Hi-diddle-dee-dee, an actor's life for me..." We suspected show business people were basically a screwed-up bunch, seeking validation from audience adulation, yearning to be taken "seriously" despite success after success, trying to find "love" from person after person. But after seeing this film, who would ever want to become a Broadway performer? We see the delusional world of Riggan Thomson, a former movie super hero megastar known as Birdman, now trying to gain self-respect by producing and starring in a "serious" Broadway play. A technique used by the director is extreme close-ups of the unretouched face of each cast member, revealing blemishes and wrinkles. This is contrasted with the made-up faces they put on for the stage, especially Riggan who wears a tight-fitting hair-piece and fake facial hair for his character. Accidentally locked out of the theater prior to his big closing scene he is forced to walk, wearing only his underwear, through Times Square to the theater's front door. Such scenes are apparently not unusual in New York as no one seems bothered until they realize who he is - not the actor appearing in a thought-provoking stage drama but Birdman in the flesh. These fans want to get his autograph and have photos taken with him as he struggles to return to his new world. Ultimately, he cannot find a place in this world and mentally and emotionally retreats to a fantasyland where he is no longer Birdman but free to fly without the burdens that have plagued him for so long.
