Birdman

From one interesting bit of trivia on IMDB, I take it that if King Duncan were a much-loved broadway actor, and Macbeth an action hero longing to be king of broadway, and Lady Macbeth a giant imaginary bird barking orders in Macbeth's ear, and the witches a cruel critic with the ability to foretell a prophecy, and Banquo a producer with the potential to lose everything at the hands of his best friend, well, then you'd have Birdman.  Instead of cutting a man from knave to chop to get the real action rolling, he drops a stage light on his head.  Riggan fears he's "a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more."

But that might be a bit of a stretch.

It speaks volumes that hours after getting home from the show, all I care about - still - is the review they got from that nasty critic.  This movie owned me.  Long shots through hallways that take us to later times in the action force us to stay with Keaton's Riggan at every step.  The acting was fantastic.  Edward Norton had me so worried that he'd do something stupid to ruin everything!  He was a perfect asshole.

Why do I care so much that Riggan left that napkin behind?

The style was reminiscent of another favourite movie, Synecdoche, New York.  Things are a little weird, and we have to just go with it.  The music was perfect for this feat - at times chaotic and anxious, at other times a soaring theme takes us up with Riggan.  I love that characters would randomly walk past the musician as he played the background score.

For the record, I don't think we ever find out what the review said.  There was only one significant cut in the film, and then some fantasy sequences with Spiderman dancing on stage, with huge jellyfish in the ocean, and with a perfect life where the most important thing is having a daughter who looks up to her father.

Easily an A+

K-W Charlie Awards for Student Films

Some bragging rights here:

My son and his classmates won first place at this year's Charlie Awards!   At 43 years, it's the longest running student awards festival in Canada.  It's not as popular as it once was, so I've offered to help build it back up to its former glory by next April.

Here's the film, Deep.  He edited out a few minutes for the Charlie's max 10 minute criteria, but I can only find the original:


Deep from William Snyder on Vimeo.

And the second place winner was this really cool claymation - but with sound (which I can't find):


Game Gramps from Burke Horst on Vimeo.

Burke added sound for the Charlies, but it was originally without sound for a youth video competition that requires a totally silent film under 3 minutes.  Burke won along with my kid, who submitted this one:


Time from William Snyder on Vimeo.

And now we're waiting to hear on a mental health video competition.  So far there are 140 competitors.  Will submitted this one:


As for the round, but forgive my likely bias on these ones!