what we talk about when we talk about love birdman

So what’s it about, you ask? F*ck if I know.

While there is a story here- trying to put up a play, encountering difficulties, struggling to maintain personal relationships, wrestling with past regrets- that’s not what this movie is about. And Stone and Ed Norton’s chemistry- as weird as their relationship may be- is beautiful. She is a strange oasis of neuroses, just as short-sighted and self-absorbed as everyone else, but in refreshing new ways. And finally, Emma Stone knocks it out of the park as Sam, Thompson’s fresh-out-of-rehab damaged daughter. Amy Ryan shows up for a few scenes as Thompson’s ex-wife and is, as always, phenomenal. Zach Galifinakis plays way against type as a fire-quenching producer, the sole voice of reason in a world of crazy. Here, Norton also owns his real-life reputation with a meta wink. Along for the ride is the rest of the play’s cast: Andrea Riseborough as Thompson’s young costar/girlfriend, Naomi Watts as an actress making her Broadway debut, and Edward Norton as Mike, a super-Method Broadway vet prone to quitting/getting fired from productions for frequent spurts of outrageous (and sometimes demented) behavior. He’s also, NBD, directing and starring in the production. Thompson fell out of the public eye a couple decades earlier, but now he’s back, risking what’s left of his reputation and maybe his sanity, plus a whole lot of money on a play that he himself adapted from the Raymond Carver short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Or maybe it’s just in his head, who knows? What definitely is in his head is a gravelly, menacingly honest voice guiding him through his day.

Yes, he may or may not have telekinetic powers. When we first meet Riggan Thompson, he’s hovering in just his undies, a few feet above the ground. Alejandro González Iñárritu (previously of wistful, hyper self-aware dramas like 21 Grams and Babel) has attempted a dazzling feat, a veritable three ring circus of a cinematic event, and I’ll be damned if every single part of it doesn’t land exactly as intended. From start to finish, this is a uniquely incredible movie. No, the best part of Birdman is …everything. But the meta humor is not the best part of Birdman. And the meta element plays fantastically in the movie itself, with references to Michael Fassbender and Hugh Jackman and a number of other current cape-wearers. Clearly that description matches both Michael Keaton and his character here, Riggan Thompson. When the trailer for Birdman came out this summer, the joke was obvious: a seemingly washed-up actor, 20 years after he made himself a superstar playing an iconic winged superhero, trying to revive his career with a strange new project.

What we talk about when we talk about love birdman