Birdman or (The Unexpected Power of Cluelessness)

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Movie
German title Birdman or (The Unexpected Power of Cluelessness)
Original title Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Birdman logo.png
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2014
length 119 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 10
Rod
Director Alejandro González Iñárritu
script Alejandro González Iñárritu,
Nicolás Giacobone ,
Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. ,
Armando Bó junior
production Alejandro González Iñárritu,
John Lesher ,
Arnon Milchan ,
James W. Skotchdopole
music Antonio Sánchez
camera Emmanuel Lubezki
cut Douglas Crise ,
Stephen Mirrione
occupation
synchronization

Birdman or (The Unexpected Power of Cluelessness) is an American black comedy directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu . The film, which shows Michael Keaton as the title character and Zach Galifianakis , Edward Norton , Andrea Riseborough , Amy Ryan , Emma Stone and Naomi Watts in other roles, won the Best Picture Award at the 2015 Academy Awards .

The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2014 and opened in North American cinemas on October 17, 2014. Birdman was shown in German cinemas on January 29, 2015.

action

Actor Riggan Thomson was world-famous long ago for his portrayal of the comic hero Birdman in the blockbuster of the same name and its two sequels. After that, his career was increasingly bleak; however, his psychological bond with this superhero took over and now controls his life. He hears voices from his alter ego and thinks he has telekinetic skills.

Thomson wants to revive his career with an ambitious theater project on Broadway. For this he adapted Raymond Carver's short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love for the stage and acts as director and lead actor at the same time. His best friend Jake acts as a producer.

Shortly before the premiere, he urgently needs a replacement for the most important supporting role, which he finally casts with the successful Broadway actor Mike Shiner, although this is not easy to handle and will possibly overshadow him. Thomson's relationship with his daughter Sam, whom he hired as a production assistant after she was released from rehab, is also problematic .

In the course of rehearsals and pre-premieres, there were further entanglements within the theater troupe and setbacks from outside - the influential Times critic Tabitha Dickinson announces a slap, Thomson accidentally ends up half-naked on Broadway and becomes a national mockery through cell phone videos. In addition, a lawyer announces a lawsuit that could put him in financial distress. As the nervous breakdown progresses, Thomson falls further and further under the spell of Birdman and flies through the street canyons of New York in his fantasies.

In the final scene of the premiere, Thomson finally shoots himself in the head with a real pistol. The first visible cut in the film follows. The final sequence in the hospital shows Thomson lying in a hospital bed - apparently he just shot his nose off. The play, however, is described in an important daily newspaper as “super realistic theater”.

When his daughter enters the hospital room and looks for him, she finds it empty and with the window open. At first she looks anxiously downwards, then she looks upwards as if at something floating above, and she smiles.

production

Filming

Michael Keaton in conversation with Alejandro G. Iñárritu while filming on 43rd Street in Manhattan .

Filming began in New York in March 2013 , with scenes in the theater taking over thirty days to complete. Much of the film was shot in and near the St. James Theater on 44th Street in New York. The sequences in a nearby bar were filmed in the Rum House on 48th Street; with digital tricks she was then brought closer to the St. James Theater.

Apart from the opening and the closing scenes of the film gives the impression that he would not cut in a single setting has been turned. Emmanuel Lubezki's camera takes large dynamic journeys in the theater and around the building , which are invisibly linked to one another by digital editing. The scriptwriters claim that the idea of ​​this trick technique came from director Iñárritu, who was advised against using this technique by “great” and “important” people.

The carpet that is on the floor in the backstage area of ​​the theater has the same pattern as the one that was laid by Stanley Kubrick in the hotel during Shining .

music

On January 7, 2014, Antonio Sánchez was chosen as the film music composer. The soundtrack was released shortly before the film was released on October 14, 2014.

Grossing results

The production cost of Birdman were at 18 million US dollars estimated. Worldwide he made more than 103 million US dollars, of which just under 42.3 were in the USA and Canada.

synchronization

The synchronization was based on a dubbing book and the dubbing direction by Marius Clarén , on behalf of RC Production Kunze & Wunder GmbH & Co. KG .

role actor Voice actor
Riggan Thomson Michael Keaton Joachim Tennstedt
Jake Zach Galifianakis Michael Iwannek
Mike Shiner Edward Norton Andreas Fröhlich
Laura Andrea Riseborough Anna Grisebach
Sylvia Amy Ryan Sabine Falkenberg
Sam Thomson Emma Stone Anja Stadlober
Lesley Naomi Watts Claudia Lössl
Annie Merritt Wever Friederike Walke
Tabitha Dickinson Lindsay Duncan Katharina Lopinski

reception

Reviews

Birdman was received mostly positively. Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave 93% positive ratings based on 172 reviews, while Metacritic gave 89 out of 100 points. There was praise for almost all aspects of the film, especially for the direction, the story, the camera work, the concept, the music and the portrayal of the characters. Especially Michael Keaton's acting performance was highlighted again and again.

Barbara Schweizerhof from epd Film awarded 4 out of 5 stars and was also enthusiastic about this "technically virtuoso satire on the lot of actors and the film industry today, [...] which celebrates what it complains in a masterly way". In addition to the script, in whose dialogues "sharp tongues, flashes of inspiration and dry" oneliner "crowd in such a dense manner" that you have to watch the film a second and third time - just to get everything, "she praised above all the technical implementation, which "gives the story the character of a feverish stream of consciousness".

Ian Haydn Smith, freelance writer and editor of the magazine of the British art house cinema chain "Curzon", writes in his review that the film for the leading actor Michael Keaton is the best role since Ray Nicolette in the two film adaptations of Elmore Leonard's works ( Jackie Brown and Out of sight ). Keaton would still have this vitality, the director Inarritu "channeled" so will that the portrait is one of "arises hunted demons and plagued by fear of failure egocentric." The effect that the film tries to act like he was in a setting filmed (like Hitchcock's cocktail for a corpse ) is noteworthy for the critic, even if he is not confined to one room this time. Overall, for him, the film is “a fast-paced, often intelligent comedy that, unlike some of Iñárritus' earlier films, never takes itself too seriously”.

Awards and nominations

The ensemble at the 2014 New York Film Festival closing event
Oscars
Golden Globe
Gotham Award
  • Award in the Best Film category
  • Award in the Best Actor category for Michael Keaton
Independent Spirit Award
  • Award in the Best Film category
  • Award in the Best Actor category for Michael Keaton
  • Award in the Best Camera category for Emmanuel Lubezki
  • Nomination in the category Best Director for Alejandro González Iñárritu
  • Nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Edward Norton
  • Nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Emma Stone
Venice International Film Festival
  • Nomination for the Golden Lion
  • Awarded the Little Golden Lion for Alejandro González Iñárritu
  • Received the P. Nazareno Taddei Award for Alejandro González Iñárritu
  • Received the Future Film Festival Digital Award for Alejandro González Iñárritu
  • Received the Soundtrack Stars for Best Score Award for Antonio Sánchez
National Board of Review
Satellite Award
  • Award in the Best Film category
  • Award in the Best Actor category for Michael Keaton
  • Award in the category best film music for Antonio Sánchez
  • Nomination in the category Best Director for Alejandro González Iñárritu
  • Nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Edward Norton
  • Nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Emma Stone
  • Nomination in the category Best Original Screenplay for Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris junior & Armando Bó
  • Nomination in the Best Cinematography category for Emmanuel Lubezki
  • Nomination for Best Film Editing for Douglas Crise & Stephen Mirrione
  • Nomination for Best Production Design for George DeTitta Junior, Kevin Thompson & Stephen H. Carter
Screen Actors Guild Award
Further

Web links

Commons : Birdman (film)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Birdman  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for Birdman or (The Unexpected Power of Cluelessness) . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , November 2014 (PDF; test number: 148 401 K).
  2. ↑ Age designation for Birdman or (The Unexpected Power of Cluelessness) . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Alejandro González Iñárritu: Birdman (or the unexpected power of ignorance). In: filmstarts.de. January 29, 2015, accessed February 26, 2015 .
  4. ↑ By Hanna Flint: Batman's hair ... won't return: Michael Keaton reveals his thinning pate on set of new film Birdman. In: dailymail.co.uk. April 2, 2013, accessed February 26, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Los Angeles Times: In 'Birdman,' Broadway's St. James Theater plays itself. In: latimes.com. November 10, 2014, accessed February 26, 2015 .
  6. ↑ By Kristopher Tapley: Is 'Birdman' a one-shot 'magic trick' that could win Chivo Lubezki his second Oscar in a row? In: hitfix.com. June 21, 2014, accessed February 26, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Birdman: “Completely one shot? Don't even try it ”. In: creativescreenwriting.com. November 26, 2014, accessed February 26, 2015 .
  8. ^ A b Ian Haydn Smith: Birdman (2014) . In: Steven Jay Schneider, Ian Haydn Smith (Eds.): 1001 Movies You Should See Before Life Is Over . Selected and presented by 77 international film critics. Twelfth, updated edition. Edition Olms, Oetwil am See 2017, ISBN 978-3-283-01243-4 (American English: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die . New York 2015. Translated by Ueberle-Pfaff, Maja).
  9. ↑ Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 'Birdman' to Feature Music by Antonio Sanchez. In: filmmusicreporter.com. Retrieved February 26, 2015 .
  10. ↑ 'Birdman' soundtrack details. In: filmmusicreporter.com. September 18, 2014, accessed February 26, 2015 .
  11. ↑ Human foibles give 'Birdman' its superhuman wings. In: latimes.com. August 30, 2014, accessed February 26, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Birdman at BoxOfficeMojo.com, accessed February 4, 2016
  13. ↑ a b cast and crew for "Birman or (The unexpected power of cluelessness)". Internet Movie Database , accessed June 20, 2016 .
  14. ↑ in the German dubbing index
  15. ↑ Birdman. In: rottentomatoes.com. October 17, 2014, accessed February 26, 2015 .
  16. ↑ Jamie Graham: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). In: metacritic.com. October 17, 2014, accessed February 26, 2015 .
  17. ↑ Critique of Birdman (or the unexpected power of ignorance) at epd Film , accessed on April 22, 2015
  18. ↑ Oscars 2015: These are all winners - cinema. In: tz.de. February 23, 2015, accessed February 26, 2015 .
  19. ^ Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations 2015 - Full List . In: Deadline.com . November 25, 2014. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  20. ↑ National Board of Review Announces 2014 Award Winners . In: NationalBoardofReview.org . Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  21. ↑ Satellite Awards 2014 . In: PressAcademy.com . Retrieved December 4, 2014.