It tells the story of Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton, nominated for best actor): an actor who was famous twenty years ago for playing Birdman, a comic book superhero in a movie franchise. After the huge success of the movies, Riggan can’t free himself from the role, since the audience would only think of him as Birdman. As the years went by, he fell into oblivion (a.k.a. Keaton’s relationship with Batman). Now he’s trying to make a comeback by directing, writing, starring in and co-producing a play on Broadway.

During rehearsals, he loses the actor who would play the supporting role, which forces his co-producer (Zach Galifianakis) to call the famous actor Mike Shiner (Edward Norton, great and nominated for best actor in a supporting role), who is a brilliant actor but turns out to have a drinking problem. Mike also shows interest in Riggan’s drug addict daughter Sam (Emma Stone, nominated for best actress in a supporting role). The stage is set, then, for a lot of tension among them, including the rest of the cast, since the play will soon be opened to the public.

The plot may seem simple and, per se, not that attractive. But the movie is extremely provocative and different. It is shot in long takes (which makes me wonder how hard it must have been for the actors not to screw up those long dialogues) and it doesn’t really have a soundtrack. It’s basically frenetic drums that keep playing though it all, which only rises the tension to the audience. Also, throughout the movie, we can hear a voice in Riggan’s mind, affecting his actions and decisions. So, who is this voice that keeps following him around? Don’t we all have that voice inside us, sometimes pushing us down, sometimes lifting us up?

Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, who is nominated for best director (and who probably will unfairly lose to Richard Linklater – Boyhood), “Birdman” was an excellent surprise and one of those movies that leaves you thinking about what matters in your life and to face the consequences of your choices in life.