admittedly a one-joke film. Zelig, the human chameleon, transforms physically and psychologically to blend in with whoever surrounds him, a nullity seeking completion through mimicry. the joke is explained early and literally, and then the film spends eighty minutes spinning variations on it. and yet it is such a well-executed joke. the camera trickery remains remarkable, Zelig inserted seamlessly into actual newsreel footage beside Herbert Hoover, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mustache man, crowds at historic events. but there is not enough meat on the bones. the film flirts with deeper waters, Farrow's doctor abandoning the life she imagined for herself, a subtler manifestation of the same condition, then abandons it and moves on. what is here is entirely on the surface.
admittedly a one-joke film. Zelig, the human chameleon, transforms physically and psychologically to blend in with whoever surrounds him, a nullity seeking completion through mimicry. the joke is explained early and literally, and then the film spends eighty minutes spinning variations on it. and yet it is such a well-executed joke. the camera trickery remains remarkable, Zelig inserted seamlessly into actual newsreel footage beside Herbert Hoover, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mustache man, crowds at historic events. but there is not enough meat on the bones. the film flirts with deeper waters, Farrow's doctor abandoning the life she imagined for herself, a subtler manifestation of the same condition, then abandons it and moves on. what is here is entirely on the surface.
