On ego’s wings

“Birdman” is just as much a work in its own right as it is a biting commentary of the modern world. Even its subtitle, “The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance” (more on that soon), seems to defy cinematic dogma. It sounds more like a treatise on the state of filmdom rather than an actual movie, and it sort of is — but that’s not a complaint.

In “Birdman,” Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, a respected actor who was lured into making superhero movies before they became a reputable genre. But now, a quarter century later, as thespians like Robert Downey Jr. and Michael Fassbender have become lynchpins of comic book cinematic universes — yes, the movie is set in the real world, and the actors and their respective series are name-checked — Thomson has refused to accept that he’s seen as a has-been by this new generation consumed by “dark” and “gritty.”

But it’s not just the oeuvres of Marvel and DC that are cracked here. The acting profession itself is plucked of all its plumage. What is an actor, “Birdman” challenges us, if not a second-tier artist? Even the greats — Olivier, Brando, Day-Lewis — aren’t creating something new; they’re merely vessels through which “higher” artists can communicate. And even in there, there’s a hierarchy: Stage actors > film actors > TV actors.

Extrapolating that, co-writer/director Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Babel,” “21 Grams”) even turns his razor-sharp talons on (ahem) critics, who in this scenario are essentially a level or two below actors. Those who can, do; those who can’t, act; those who can’t act, critique. In its mandate to ruffle feathers, no ego is left unbruised. Touché.

But “Birdman” is not mean-spirited — in fact, it’s giddy fun, if not a little scary. At no point does the viewer have any idea what kind of film this is. A pitch-black comedy? A seriocomic? A satire? Iñárritu employs a Gilliamesque brand of magic realism that keeps the viewer in constant peril. It’s as though Iñárritu has thrown us over a ledge and hopes we evolve wings before we hit the ground.

Director of photography Emmanual Lubezki, who won the Academy Award this year for his work on “Gravity,” again revels in long, seemingly seamless camera shots. He lets the camera fly of its own accord, from roosting in the corners of dressing rooms, gliding up and down the narrow hallways of the famed St. James Theater in Manhattan, circling actors playing actors on stage, back down hallways to more dressing rooms and even flapping around the neighborhood.

It’s hard to say what exactly is the “unexpected virtue of ignorance” referenced in the film’s title. It could be Riggan’s obliviousness of the artistic depth of his vanity project, an adaptation of a Raymond Carver short story that Riggan has written, directs and stars in. Perhaps it’s his (willful?) blindness to how he’s viewed by others that’s given him the fortitude to see this project out. Or possibly it’s his incapacity to distinguish reality from fantasy, where he has telekinetic abilities and the power to fly … or does he?

But as much as it eviscerates acting, “Birdman” is, at heart, an actor’s showcase. Keaton, Emma Stone (who plays Riggan’s recovering junkie daughter) and Edward Norton (as a loose-cannon Method man) all give career-defining performances. It has been declared mindblowing, and rightfully so. “Birdman” is a film that will be talked about for years.

Now what are you waiting for — go out and see it already.

“Birdman” plays exclusively at NCG Eastwood Cinemas, 2500 Showtime Drive, Lansing Township. (517) 316-9100, ncgmovies.com/lansing.