Friday, September 04, 2009

Doin' The Chameleon

"I wish I could be Leonard Zelig, the changing man, and be different people. And maybe someday my wishes will come true."

Woody Allen's Zelig was the 'original' contemporary mockumentary - the story of an ordinary man who could change his appearance to that of the people around him in an effort to simply fit in. Watch the opening again HERE and enjoy when films could also be movies, and an adult comedy didn't rely on juvenile hi jinx. Leonard Zelig = Friday Fun.



Because it makes me smile.

5 comments:

Corey said...

Watched it on Bravo the other night (and a 100 times on DVD). A work of art. The man is a comic genius. A film god. (which he would probably have issue with)

Juniper said...

... and yet his personal life is so icky.... taints the films for me just a bit.

DMc said...

And therein lies the poison of our age.

How many potential leaders will we miss out on because their backgrounds are not perfect?

Shakespeare was a bad husband; does it make his plays less good?

Art is art and the person is the person. Maybe it's human nature to conflate the two, but in our age where there are no secrets and their are cameras anywhere, we set up for an impossible future -- where only the perfect among us can be studied or admired, and the act of studying or admiring them will inevitably bring them down.

So this then is how discourse and society dies, not with a bang, but with a stunning lack of "there but for the grace of God..."

wcdixon said...

Wow. Denis goes deep.

I understand Juniper's position though...there was a short period of time when I was 'Ick' and 'Eww' about Allen's personal life, but never found it tainting my love for his work (yet with Michael Jackson, exact opposite reaction...turn it off, turn it off now!). Now, Allen's earlier indescretions don't even cross my mind...comedic storytelling genius won out. Interesting.

jimhenshaw said...

How long do you figure before you're back to moon-walking?