Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), American satiric film, released in 2014, that won four Academy Awards, including that for best picture. A complex and quirky movie, it was hailed as a masterpiece by many critics, though some viewers found it pretentious and puzzling.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) centres on Riggan Thomson (played by Michael Keaton), an actor who is famous for having played the superhero Birdman in a series of blockbuster films and who is now trying to burnish his credentials by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver’s short story “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” The film draws viewers behind the scenes of the fraught production and into Thomson’s mind. The character of Birdman taunts Thomson whenever he is alone, and Thomson exhibits magical powers under Birdman’s influence, but it is not obvious whether these are delusions. He is unable to control the play’s cast members—his girlfriend, Laura (Andrea Riseborough), the unstable Lesley (Naomi Watts), and especially the top-notch yet insufferable actor Mike Shiner (Edward Norton). He does not get along with his daughter, Sam (Emma Stone), who has recently completed a drug rehabilitation program. To make matters worse, the theatre critic Tabitha (Lindsay Duncan) promises to pan the production before she has seen it. Achieving respect on any level seems out of Thomson’s reach. On opening night, Thomson substitutes a real gun for a prop gun, and in the play’s climactic scene he shoots his nose off, prompting a rave review from Tabitha. In the final scene, set in the hospital, Thomson exits through the window—but whether as a suicide or in flight is left to the viewer to decide.

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Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) was conceived of and cowritten by Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu and filmed in a way that made it appear to be a single seamless shot. That, together with the percussion-heavy score, written and played by jazz drummer Antonio Sanchez, served to convey a sense of almost unbearable tension. The movie’s mysterious subtitle is the headline of the review written by Tabitha. There were notable parallels between the lives of the characters and the actors portraying them. Keaton had played the superhero Batman in two movies directed by Tim Burton in the early 1990s (the same time period in which Thomson portrayed Birdman), and Norton had a reputation for being difficult to work with. The film debuted at the Venice International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Golden Lion.

Production notes and credits

• Studios: New Regency Pictures, M Prods, Le Grisbi Productions, TSG Entertainment, and Worldview Entertainment
• Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
• Writers: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo
• Music: Antonio Sanchez
• Cinematographer: Emmanuel Lubezki

Cast

• Michael Keaton (Riggan Thomson)
• Emma Stone (Sam)
• Naomi Watts (Lesley)
• Andrea Riseborough (Laura)
• Edward Norton (Mike Shiner)
• Lindsay Duncan (Tabitha)

Academy Award nominations (* denotes Win)

• Picture*
• Lead actor (Michael Keaton)
• Supporting actor (Edward Norton)
• Supporting actress (Emma Stone)
• Cinematography*
• Directing*
• Sound editing
• Sound mixing
• Writing*