MovieChat Forums > Black Swan (2010) Discussion > Birdman owes a lot to this film

Birdman owes a lot to this film

posted 10 years ago by yajji
6 replies | jump to latest

I'd even go as far as saying that had Black Swan not been such a roaring critical success back in 2010/11, Birdman would not have done as well. It made a film like this, with largely surreal elements, accessible to mainstream audiences.

I'd also like to comment on Black Swan's recent backlash. I'd attribute a lot of this to the fact that it's a female driven film, and that male audiences like to demean films that revolve largely around female characters. Had the centre character been a male, IMDB would be hailing it the greatest film of the 21st century. You only need to look at the Top 250 to see how testosterone-laden the tastes of film goers on this website is.

I'm looking at you, man-children voters who haven't grown out of their adolescence and are still obsessing over mindless escapist garbage Superhero flicks that have been done to death. Black Swan is a seriously dark art film, that recalls the work of greats like Polanski, Lynch and Cronenberg. It is brilliantly acted and beautifully told with utterly breathtaking cinematography.

[–] AndJustLikeThatItCame 10 years ago

And Black Swan owes even more to The Red Shoes.

[–] PreachCaleb 10 years ago

Black Swan also owes a lot to Perfect Blue.

I'm looking at you, man-children voters who haven't grown out of their adolescence and are still obsessing over mindless escapist garbage Superhero flicks that have been done to death.

Why? Why can't people enjoy both? I love Black Swan and Avengers. Why am I a man-child for liking Superhero movies?

Can't stop the signal.

[–] yajji 9 years ago

That's true. But in cinema, everything is a homage to something. I just feel as though Birdman and Black Swan came in a little too close together for the former to not be inspired or derivative of the latter.

[–] Naeblis5 9 years ago

Do you recommend Perfect Blue?

I'm a big fan of Birdman and Black Swan and would be interested in another film in the same vein.

[–] PreachCaleb 9 years ago

100% recommended.

And if you do enjoy it, check out Millennium Actress as well.

Let's be bad guys.

[–] JPLogan54 9 years ago

I agree somewhat but Birdman is WAY more humorous than Black Swan.
There is a difference too in that Birdman contrasts film and stage pretty obviously as part of it's theme where Black Swan focuses mostly only on the psychosis of one character. And BS is always focusing in so much on uncomfortable parts of the body like the toes of the dancers or the hang nail scene or her skin..... Birdman in contrast has the hallways of the theater but that is not nearly as difficult to watch as the human body parts displayed in BS.
Black Swan is a pretty depressing film where Birdman is more about redemption. At the end of Birdman you do feel like he found freedom, where as in Black Swan, even though they said over and over the White Swan finds freedom in death.... you didn't feel that way when Nina presumably dies at the end. You just felt sad for her.