2014: #1

#1 Birdman

What does it mean to be "firing on all cylinders"?

In car terminology, it refers to the engine functioning as a unit. I know this because I recently had to repair a coil pack on my cadillac, because half of the cylinders were not firing correctly. The car would sometimes shake and shudder at stoplights.

When I think of the idea of a movie firing on all cylinders, Birdman comes to the front of my mind. This cast...wow. The cast is so good that Michael Keaton's may not even be the strongest performance. The script? Besides director Alejandro G. Inarritu, its credited to a total of five writers, and they churned out dialogue that was so natural it could have been entirely improvised. The cinematography? Please. Best of the year, no question. The always formidable Emmanuel Lubezki killed it. The direction? Inarritu's vision somehow is executed in a way that the entire movie feels one long take. Part of that is because this backstage movie was rehearsed like a play; it had to be. Actors reportedly had to get to precise marks at precise times or the entire take would be ruined.

It sounded absolutely rigorous to make, but the story of Riggan Thomson (Keaton) was totally worth the work. By now, you probably know that the movie revolves around Thomson, who decades previous had starred as superhero "Birdman" but had since slipped into obscurity. His limelight comeback rests solely on his effort to mount a broadway show based on the Raymond Carver short story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" is slowly killing him, as he tries to focus and simultaneouslyjuggle the anxiety of star Lesley (Naomi Watts), the wanton ego of the other star, Mike (Ed Norton), the realistic worries of his producer, Jake (Zach Galifinakis) and the behavior of his erratic, fresh-out-of-rehab daughter, Sam (Emma Stone). It doesn't ruin anything to tell you that their preview performance is a total disaster, and we watch, through backstage follow shots, trips to the bar next door, aimless wanderings through New York, and super meta internal voices that we see Thomson unravel even further. How far is too far, and what will he risk to make his play a success?

You have to see it to believe it. If you're a fan of movies, if you're a fan of all things self-reflexive, of all things meta... It's almost intimidating how well-executed Birdman is. I can't wait to see it again.

*****

Thanks a lot for reading this year, you guys. I appreciate it, and I hope you enjoyed it. I'll back tomorrow to wrap up 2014!