Being an ardent cinema lover one gets to see a variety of movies ranging from bad to below average and mediocre to great, worth watching ones at times. But very rarely you get to see a film which can easily be described as unimaginable yet entertaining or highly weird yet interesting with something fresh, innovative and truly original in its concept to offer.
ZELIG is certainly one of those exceptional movies talking about an impossible yet compelling script which probably would appeal to everyone looking for something novel to watch for a change. However to make it clear, the film is not any project to learn from, considering its out of the box content, storyline or characters. But still it has got a lot to convey in terms of ‘guts to do something original’ and ‘the art to execute it with perfection’ in such a way that the viewer starts thinking that perhaps this is made on a true identity which did exist anywhere in the past in any particular country.
Coming from one of the most inventive and prolific film-maker Woody Allen, ZELIG is actually referred to be a ‘mockumentary’, which can be defined as a fake or fictional documentary made on something which was never there at all. So conceived in a pure docu-feature format it tell the viewer about the life of a human chameleon known as Leonard Zelig, who is a man with the ability to look, behave & act like anyone around him (for a considerate period of time) in an unbelievable manner. For instance, with a fat person he tends to become fat (physically), with a long haired tribal he starts looking like a tribal only and with an old man having a dark complexion he starts appearing exactly like him in just few hours and that is the reason they start calling him A Human Chameleon, in the media. Due to this creepy characteristic, Zelig fast becomes a famous celebrity in the 1920s and then a lady doctor starts treating him leading to a new, loving relationship between the two.
Based on a purely original concept, it’s a film which could have been made by director Woody Allen alone and only he could have played the title role too with such a strange or silly kind of humour so confidently. However its not just the concept but the perfect cinematography, intelligent soundtrack and the clever costume designing of the film which forces you to accept it as a sheer work of genius and nothing less than that without any doubt. The mockumentary has an extremely astonishing editing (graphics) inserting Zelig into the real newsreel footage of the past, making him stand with many known historical figures. And it is quite hard to believe that this was all done in the time when Computer Graphics (CGI) was still a thing of the future in the early 80s which eventually made the film win the Best Cinematography & Best Costume Design Oscars in the Academy Awards of 1984.
Hence though this might turn out to be a completely weird, strange and motiveless film for many, ZELIG still remains a true masterpiece in cinematic terms with a unique, unbelievable kind of subject matter turning it into an astounding artistic work of a creative genius, simply not to be missed.
Written & Directed By Woody Allen
Starring : Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Patrick Horgan and more.
Tags :
Zelig (1983), Movies To See Before You Die Comedy, Mockumentary, Must Watch Films List by Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, Not To Be Missed Films List By Bobby Sing, Worth Watching Films List by Bobby Sing, First Mockumentary in mainstream cinema.
