. After the show, he gets drunk and encounters theatre critic Tabitha Dickinson who says she will crucify his play because of her detest of Hollywood movie stars trying to pass themselves off as legitimate actors. The next day, a drunken Riggan actually has a hallucinative conversation with Birdman and he gains powers including flight. It’s like he became Birdman again as he’s flying all around Manhattan.

Then opening night for the play happens. Riggan uses a real gun for the suicide scene shooting himself in the head in front of the audience. Everyone in the audience gives him a standing ovation but Tabitha just walks out without emotion or applause. Turns out Riggan didn’t kill himself. He survives but wakes up in a hospital bed learning the bullet badly damaged his nose. On top of that, he learns from Jake that Tabitha gave the play rave reviews. He’s even able to spend a poignant moment with Sam in his hospital bed. After Riggan is left alone, the film ends in a way I don’t think most people will understand. I guess the point was to have you the audience decide the ending. You’ll have to see it for yourself.

This film is a unique method of telling a story and giving portraits of the characters. The film’s method of following characters around and often appearing like one non-stop shoot adds to the film and can make the audience curious to what will happen next. However the most striking thing for me about the film is how it shows actors and even those involved in the whole showbiz scene. We have a lead actor who’s a former movie star now struggling to re-establish himself. We have a daughter who’s loving but ill-tempered and frequently at odds with him. We have a supporting actor who isn’t as big a name but well-respected and tries to use this opportunity to promote himself further. We have both an ex-wife and a current flame struggling with personal issues with him. We have a theatre system that demands the movie be a hit for the sake of the show, the sake of the theatre and for the sake of Thomson’s finances. We have the fame system which has had major changes in the ‘fame game’ in recent years thanks to online technology giving us video sites and personal homepages. We have media critics who not only make judgments about plays but are egotistical enough to unapologetically trash a work if they see fit. It’s no wonder an actor/director like Riggan Thomson drinks a lot. Heck I’ve frequently said: “Actors and drinking go together like ham and eggs.” Here I’m finally shown why!

The funniest thing about the film is that while I was watching, I was constantly sensing that Birdman may be about Michael Keaton himself. For those that don’t know, Michael Keaton was the first Batman when the franchise was revived on the big screen in a big way back in 1989. He also starred in the second Batman movie Batman Returns from 1992. The role of Batman has since gone onto Val Kilmer and now Christian Bale. Michael Keaton had some continued commercial success for a few years after his last Batman movie. Actually he even had some healthy commercial success before thanks to 80’s movies like Mr. Mom and Beetlejuice. So it had me wondering if Riggan’s struggle of coming back while having the baggage of being famous as Birdman was a parallel reflection of Michael Keaton being famous as Batman. I found it odd because I’ve never heard of Michael having a struggle with it. I even looked over his biography and info of his personal life at Wikipedia to see if it was. Although I saw some parallels, I was still left without a conclusion. I haven’t even seen an interview of Michael Keaton where he publicly declared it synonymous.

I will say that Keaton did an excellent performance as Riggan. This is not like any performance I’ve seen from Keaton and this is the best acting I’ve seen from him. Possibly the best acting performance of the year. Edward Norton was also great as Michael Shiner and did a great job of showing ego conflict between actors. Emma Stone also delivered her best ever performance as a daughter who’s also an assistant with the same showbiz-style nastiness to her own father. Zach Galifianakis gave what I feel to be his best acting performance and one where I actually end up liking him in a film. Additional standout supporting performances are Amy Ryan as the ex-wife, Andrea Riseborough as the new girlfriend and Lindsay Duncan as the theatre critic who did a lot in that one scene of hers.

The technical aspects are also excellent and one-of-a-kind for this film. Emmanuel Lubezki did a smart job with having the follow-around method of filming. Usually such a method is risky in the storytelling aspect of film making but it works to near-perfection here. Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrione also did an excellent editing job especially in how they made it look like there was a single non-stop scene for over an hour. Of course modern technology can do the film fakery to make it look like a non-stop scene but Crise and Mirrione did it all right and made it work. Also kudos to composer Antonio Sanchez. I like how he delivered a score that was a jazzy style of music for the stageplay scenes and then our typical grandiose orchestrated score for the Birdman scenes. That score that corresponded with the themes was an excellent choice for the film.

Birdman is not your typical Hollywood fare but it’s all the better for it. It doesn’t make sense to a lot of people but would make more sense to those who see it twice or even those that know acting or showbiz as a whole.