'Birdman' truly deserves Picture of the Year
- limetoblue
- Mar 2, 2015
- 2 min read
I should’ve written this before the annual event took place but anyway, I am a proud #TeamBirdman. I was, and still am, tremendously happy to know that 'Birdman' is now officially Picture of the Year.
First thing first, when 'Boyhood' won Golden Globe for Best Picture in Drama Category, most of my friends (and probably including the world) would think the same thing; that Boyhood would achieve the same in The Oscars.
Nope. It didn’t. 'Birdman' won.
Well, a long production process with a wonderful and on point choices of songs as soundtracks are not enough to make a movie win the title of ‘Movie of the Year’ compared to one unique, creative, out of the box, weird and insane movie that would left hanging and playing over and over in everyone’s mind after watching it. Was it based on Michael Keaton’s life? How did the camera work that way? How did they make it looks like one-shots and every actor gave a great performance without mistakes? The answer is here.
Three things I notice as the reason why, in my opinion, 'Birdman' is truly this year’s movie are, first, the camera movement. They didn’t give us a chance to take a breath, to take a snack, or like “Wait, can I go to the toilet?” (except if you pause the movie). You’d realise the camera didn’t blink, it kept rolling, and it almost seemed like everybody were doing one-shots. Then I imagine, if one actor made a mistake, would they restart the whole process from the very beginning, since it looked like they’re doing it in one-shot? The setting was in a theater, it was about an actor in a theater production, and they made it in a theatrical way. You can feel the cut scene in other movie, but in this one, you’ll feel like they’re doing it from the beginning, in a clear sequence like a theater.
And then the acting. Each one of them gave a great performance. I love each and everyone’s monologue, especially Edward Norton and Emma Stone. They are wonderful and powerful and believable, of course.
And last, did you notice the music? It was mostly on percussion and composed by Antonio Sánchez. Although it didn’t make it to Best Original Score nominations, Antonio Sánchez did a great job with it. It set the rhythm of the movie. It was unexpected. Also, I love how they’re playing with diegetic and non-diegetic sound. One moment you only listened to the music as background and the next moment, there he was, the drummer was playing it in the background. I love it!
In the end, 'Birdman' deserves the title. Great acting, great technique, great choices of sound for scoring. It is wicked cool!
'Birdman' is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, starring Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts. Cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki and music by Antonio Sánchez.
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