Birdman

This was a fascinating film.
First of all, the film appears to be filmed in real time which makes the special effects all the more impressive. Everything is done in long shot, which makes the acting even more brilliant. If there are any edits, they are so seamless I couldn't tell they existed.
Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) used to be a famous actor, playing the title superhero character, Birdman, but now his career is in the toilet though he is trying in vain to revive it. He has a play by a personal hero, Raymond Carver. He has rewritten it for the stage, directing the adaptation and is even starring in it. However, the other guy in the play needs to be replaced and is, with Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) who is excellent, but being on stage is normal for him, which means that he is not normal. He can act, but takes everything on stage too seriously, even going as far as attempting to have sex with his girlfriend, Lesley (Naomi Watts) on stage. Naturally, she is furious.
Riggan's personal life is also in turmoil. His daughter, Sam (Emma Stone) has only recently been released from rehab. Riggan hasn't been a bad father, just an absent one who alternated between extreme praise and abandonment. She's now his assistant though Lesley is not a fan. He is also having a relationship with the other leading lady, Laura (Andrea Riseborough) who wishes she was pregnant with his child, though her body has other ideas.
There is also Jake (Zach Galifianakis), Riggan's lawyer, who is worried about money all the time.
Riggan also has his own personal demons, included a voice in his head, something which his ex-wfie (Amy Ryan) wants to forget his said. He doesn't like technology, hasn't adopted to the times as his daughter blatantly tells him. He hates twitter and doesn't have a facebook, so it is his own fault that he's invisible, forgotten.
Though the film revolves around Riggan, the supporting characters also shine, including some great scenes between Norton and Stone, who get together even though he's afraid he won't be able to please her sexually. Watts and Riseborough are also great, though who knows if anything will happen after their incident.
The last character that matters is the elderly play critic, Tabitha (Lindsay Duncan) who promises to drown his play because she hates that his Hollywood-type can take over Broadway. The problem is, she hasn't seen it yet. But she can't wrap her head around how artistic Hollywood can be.
Now, I won't give away the ending, though I predicted about halfway through that it would have a Black Swan-type ending but you can be the judge of that.
This may have been a brilliant film, and it was, with realistic sets, actually filmed on location, something you don't see that often, this film was not perfect. Laura deserved more screen time, that relationship should have been explored a little more. And some screens toward the ending are just odd, especially when he flies. But the acting is great, with realistic characters and it helped that the close camera angles gave the audience the chance to see every emotion sketched across their face. This film will be showing up at award shows later this season, and I hope that more than just Keaton get nominated. This is certainly Stone's best work in her expansive, young career and Norton is a revelation. Keaton is also excellent as the man slowly going mad but trying to keep it together because his career depends on this. Grade: A-