Birdman (2014)

I have been watching a lot of crazy on film this week, and this is the latest installment.  Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, a former action hero portrayer of Birdman who is now attempting to gain a modicum or respectability by writing and  performing a play on Broadway based on a Raymond Chandler story.  If you watched Robert Altman's exhaustive film 'Short Cuts', you know how painful Chandler's work can be, and the play within the movie is no exception.  Then there is the story outside the play but within the movie, which could easily be another Chandler movie.

What is unusual is that Birdman does appear to have some super powers.  Is it real, or is it fantasy?  There is no way to tell.  What we do know is that he is challenged in his everyday relationships with pretty much everyone, but in particular his daughter and his co-star in the play, acted by the equally intense Edward Norton.  Norton gives a gigantic push back to Keaton's character, and creates believable tension within the movie.  It is like watching a man on a high wire, which holds your attention mostly because you are worried he is going to fall off.  Well acted but painful.  It is also an homage to the long shot, which if you are a film buff, makes this a must see for that alone.