Life

Hitting the heights

Birdman features an all-star cast and tells the tale of a 'washed up comic strip character' who has left Hollywood behind for the Broadway stage. Michael Keaton's starring role could certainly see him picking up an Oscar, writes Brian Campbell

THERE'S a scene in Birdman in which Edward Norton's character Mike Shiner (a Broadway actor) completely loses the plot - in front of a full theatre and his

co-stars - and it's so real and so cringeworthy that you want the stage to open up and devour him. It's just one of countless moments when you think to yourself, 'This isn't like any other film I've seen'.

The main four actors - Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Norton and Naomi Watts - are all sensationally good in their roles; the pounding drum score by Antonio Sanchez is fantastic; and the cinematic device of making the film look like it was shot in one long take is ingenious. Most importantly, Birdman is a gripping story.

Keaton is in almost every shot, invariably in close-up, and it's easy to see why he has been named as a frontrunner for the best actor Oscar for this role.

He plays Riggan Thomson, an actor summed up neatly by tourists who pester him and get their photo taken with him in Times Square: "He used to be BIRDMAN!"

Thomson is defined by his two Birdman films but is now trying to reinvent himself as a Broadway actor in his own adaptation of the Raymond Carver book What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.

We are introduced to him in his theatre dressing room. Not only do we see Thomson, but we can hear the voice of his Birdman character taunting him for turning his back on the big-money film franchise: "How did we end up here?"

From the first few scenes, the tone is dark, slightly tragic but also funny.

The camera follows Thomson to the stage for a rehearsal and then intermittently pans away to follow other characters - among them his co-star Lesley (Naomi Watts), his attorney Jake (Zach Galifianakis) and his daughter and assistant Sam (Emma Stone).

The camera takes us out of the theatre, into bars, out on to the theatre's roof terrace, up to the sky and then down again and in a window to keep following the action; but Michael Keaton is very much the main man here.

One reason the premise works so well is that Keaton did his second and last Batman film in 1992, the same year Thomson bowed out on Birdman.

Before his play has even opened, Thomson is mocked as "a Hollywood clown in a Lycra birdsuit" by the feared New York Times theatre critic Tabitha Dickinson (Lindsay Duncan).

With so many Hollywood stars popping up in Broadway plays these days, Thomson's tale is a believable one; although the Birdman voice in his head and his apparent telekinetic powers do seem to make him stand out.

Emma Stone is fantastic as his out-of-rehab and world-weary daughter, who mocks him for not using Facebook or Twitter to keep his profile up.

He tells her the play is his chance to do something that matters, but Sam tells him bluntly that he doesn't matter and isn't important.

The inter-play between obnoxious wildcard Mike Shiner (Norton) and his partner Lesley (Watts) is excellent, reminding us of how incredibly talented they both are.

Galifianakis is great as the worried attorney stressed to the hilt by the behind-the-scenes fighting and Thomson's threats to pull out of previews.

The scene in which Shiner flips out on stage and one where Thomson gets locked out of the theatre in his underwear are both nightmarishly comical.

And both Lindsay Duncan as Dickinson (who has a memorable face-off with Thomson) and Andrea Riseborough (playing Thomson's girlfriend Laura) are excellent.

Birdman is one of those films that just clicks and works on every level.

We hear Birdman's voice telling Thomson, "These people don't know what we're capable of" and people might underestimate how good a film this is.

It is thrilling and brilliantly original.

Michael Keaton has a great chance of being named best actor at the Academy Awards and Birdman is certainly going to be one of the best films of 2015. * Birdman is in cinemas now.

BIRDMAN (15, 119 mins)

Drama/Comedy Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Zach Galifianakis, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Lindsay Duncan Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Rating HHHHK