Deep down we all feel the need to be validated. It’s the most basic human emotion.

Every subsequent emotion derives from the need to feel some sort of validation, that yearning – you progress in school to feel validated by the world, you marry to feel completely validated by another person.

It’s what’s at the heart of “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” a film whose plot, like all of us, is driven by one tireless force: the fear that we don’t matter.

If you’re a good actor, the stage is where you pretend to be someone else; if you’re a great actor, it’s the only place where you can be yourself.

Michael Keaton plays washed up actor Riggan Thomson, who traded away aplomb and adoration of his superhero saga “Birdman” years ago and now will do anything he can to get it back.

Interestingly enough, Keaton himself played a superhero in his early years (Batman in his case), although to bring that into the conversation would undermine what the film is able to do.

Thomson decides to direct and star in a play, an adaptation of Raymond Carver’s book series , and sees it as his sort of last hurrah to vault from obscurity.

Through a series of unfortunate events he finds himself in over his head and employs Broadway’s Golden Boy Mike Shiner (Edward Norton), who embodies every facet of a full-of-himself character actor.

Emma Stone and Naomi Watts round out a cast of morally reprehensible characters that the play’s producer, Jake (Zach Galifianakis), has to keep in check (you know you’re in trouble when the “Hangover” guy is your emotional center).

What we’re served is a satirical, behind-the-scenes look at just how emotionally unstable these actors who are tasked with portraying emotion for a living really are.

While it’s amusing to see Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu take consistent jabs at (unprofessional) film criticism and Hollywood culture as a whole, the mood of the film is much more melancholy than it seems.

Commercial as well as critical (for the most part) successes “Gone Girl” and “Interstellar” have hit theaters and blown up in recent weeks.

Their haunting draw is understandable, but you won’t find a more immersive and challenging film at the box office all year than “Birdman.” Please give it a chance.

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