Films > DVD Reviews

Birdman

27/04/15

It’s that time of year when all the films that were given cinema releases on dates chosen to give them the best chance of Oscar recognition, i.e., around December/January, start coming out on disc and stream. This is great news for you, oh spoiled cinephile, but not so great for me, as it makes choosing a May DVDOTM a bit of a Sophie’s choice. The Theory of Everything, Big Hero 6, and Foxcatcher – worthy choices one and all – are all out this month. However, I’ve decided to go with what the Academy decided was the best film of last year: Birdman. (It wasn’t the best film of last year, Boyhood was.)

Birdman is certainly one of the most experimental films to get the top gong in recent memory. Its pseudo-one-take yet non-linear cinematography is brave, and the hyper-meta shtick of Michael Keaton, who is known primarily for playing a superhero, playing Riggan Thomson, an actor known primarily for playing a superhero, in an experimental film about an ambitious play, could have fallen on its clever-clever arse. Instead, it’s delicious.

The reasons for this are manifold, but Keaton’s subtly deranged and extraordinary performance is very important here. Thomson may be a washed-up egotist, but Keaton is plainly not. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s script, too, is full of ambiguity and unreliable narrative, a delightful puzzle warranting multiple watches.

Birdman may not have been the best film of last year (it wasn’t, ‘Boyhood’ was), but it was certainly among the most interesting. Make sure you see it. And Boyhood.