One of the most acclaimed movies of 2014 is Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and with good reason. The film follows Riggan Thomson, played by Michael Keaton, who is a former movie star who played superhero Birdman for three movies in the 1990s. Thomson is a shadow of his former self and is no longer a movie star. He has a broken relationship with both his daughter and ex-wife played by Emma Stone and Amy Ryan respectively. In an an attempt to prove he is not a talentless hack he decides to write, direct, and star in a Broadway show.

This is where the movie starts, Thomson is trying to make a last minute replacement for an actor he believes is incompetent. After going over lines with method actor Mike Shiner, played brilliantly by Edward Norton, he immediately hires him to take the part just one day before the first preview of the show, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”.

When that day comes Shiner decides to drink real liquor on stage and makes a scene and we start to see Thomson unravel. Keaton plays a very believable character struggling with self-doubt.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, a Mexican filmmaker best known for his films 21 grams and Babel, wrote and directed the film. His films often explore the cruel world and the imperfect people that reside in it, Birdman is no different. What is different is the cinematography. The entire film is made to look as if it were shot in one single shot.

If you went to the theater expecting to see a caped superhero you may be disappointed. And if you thought it would be some sort of social commentary on comic-book movies you’d be disappointed as well. It does, however, have some elements of social commentary on the world of Broadway vs. the world of Hollywood. Birdman only makes a few appearances as a character that haunts the actor and acts as a sort of anti-conscience.