{"id":15143,"date":"2017-01-12T14:37:37","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T19:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=15143"},"modified":"2017-03-17T03:18:58","modified_gmt":"2017-03-17T07:18:58","slug":"br-zelig-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=15143","title":{"rendered":"BR: Zelig (1983)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Zelig_BR\"Film<\/strong>:\u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>:\u00a0Good<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0July 26, 2016<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Mockumentary \/ Comedy<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0faux documentray on ‘the human chameleon’ and his development to a person with his own identity and personality.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Isolated Mono Music Track \/ Theatrical Trailer \/\u00a0<\/span>8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a> and www.twilighttimemovies.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Woody Allen\u2019s Zelig<\/strong> drew plenty of attention for its bravura visual effects in which fictional Leonard Zelig (Allen, of course) and others were seamlessly blended with real newsreel and archival film footage, creative a perfect mockumentary that feels like some previously lost, one-time, feature-length Fox Movietone production that was initially aborted and later completed decades after the footage was discovered in some dank vault holding RKO oddities.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also kind of a miracle Zelig<\/strong> found an audience, because it\u2019s a nearly unquantifiable film: you can\u2019t describe it without spoiling its unique twists, hence this warning: what follows are blatant spoilers.<\/p>\n

SPOILERS GALORE<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Orion\u2019s original trailer reveals nothing except the different fonts that show \u201cZelig\u201d in different guises, which cleverly hint at Allen\u2019s weirdest creation.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, Leonard Zelig is a human chameleon, a man who has little sense of self, no self-confidence, and survives by absorbing mood, words, physical comportment, and actual speech and physical attributes of whoever fascinates him. Unlike idiot Forest Gump, Zelig has no personality, but when chatting with an African American, his skin darkens and hair curls; with an indigenous American, similar changes occur, as with other racial caricatures of cinema from that time period. If he\u2019s interviewed by a doctor, he quickly becomes \u2018 doctor,\u2019 and carries on like a professional of equal stature\u2026 until one day he\u2019s caught, documented, and branded by the media as the human chameleon.<\/p>\n

Zelig\u2019s popularity spawns a lizard dance and a novelty song, plus a cornucopia of trinkets and unlicensed crap which force him to disappear until one day he\u2019s spotted standing beside the Pope, and unmasked as a fake. When he\u2019s back in the U.S., Zelig\u2019s case is championed by renegade shrink Dr. Fletcher (Mia Farrow), and the two eventually become romantically involved \u2013 but not until she discovers what triggers Zelig\u2019s chameleon abilities.<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s script is incredibly tight, and like a formal documentary, moves from mystery to examination, conflicts to peace, and a resolution where all is finally well \u2013 except the interludes are sometimes surreal or insane. Perhaps the most infamous moment has Zelig seated behind Adolf Hitler at a party rally \u2013 an hysterical sequence extracted from a \u2018vintage\u2019 German newsreel in which \u2018that swine\u2019 is chased from the rally hall to the airfield.<\/p>\n

Interwoven are \u2018interviews\u2019 with surviving present day figures who met \/ knew \/ loved Zelig, and expert writers, historians and sociologists (including genuines Susan Sontag, Saul Bellow, and Bruno Bettelheim) who add faux credibility to the recreated vintage footage of Zelig, as his own identity comes into its own after meeting Dr. Fletcher. Dick Hyman\u2019s score flows through period songs and original pieces to evoke archival sounds of Zelig\u2019s early years during Prohibition, and Gordon Willis\u2019 cinematography evokes grainy newsreels, Fletcher\u2019s \u2018hidden camera\u2019 footage, and colour contemporary \u2018interviews\u2019 that resemble economically lit 16mm colour film.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

END OF SPOILERS<\/p>\n

The film would\u2019ve succeeded without its innovative technical wizardry, but it enhances a mockumentary that frequently winks at audiences, and perhaps gives fans some of the absurdity missing in Stardust Memories<\/strong>; when Zelig gets a needle, it\u2019s HUGE, and when he\u2019s sitting behind Hitler, he\u2019s a bumpkin completely oblivious to being at the epicenter of anti-Semitic hate.<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s portrayal of Zelig is faithful to the smiling, homey, perplexed figures seen in period newsreels, often reacting on-camera to suggestions or prods from off-screen producers wanting some energy to keep audiences excited; in terms of matching the look, feel, and infotainment content of the era, it\u2019s quite remarkable.<\/p>\n

Contemporary audiences will be able to see a few of the seams in the technical magic, but in terms of the newsreel recreations, the visual and aural granularity between fake and real is almost seamless. They\u2019ll also appreciate the tightness of the faux doc, which doesn\u2019t sag, meander, nor unmask itself. Allen\u2019s winks to audiences are subtle and fleeting, and just as we start to accept the film\u2019s fictional content, along comes a figure like Bruno Bettelheim to redirect us back to Leonard Zelig, the forgotten human chameleon.<\/p>\n

Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray sports a perfect transfer and Dick Hyman\u2019s score isolated in mono on a separate track. Also included is a German dub track. Julia Kirgo\u2019s essay is lively, celebrating the film\u2019s creative and technical virtues, and the cinematic love affair enacted by Allen and Farrow which feels genuine and warm, but today is at odds with the wholly divided power couple of American comedy after their public disputes and allegations.<\/p>\n

Woody Allen films released by Twilight Time include Love and Death<\/a><\/strong> (1975), Interiors\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>(1978), Stardust Memories<\/a><\/strong> (1980),\u00a0Zelig\u00a0<\/strong>(1983), Broadway Danny Rose<\/a><\/strong> (1983), The Purple Rose of Cairo<\/a><\/strong> (1985), Radio Days<\/a><\/strong>(1987), and Crimes and Misdemeanors<\/a><\/strong>(1989), and the Allen starring in the Red Menace satire The Front<\/a> <\/strong>(1976).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2016 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a> —\u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Woody Allen\u2019s Zelig drew plenty of attention for its bravura visual effects in which fictional Leonard Zelig (Allen, of course) and others were seamlessly blended with real newsreel and archival film footage, creative a perfect mockumentary that feels like some previously lost, one-time, feature-length Fox Movietone production that was initially aborted and later completed decades after the footage was discovered in some dank vault holding RKO oddities…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[1038,4885,2784,4886],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3Wf","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15143"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15595,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15143\/revisions\/15595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}