Birdman

A few days ago we got around to watching a film called 'Birdman', which must have been somewhere near the bottom of our pile of DVD's for some time, as I have no recollection of either buying or watching it. As it turned out, a touch high brow for the sort of charity shops that I usually patronise, so probably a chance pick-me-up from Computer Exchange, a place where I have picked up many DVD treasures at fire-sale prices. See reference 1.

The blog archive has no recollection either, with the only birdman it knows about being the one at reference 3. Quite different.

Not only a touch high brow but also a luvvies film, in the sense that it is about a chap who found fame and fortune in California by playing an avian version of Batman but now wanted more, in the form of the esteem of high brow New York. Esteem which he hoped to buy - he was sinking what was left of his Californian fortune into the venture - by putting on a high brow adaptation of a short story by Raymond Carver. As it turns out, a real famous writer of short stories, one who had bought into the once fashionable theory that all real artists were into booze, fags and all the rest of it. He died of lung cancer at the age of 50, lucky that the booze had not killed him years before that.

A neat twist in that the lead, Michael Keaton, really did do a stint as Batman. He did well and was ably supported by Edward Norton, with the two on them being snapped above.

The theatre in which the play was being put on seemed very large backstage, with a regular labyrinth of shabby rooms connected by shabby corridors. Very big for what one might have thought was supposed to be a budget operation.

A touch of magic realism in that the lead indulged in a spot of flying above the streets of New York, in a Batman like pose but without the costume.

Some humour and a great deal of loud and coarse language. I have found in the past that professional males in the US can be surprisingly (and rather childishly) coarse when they have taken a few drinks - while here, I dare say they needed a bit of it for effect, for realism - but I could have done with a good deal less.

We got through it in two shifts, with a day off in between. Language apart, an effective film and I dare say we will watch it again after a suitable interval. Perhaps a few months.

PS 1: I dare say there is a lot more to playing Batman than might at first appear. Looking good in a Batman suit is probably not as easy. One needs to be able to move well and to have a good voice.

PS 2: I associate to Sean Connery who did well dressed up as James Bond, but who never, to my mind recovered from it. I found him rather irritating in films in which I saw him subsequently. And I dare say he once aspired to the esteem of high brow New York.

Reference 1: https://uk.webuy.com/. I had a quick peek at their online selection called 'World Films', where there was a lot of martial arts but little that attracted. I dare say we can wait until their shop in Epsom opens again.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdman_(film).

Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.com/2016/09/birdman.html.