For our 10th anniversary celebrations we are very pleased to show the film that was the standout hit of our year of formation in 2015. Birdman (subtitled The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) won four Oscars that year, including Best Film and Best Director, for
Alejandro Iñárritu. It is innovative, funny, daring, moving and at times challenging, and includes excellent performances by a host of great actors including Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts and others.

This was a ‘comeback’ role for Keaton, after some fallow years following his early successes with Beetlejuice and Batman. He plays Riggan Thomson, an actor on Broadway who is (ironically) trying to revive his career but is most famous for being a movie superhero (the Birdman of the title). Keaton is superb in the role, which clearly plays with his real life situation. His character is both neurotic and needy, and he is rather desperately trying to juggle his acting responsibilities (and desire to be seen as a serious actor) with a complicated series of relationships with fellow actors and family members. The film is also brilliantly filmed and won an Oscar and a BAFTA for its cinematography.

As well as all its awards, Birdman also gained a series of very strong reviews. In the Guardian Peter Bradsaw gave it five stars, describing it as “a delicious and delirious pleasure.” And Empire magazine also gave it five stars: “A compelling portrait of artistic angst and existential collapse, it starts as a black comedy of theatrical hubris but slowly morphs into something more affecting and poignant. It’s a tour de force not only from Michael Keaton but everyone involved, and awards will surely follow. But this is a film that neither covets or needs gongs. It is spectacularly unclassifiable.”