Woody Allen's 1983 film, Zelig was an interesting concept for a film. In the style of a mockumentary, Woody Allen starred as a man who was a literal human chameleon, appearing in the background newsreel footage through many different periods of history as he assumed the role of the context he was in. Zelig was able to change anything about himself, including his ethnicity with almost no effort. Eventually, under the care of a world-renowned psychologist, it was discovered that Zelig suffered from an insatiable need for ultimate conformity with the goal of being universally liked. The rest of the mockumentary delved into the psychological and legal struggles of a man who could change so much about himself so effortlessly. Perhaps, Zelig suffered from my not being in the right frame of mind to take it in, or perhaps it was just so different from what I expected at that moment, or perhaps it is simply a film that begs a second viewing but I didn't love it as much as I loved many other films I've been watching throughout this Woody Allen project. Zelig uses the mockumentary style in the best way that I have ever seen, those types of films don't impact me, personally, but I can recognize that Zelig used this format well. Zelig is complete with a traditionally perfect Woody Allen opening, and plenty of trademarks of the director to make any Woody Allen fan happy. Zelig grapples with death and identity, in perhaps the deepest way I've seen yet. The film is also another in his oeuvre that uses gorgeous black and white photography. What was missed, however, was the incredible dialogue I've come to expect from Woody Allen films, which was a bit of a letdown.

Like Allen's earlier Take the Money and Run, which was one of the first ever mockumentaries, Zelig has a whimsical perspective on life. The distanced, self-serious retrospective that the faux-documentary style comes with therefore is a great match for Allen's comic sensibilities. In Zelig, he engages with the many facets of the eponymous Leonard Zelig's identity, and takes aim at even the most prominent of targets, namely the Catholic Church and Hitler's Nazi party, without ever seeming like slowing down. Of course, although the format presents itself as informative and possessing great insight, it is anything but. Zelig's conditions allows Allen the openest of conveniences to slot himself in any historical moment he pleases without the slightest hint of illogic or absurdity. Well, perhaps less the latter, but Allen is smart enough to not over-do any of his gags, or to draw too much attention to them. Sneaking into Hitler's elite seamlessly and then suddenly wondering and waving about as if he has no idea why he is there could be such an easy and tasteless joke to make, but here it is played completely straight. The narrators address the event with such concern and serious regard (even a former SS Obergruppenfuhrer grumpily recalls the scenes) and Hitler was reportedly "extremely upset". Mild, and at the same time, a hilarious image is formed. It is nothing at all like what happened in the film adaptation of the fateful meeting. Allen is particularly fond of these deconstructions within his work: see The Purple Rose of Cairo for an entire film on this treatment. Partly why this approach is so believable and successful is because of the technical lengths and achievements that went into integrating the bluescreen footage into the various archival scenes. Fervent critics of Allen might accuse his ego of taking over his films, making himself the centre stage of all the events - imagine if Allen had been as explicit as Forrest Gump. But what makes Zelig work is precisely the opposite; his knack for blending into a scenario like a chameleon renders the thin, pasty face of Allen (and there is no spotting that red hair) almost unrecognisable, and the delight is in how long we can accept a scene for what it is before we suddenly realise where he is. Long- time collaborator Gordon Willis has done a brilliant job of this - the filters, the grain, the decay of the negatives, it all looks authentic. This allows Allen to play with the format in his own way, slip in jokes that would be much less effective overtly. My favourite is the solemn voice-over concerning Zelig's overconfidence which leads him to adamantly disagree with other's opinions. The elderly Fletcher narrates this as some grave medical condition, and all the way during, we see Zelig get comedically violent with a rake with the group of doctors. The exaggerated, slapstick movements are nevertheless visible in the film grain. There is another subversion of the format; Fletcher uses hypnosis in order to draw out intensely personal confessions from the childhood of Zelig (Allen has always had an intense fascination with psychoanalysis). He drones off with the usual beginnings ("My brother beat me" "I just want to fit in") and then trails off in awkwardly hilarious monologues about cheap rabbis and the terrible quality of Fletcher's pancakes (at which point Farrow, red-faced, tries to look away into the distance even though Zelig is not even aware of her). Take the Money and Run was funny enough, but the humour was a little disjointed, and a lot of the jokes felt like leftover bits that Allen wanted to no go to waste. This, on a whole, is more sophisticated and integrated, and knows exactly how to use the mockumentary format to its advantage.

Imagine watching a badly made, dated documentary about a historical figure with no personality. Now imagine that this documentary isn't even real - the people and events you're seeing are all made-up. This begs the question: why? Oh, it's meant to be funny. However, Zelig is very immature and stupid and works far better as a depressing waste of time than as a comedy. It is full of predictable set-ups and cheap jokes.Woody Allen is a terrible actor. He is always the same in everything he does. He isn't naturally funny. Perhaps he's talented as a director or writer, but not as a performer. Nevertheless, Zelig confidently invests almost all of its focus into Woody's character with little else going on. There is no social commentary, no relevance to real world events, no deeper message. Just an indulgent mess of missed jokes.This movie starts slow and then slows down. It's one-dimensional. It uses a familiar format - a 1930s newsreel documentary thing about a mysterious man named Zelig. They interview boring old people. And they even show names for these people. Do they have funny names? Of course not. Why even bother to show their made-up names? This is torture. Every documentary ever made is worth more than this excruciatingly abysmal "movie". At least you might learn something or get a look inside another world.Zelig is a completely pointless exercise. It's an excuse for Woody Allen to dress up as different stereotypes and stare blankly, emptily at the camera. They took the time to record a bunch of fake 20s songs about a "chameleon" craze. We're shown a bunch of random stock footage from the 20s. I'm more interested in those parts. At least they're real people with real lives. At one point Zelig is under a trance and tells a joke about a Rabbi. It takes ages to set up, has nothing to do with the rest of the movie and is probably much funnier if you're familiar with Jewish stereotypes. Facepalm.I'm reminded of the huge personal disappointment that was Duck Soup. I don't find dark films or music or books "depressing". I find the likes of Duck Soup and Zelig depressing. They make me not want to watch movies. I feel empty, confused and frustrated because of them. Confounded at what on Earth the people making them were thinking. Did they actually think this would be funny or entertaining?Let me write about some good movies to heal myself a bit.Dr. Strangelove had ridiculous characters but they were played with sincerity and energy. It was a brilliant satire with great acting and lots of irony (and it's just funny). The Great Dictator openly mocked Adolf Hitler when he was at the height of his power, had beautiful physical comedy, made fun of politics in insightful ways and had an incredibly powerful speech at the end. This Is Spinal Tap made people believe in a fictional band, was full of hilarious ad- libbing, had perfect timing and was a satire of rock bands with many easy-to-miss references.Zelig is not even a decent attempt at a film that simply went awry. It's pretentious, self-absorbed, lazy film-making. A random sequence of average YouTube videos would have more laughs and more cohesion that this abomination. Absolutely one of the worst films I've ever seen.

This is a masterfully done film, presented in documentary format (though entirely fictional). Allen plays a man, Leonard Zelig, who can morph into virtually any character, depending on his immediate environment. We are treated to newsreel footage as this character achieves world prominence as a true chameleon. I was greatly intrigued by the premise, but somehow, the story wasn't terribly interesting to me. Allen needs to be complimented for his great reach. It has some hilarious moments, but also has a harsher, deeper side. I guess this is what makes Woody Allen's milieu so impressive. See it for its dynamic effort to create a great character.