Slideshow
ZELIG
U.S., 1982
Directed by Woody Allen
With Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Patrick Horgan
Approx. 79 mins. 35mm.
“Using spoof and real newsreel footage, deadpan modern-day talking-head interviews and some tremendous special effects that hold up triumphantly in this digital age, the movie tells the story of Leonard Zelig, the little 1920s Jewish guy with a "chameleon disorder" enabling him to resemble anyone in whose company he finds himself. Mia Farrow plays the sympathetic psychiatrist with whom he falls in love. Zelig becomes a popular celebrity-phenomenon, who becomes a villain and is then redeemed with some Lindberghian derring-do, piloting a plane to beat the Nazis. The interpretations of Zelig are playfully, pre-emptively rehearsed in the film itself: he is the assimilated Jew, he is melting-pot America, he is all of us, trying desperately hard to fit in.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Reviews
“The picture is thoroughly charming. It’s quick and deft and it races along. I admired the delicate care with which it was made.”
– Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
“The comedy tends to the smirk-inducing rather than the laugh-out-loud, and the second half wanders somewhat, but ZELIG is a strong contender for Allen's most fascinating film.”
– Tom Huddleston, Time Out