Michael Keaton’s alter-ego in Birdman.

Birdman
Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu
Starring: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton
119 mins; Class 15;
Eden Cinema Release

One question Birdman throws up is whether its protagonist Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is seriously delusional or whether he does, in fact, have super powers.

This is the account of a movie star who is in constant battle with his ego and who, we are led to believe, has absorbed the powers of his most iconic character Birdman, a super hero Thomson played to great effect in three movies years ago.

Desperate not to be considered a has-been, Thomson has mounted an ambitious Broadway adaptation of a Raymond Carver short story - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love – which he himself is producing, directing and starring in.

Thomson hopes that, after this, he will be taken seriously as an actor. Yet, days before opening night a freak accident seriously injures his main actor… and things begin to unravel inexorably, both in Thomson’s mind and for the play itself.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s dark, yet moving, satire is an exploration of the consequences of success and the sometimes pointless search for self-esteem and love while the protagonist walks the precarious fine line between reality and illusion.

Much of the action is set within the confines of a theatre – but this is no stage piece transported to the big screen.

The characters really come to life in the long takes where the director takes them through the dressing rooms, long dark corridors, the theatre’s rigging system and the open stage as the story unfolds.

And, when it leaves the theatre, Birdman soars, figuratively and literally; one sequence where Thomson simply takes flight – or imagines he does – over New York city is astonishing, while a nearby bar is the setting for a savage confrontation between Thomson and revered theatre critic Tabitha Dickinson (Lindsay Duncan).

Birdman is powered by an eclectic cast, and, with its ensemble of strong character roles, it is certainly an actor’s piece.

Joining the aforementioned Duncan is Amy Ryan as Thomson’s sympathetic ex-wife and the sole voice of sanity in Thomson’s chaotic life, while Zach Galifianakis impressively reining it in as Thomson’s best friend and lawyer.

Naomi Watts is the actress thankful for the opportunity of finally appearing on Broadway only to see things go to pot; and Andrea Riseborough as Thomson’s co-star and frustrated but loyal lover.

Edward Norton is on blazing form as the insufferable, yet admittedly talented, actor brought in at the last minute, while Emma Stone as Thomson’s daughter and personal assistant and a recovering addict steals every scene she is in.

Iñárritu has assembled a fine pool of talent at their best; inhabiting their characters totally, uttering the script’s pointed, entertaining and often painfully truthful lines with aplomb.

Certainly to be applauded for being so daring

They are led by an impecc-able Keaton, who is at his best as the complex and contradictory Thomson: charismatic, yet obnoxious, talented, though at times mediocre and troubled and desperate.

It is a masterful performance, over the top at times and beautifully restrained at others as Thomson struggles with his past, even as he tries to make a future for himself. He battles his inner demon – even speaking to it, as evidenced by his many conversations with ‘Birdman’ – with self-deprecating humour and sometimes unmitigated ego.

The actor shares many parallels with his alter ego. After the heyday of the 1980s and 1990s when films like Beetlejuice and the Batman films he made with Tim Burton kept him firmly under the spotlight, Keaton faded away somewhat, although he has always kept busy with small, but impactful appearances.

Here he makes a deserved, blazing, Golden Globe-winning – and Oscar-nominated – comeback.

Speaking of Oscar nominations, this ambitious, sweeping film has walked away with nine, including Best Picture, Director and Actor (though shockingly not Editing, which is so integral to the overall feel of the film).

Iñárritu is certainly to be applauded for being so daring and for creating a highly entertaining showbiz-centred satire – written with Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr and Armando Bo – full of unforgettable characters.

The film’s ambiguous end-ing may leave viewers a little frustrated, for many questions remain unanswered.

Yet, the director clearly wants us to take away from this what we must for Birdman is a film so layered that a second viewing may be required to really delve into all its complexities, a prospect I admit I relish.