Day 11: Zelig

Falling behind on my posts! Amazing that I have time to watch a 2 hour documentary every day but not spend 20 minutes writing about it.

For Day 11 I watched Zelig, a mocumentary by Woody Allen. It's from the 80's, and was made in the true Woody Allen fashion. By that I mean the first half is awesome and the second half is boring.

I'd heard about this movie for years and was pumped to finally watch it. I watched the trailer, loved it, and got even more pumped. But then I watched it, and every ounce of pumped-ness left my body about 3/4 of the way through it. This is EVERY Woody Allen movie- love the first half, hate the second. I don't know why I thought this one would be any different. It's not even that the second half of his movies are bad, it's just that they feel like separate movies. It's like this: first half is an original, quirky idea with fast paced dialogue and great jokes (Woody's a robot, Woody's a bank robber, etc), the second half is about him in a relationship and there's a lot of fighting. The end. What I want to know is who is in charge of his trailers, and why did they only watch the first half of the movie? The trailers never seem to mention the depressing second acts. It'd be like telling me I was gonna eat a giant bowl of ice cream, then half-way through someone switches the ice cream for hot clam chowder.

Anyway, so the movie is supposed to be about Leo Zelig, the world-renowned 'human cameleon' who can change his appearance at will based on the people around him. Put him in a room with a Scotsman, he starts to speak with a Scottish accent. Put him next to a Chinese man, his complexion begins to change and he turns Asian. Stick him next to a fat guy and Zelig inexplicably gains 100 pounds. Set in the 1920's and in all black and white, the film documents this fictional character's life as he goes from obscurity to overnight celebrity. He is flanked by scientists and psychologists who try to determine what is behind his ability to  mimic his surroundings. What's really cool is the movie is comprised of actual footage from the time period, with Allen and the other actors digitally added.

In reality, the movie is a love letter to 1920's New York City. Woody's always had a city-wide hard on for NYC, and he recently put out another movie glorifying 20's culture (Midnight in Paris). This film seemed to me to be less about Zelig and more about America's reaction to him, which required a discussion about where America was culturally. The country was experiencing a financial boon unseen in decades, and because of that culture was thriving tremendously. We were eager for any fad we could get our hands on.

What I learned: While offering little information about the 1920's, the film did provide a decent idea of what the social night life was like at the time. Using Zelig as the latest fad, Allen could explore the subtle steps an overnight sensation takes, from anonymity to universal fame to waning popularity to utter disdain over the course of a few years. While his character remains consistently unattached and disconnected to the events that surround him, the rest of the world goes through a spectrum of emotions.

What I liked: The best part is the special effects, hands down. Now keep in mind the movie's almost 30 years old, so it doesn't really stand up to Avatar or Spy Kids or any other high tech movie of today. But considering that, it's pretty impressive. The ENTIRE film is old footage from the 1920's, with Allen super-imposed into shots and background scenes. Pretty mindblowing to think this could be done way back then.

What I didn't like: Like I've said, the second half fell victim to the usual curse of Woody Allen movies. He falls in love with a woman, then they fight and think about breaking up for 45 mins. The thing I like about Allen is his neurotic tendencies; it's fun to see him overreact about small, meaningless things. It's fun to think, "man, if he's this upset about stepping in mud, I'd hate to see how he acts in a committed relationship." It's not fun to actually see how he acts in a committed relationship. It's actually depressing and kind of redundant.

Here's the trailer, which is AWESOME. Seriously, one of the best ones I think I've ever seen. Shame the movie couldn't compete with it.

The whole film can be viewed in parts on youtube.

To show I'm not a Woody-hater, watch his old standup. He's my second favorite comic after Steve Martin.