Birdman

This dramatically riveting film is full of original drum music written and performed by Antonio Sanchez. The drums sound like that of a seasoned house band and pick up or come down, matching every moment and emotion he feels. The drums are also used as a tool to bring us in and out of his reality. We go from listening to the music as if it's in his head to it being real in the streets as he passes by- once earlier in the film by a street performer and then later with the marching band, as he walks in his underwear, frantically trying to get back to the theater. The bigger, fuller classical pieces are used in his bigger, more dramatic moments. For example, towards the end of the movie when the "birdman," his alternate voice in his head has taken physical shape in his reality, he goes through a mental journey that helps him get back to the state of mind he needed to be in to complete his play. As he soars, literally, through and over the streets of New York on the way to the theater for his first, and highly anticipated performance on broadway, the amazing graphics are accompanied by "Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 II Allegro molto" by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Its a whimsical, hope filled piece, which is perfect as he prepares mentally for his performance. As soon as he enters the theater after he lands, the drums come back in, and we skip ahead to listen in on the audience members at intermission as they rave about the first act. As he walks to the stage for his last scene, we see the street drummer from earlier in a storage room, playing the drums in his head. Because this is a relatively new movie, I won't go on to ruin the gorgeous, masterful last couple of scenes... but I will convey how confused I am that I went from my heart beating out of my chest, to feeling like I wanted to cry, to chuckling a bit, to being confused but satisfied by the more than interesting ending.