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Riggan Thomas (Michael Keaton), was played the iconic superhero, Birdman. Now, years later, he is all but completely washed up, and is attempting to reinvent himself as a Broadway director by staging a new retelling of Raymond Carver’s classic short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.
During a dress rehearsal, an actor is injured, forcing Riggan to scramble in order to locate a replacement for him who is precisely who Riggan wanted in the first place — a method actor (Edward Norton) who takes the job way too seriously (interrupting the preview reading — in front of an audience — in order to protest the lack of actual gin in the prop bottle of gin).
Told in essentially a single take (the camera follows the actors as they walk through the various sets, with a only couple of dissolves to show the passage of time), but is powered by a driving soundtrack often punctuated by a killer drumbeat that works its way up to a crescendo as the on-stage action ratchets up.
What the single-take filmography does is make the film appear to be more of a play, and increases the intimacy and immediacy of the film itself.
The Avon Theater is located at 272 Bedford Street, Stamford. The show runs through Nov. 20. Complete listings and times are on the Avon website.
Birdman is rated “R” runs 1 hour and 59 minutes, and stars Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, and Emma Stone. It is and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Norwalk resident Robert J. Sodaro has been reviewing films for some 30 years. During that time, his movie reviews and articles have appeared in numerous print publications, as well as on the web. Subscribe to receive regular articles and movie reviews through his website.
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