Rent Zelig (1983)

Lying Like a Documentary, Telling the Truth - Zelig review by griggs

As soon as I started reading it as an immigrant-outsider story — someone so desperate to fit in he’ll literally turn into whoever’s closest — everything made more sense. The history mash-up, the fake media snippets, the period attitudes… it stops feeling like a clever party trick and starts feeling properly pointed, and a bit sad.

The spoof newsreels are the obvious fun, but my favourite bits are the “period experts” calmly explaining total nonsense like it’s established fact. And it doesn’t dodge the era’s uglier stuff either; it bakes in the period’s cosy prejudices, so the laughs come with a sting.

It’s classic Woody Allen: self-deprecation, hypochondria, and social anxiety dressed up as a documentary prank. You can feel its influence on modern satire in the straight-faced authority and documentary texture. It’s hard not to think of The Day Today, Brass Eye, and all the later stuff that learned to lie convincingly in order to tell the truth. Best of all, it sensibly calls time before the trick wears thin, and leaves you amused, unsettled, and oddly moved.

a neglected gem - Zelig review by CP Customer

this film doesnt often get mentoined in the discussution of woody allens films, which is a shame because its one of his best. the of a human cameleon in depression era america is rendered in a mockumentary style. therefore allens usual persona and obsessions are kept at bay here allowing a more gentle humour to shine through. along with broadway danny rose this is one of woodys most purely pleasurable films.rent it and give this film the attention it so richly deserves.

Funny gimmick. - Zelig review by Steve

 Slight but clever experiment from Woody Allen and his technical crew- particular credit is due to cinematographer Gordon Willis- about a man who seeks to conform so completely that he actually takes on the physical characteristics of whoever is close him. It's a comedy which makes observations on celebrity and the dangers of wholesale public compliance

Leonard Zelig (Allen) becomes briefly famous as the chameleon man, a novelty of the roaring twenties. Mia Farrow is the psychiatrist who seeks to restore his individuality. Eventually the story takes a darker turn when his desire for anonymity among the acquiescent masses attracts him to Nazi Germany in the '30s.

 It feels like an extended sketch. There is a dusting of successful gags, but this is more philosophical than hilarious.. It really scores with the visual effects. Woody and Mia are inserted into old photographs and newsreel of famous figures like F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Randolph Hurst. New scenes of psychoanalysis are aged to blend into the historical b&w footage.

The scene where Zelig spots his analyst in the crowd at Munich while on the stage with Adolf Hitler, is stunning. No digital technology back then. As a bonus there are a handful of songs about Zelig recorded in the swing style of the jazz age, composed by Dick Hyman. My favourite: Doin' the Chameleon.