Birdman...Wordman
Let me just say from the start of this post this is not a review of the 2014 film Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and starring Michael Keaton.
It's not a review. Watch it or don't. Totally up to you. My silly little blog couldn't possibly persuade you one way or the other.
I guess what has my brain racing and my emotions a little tweaked is the theme of Birdman, which, in my opinion, is the struggle to find and keep oneself in a business that is so good at helping you lose yourself.
Birdman is definitely a commentary on show business, more specifically the trend of raising actors to a level of almost God-like status because they played characters who had been raised to the level of almost God-like status. Birdman is also a commentary on those who work in this industry and how everyone is affected by fame and ego and the fear of rejection.
There have been a lot of movies about the movie business.
There have been a lot of movies about the movie business.
The Player, The Artist, Bowfinger, Singing In The Rain, Swimming With Sharks are just a few. I know these are good movies. I've seen most of them and more. I can't empathize too much, however, with the characters in those movies though because our experiences are different.
I don't live in L.A. and as of today, July 14, 2015, I don't work in Hollywood.
I don't live in L.A. and as of today, July 14, 2015, I don't work in Hollywood.
Having said that, Birdman touched me because it poked and pulled at the open wounds actors walk around with every day.
I've said it before, it's hard for me to distance myself as I watch movies or television shows these days. Far too often I analyze and not watch. It's kinda sad really. I love movies. They have always been my escape...my passport to somewhere else other than where I am at the moment.
That feeling of escape still happens. Every now and then I watch something that totally takes me surprise and I lose myself in time, so I guess there's still hope for me.
That feeling of escape still happens. Every now and then I watch something that totally takes me surprise and I lose myself in time, so I guess there's still hope for me.
More often than not though I analyze. My acting school these days is The University of RedBox. Tuition is cheap. Each class is a mere $1.99.
I have mixed emotions at the moment. Not that they aren't totally amped up to 100 right now but they are definitely mixed. Great. I'm a daiquiri of nerves and anxiety and bullshit. I just need a strawberry sticking out of my ear and I'm all set for the Sunday brunch crowd.
Would they be ready for me? is the question though.
Probably not. Probably fucking not.
I'm an emotional wreck right now but I'm fine. And you know what they say about being fine, don't you?
F. I. N. E.
Freaked out.
Insecure.
Neurotic.
Emotional.
Feeling fine always happens when I haven't worked in a few weeks. It's the whole The Universe Has Forgotten About Me Again Cloud of Doom that hangs around me like PigPen's cloud of dirt.
I hate not working.
I hate there not being any work.
I hate hating feeling the way I do.
Hate is a waste of time but when you're good at something you stick to it. I hate that I'm good at it.
I love acting. I'm good at it and that totally balances the good at hating thing.
It's not easy though. It's hard. The business is crazy. CRAZY.
Jesus! It's crazy!
The business of television and films is an unbalanced washing machine and it tosses and shakes and spins anyone around frantically who happen to be inside it.
There are no formulas to survive the cycles of wash-spin-rinse-agitate-batter-wash-rinse.
Everyone who works from job to job is a survivor. If you work on one production and are asked to work on another, you are a survivor. There is a strength about you...inside you...and you just might make it a little longer. You just might survive another day to try and find work and sell yourself and maybe get a chance to do what it is you love you to do.
I think that's what resonated in me after watching Birdman.
Michael Keaton's Riggan is a fragile, broken, spent man struggling to find something. He's desperate to find himself in a business that will forget about you a split second after you lose your own footing.
Birdman is about to trying to grab hold of happiness and success. Which, as well all know, are about as hard to grab as a bird wing's once it's taken flight.
Keaton's Riggan is heartbreaking and vulnerable and pissed off and lost. It's an all too close to home, smack to the face, kick to the balls performance. It picks at scabs and rubs salt into wound. It's honest. It's on point.
It's no wonder Keaton was nominated for an OSCAR. He achieves a vulnerability which surpasses acting and transcends to something more raw and gut-wrenchingly, painfully true.
As an actor who analyzes and not watches, his performance scared the shit out of me.
I'm no where near where Michael Keaton is professionally and therefore I cannot totally empathize with his choices for his character's journey. Parts of Riggan's journey, his angst and anger and fear, however, were textures I could totally understand and slip on like a pair of work boots.
As much as I admired Keaton and the supporting cast, I won't be jumping off a roof any time soon. That needs to be said. Birdman is dark and sad but it's not a how-to-manual for how to deal with this wacky business. I don't look at Riggan and say 'I want to be just like him.' I do look at him and I say 'I get it.' I get him. I get the movie.
In the end, Birdman is a good movie that cuts a Y-shaped incision into it's lead character's chest, pulls apart his ribs and shows you everything.
Everything.
And it just might reveal something about yourself as an actor. So...careful. You may not like what you see.
As an actor I'm still sitting here thinking those things we all probably think after seeing a movie like Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
-Damn. Michael Keaton killed it! One of the best performances of his life
-Double damn. Zach Gallifinakis can act. Who knew?
-That's the kind of movie I want to be part of!
-The camera work was invasive. It sucks you right into that universe whether you want to be there. It pulls you, feet dragging into all the characters' faces, uncomfortably up close and Oh I'm Sorry Am I Stepping On Your Toes Did My Hand Just Brush Against Your Tits personal.
Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is story of finding yourself but more importantly, keeping a tight grip on yourself even when every fiber in your body is telling you to step off the ledge and fly too close to the sun. It's also a story that tells you that sometimes you have to spread your wings and fall face flat onto the pavement before you realize what living is. Guess it all depends on who you are.
Well shit.
I guess this turned out to be a review of the movie after all.
Just keeping it reel.
Copyright 2015
All Rights Reserved
Michael Keaton's Riggan is a fragile, broken, spent man struggling to find something. He's desperate to find himself in a business that will forget about you a split second after you lose your own footing.
Birdman is about to trying to grab hold of happiness and success. Which, as well all know, are about as hard to grab as a bird wing's once it's taken flight.
Keaton's Riggan is heartbreaking and vulnerable and pissed off and lost. It's an all too close to home, smack to the face, kick to the balls performance. It picks at scabs and rubs salt into wound. It's honest. It's on point.
It's no wonder Keaton was nominated for an OSCAR. He achieves a vulnerability which surpasses acting and transcends to something more raw and gut-wrenchingly, painfully true.
As an actor who analyzes and not watches, his performance scared the shit out of me.
I'm no where near where Michael Keaton is professionally and therefore I cannot totally empathize with his choices for his character's journey. Parts of Riggan's journey, his angst and anger and fear, however, were textures I could totally understand and slip on like a pair of work boots.
As much as I admired Keaton and the supporting cast, I won't be jumping off a roof any time soon. That needs to be said. Birdman is dark and sad but it's not a how-to-manual for how to deal with this wacky business. I don't look at Riggan and say 'I want to be just like him.' I do look at him and I say 'I get it.' I get him. I get the movie.
In the end, Birdman is a good movie that cuts a Y-shaped incision into it's lead character's chest, pulls apart his ribs and shows you everything.
Everything.
And it just might reveal something about yourself as an actor. So...careful. You may not like what you see.
As an actor I'm still sitting here thinking those things we all probably think after seeing a movie like Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
-Damn. Michael Keaton killed it! One of the best performances of his life
-Double damn. Zach Gallifinakis can act. Who knew?
-That's the kind of movie I want to be part of!
-The camera work was invasive. It sucks you right into that universe whether you want to be there. It pulls you, feet dragging into all the characters' faces, uncomfortably up close and Oh I'm Sorry Am I Stepping On Your Toes Did My Hand Just Brush Against Your Tits personal.
Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is story of finding yourself but more importantly, keeping a tight grip on yourself even when every fiber in your body is telling you to step off the ledge and fly too close to the sun. It's also a story that tells you that sometimes you have to spread your wings and fall face flat onto the pavement before you realize what living is. Guess it all depends on who you are.
Well shit.
I guess this turned out to be a review of the movie after all.
Just keeping it reel.
Copyright 2015
All Rights Reserved
I am no actor, and I have not yet seen the movie (it's on my Netflix list), but the theme of the movie scares me to death. Because I am rapidly approaching (if I haven't already passed) the age where I can only look back on my life and realize that any 'success' (as measured by the world) is in the past, and the only happiness in my future is directly related to my ability to accept that fact.
ReplyDeleteSome days it seems as though happiness can only come when I give up the idea of being a success. But my ego still longs for the applause, the acceptance, the approval of others. The acknowledgement that my life actually means something, that I'll be remembered with fondness in the years to come when I'm no longer around.
We just got back from a family reunion where hours were spent poring through old photo albums, looking at the faces of those who had moved on, and remembering the times we'd had with them. And I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like when my turn would come, when I would be simply a shadow in a photo album or a group of pixels in a video.
What will they say about me when I'm gone?
Will they say I was a success?
Will they say I fulfilled my potential?
Or will they struggle to remember what it was I accomplished after all those years?
Great comment, Robert, as always.
ReplyDeleteI think anyone renting Birdman with the intent of seeing a superhero movie will be sadly disappointed. It's the farthest thing from it. It's about a man. Just a man.
I does make you think. It is scary.
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