Alejandro Innarritu's Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) has just made a huge splash at the Venice Film Festival, garnering nearly unanimous praise from critics, and now kicking off the Oscar race with a pretty big bang. Michael Keaton is getting career best notices, and it looks like a for sure Best Actor nomination, which would be his first ever, and the film itself is being described as a buoyant, imaginative black comedy that critiques celebrity culture in modern society. Sounds pretty amazing, and I can't wait to see it when it comes out October 17th. Birdman is going to be showing at the Telluride Film Festival this weekend, which will also screen The Imitation Game, Wild and Jon Stewart's Rosewater as the official kickoff to awards season.
"Innarritu's fifth and best feature provides the delirious coup de grace- a triumph on every level, from casting to execution, that will electrify the industry, captivate arthouse and megaplex crowds alike, send awards pundits into orbit and give fresh wings to Keaton's career." (Variety)
"Intense emotional currents and the jagged feelings of volatile actors are turned loose to raucous dramatic and darkly comedic effect in one of the most sustained examples of visually fluid tour de force cinema anyone's ever seen, all in the service of a story that examines the changing nature of celebrity and the popular regard for fame over creative achievement." (Hollywood Reporter)
"This is, in at least two senses, the role of Keaton's career. He summons up all the manic comic energy of his early work in films like 'Night Shift' and 'Beetlejuice,' but seems half-fried by it, and as the heat increases on all sides, you can almost smell him sizzling." (The Telegraph)
"It's dazzling and rambling, intimate and sprawling, and it's carried along by an infectious, off-the-cuff jazz score. As soon as it ends, you'll be dying to fly with it again." (Time Out London)
