In 1948, Alfred Hitchcock released Rope, a murder mystery with an intriguing gimmick: The film was shot in long takes that mimicked the continuous action of live theater.
In 2014, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has attempted the same high-wire act with Birdman (or, The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Actually, the Mexican director/co-writer (Biutiful) has gone his predecessor one better. While Hitchcock was forced to introduce a new shot at 20-minute intervals to coincide with the changing of reels when the film was screened, Birdman appears to have been made in one unedited take.
It wasn’t, obviously, but Inarritu’s bold attempt to carry off the illusion (with help from Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki) adds an extra measure of eccentricity to a film that already defies convention.