3) Birdman
In a year that saw many redemptive stories, no production achieved the technical beauty that Alejandro González Iñárritu’s satirical Hollywood drama did. Birdman stars Michael Keaton as a washed-up actor who threw away a life of superhero stardom for a theatrical career that meant something more – finding nothing but hardship, vile critics, and a deteriorating mental state clouded by rivaling definitions of success.
Edward Norton shines in a supporting role that’s nothing but a brutish bad-boy type, too cynical to be contained by mere mortals, but it’s Iñárritu’s directorial eye that steals the show. The entire film is edited together as one super-long cut, exemplified by the camera waiting for characters despite empty rooms.
Birdman soars above the competition thanks to Keaton’s trashing of blockbuster mentalities and shallow celebrity cultures, but the film’s inherent darkness is spun with an energetic cleverness that builds a world of emotion, entertainment and strange hopefulness (depending on your interpretation).