BIRDMAN, director Alejandro G Inarritu's astonishing film about a washed-up Hollywood star searching for relevance and redemption on the Broadway stage, opens with a drum riff, an inscription from short story writer Raymond Carver's tombstone, and a comet streaking through the night sky. Then it gets down to business.
The sight of Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) clad only in his underwear while levitating in the lotus position above his dressing-room floor will cause viewers to be intrigued and possibly...