To celebrate our tenth anniversary, we asked Film Streams staff and board members to pick their top ten from the more than 1,600 films that illuminated the screens of the Ruth Sokolof Theater during its first decade. What emerged was a series that champions some of the finest independent and foreign films released in the last ten years.
BIRDMAN is a expertly crafted film designed to appear as if it is all one long take, no cuts or edits. This approach heightens the tedium of the Broadway world it depicts, and becomes a powerful tool during the film’s surreal final scenes.
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu spoke to Indiewire about the film’s cinematography and the collaborative process while making the film, “[The film] was always conceived [as a long take] since the script was written. The idea was born with this type of skin. Then it was just a matter of executing it on paper, which was difficult, and then again in the film […] In the script stage, [fellow directors Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro] gave some notes. When you have a fresh point of view that comes from the right side of the heart, it’s just so valuable. You can take it or not take it, but just that perspective can give you a lot of strength or make you reflect on a lot of things […] In this case, they saw BIRDMAN as it was, because there was really no cut, but when I showed it to them a long time ago, they were really blown away. Guillermo never drinks but after he saw it he said, ‘I need a drink.’ And he got so drunk because he was so shocked and so moved by the film. I had never seen him like that. They were the first that I showed the film to, and it was very early and green and were very supportive.”
