"I know him as well as I can know him. But who do you know, Even when they're right in front of you?"
If you’re like me and you love Andy Kaufman, you love Jim
Carrey and you love the flawed but still very impressive 1999 film in which the
latter plays the former, ‘Man on the Moon’ then there should be an instant
interest in this latest documentary from Netflix. Beyond that, it’s even
directed by Chris Smith, director of ‘American Movie’ which is also utterly
fantastic and something I’d recommend to anyone interested in filmmaking.
During the production of the 1999 film ‘Man on the Moon’
documented Jim Carrey’s transformation and performance as the late comedian
Andy Kaufman was documented as an intended behind the scenes featurette. Until
recently the footage has been kept under wraps, but has now been reassembled.
With a modern day Carrey reviewing and looking back upon the experience, we
witness this fascinating examination of actor and subject.
Jim Carrey is hardly the first actor to adopt this method approach
of fully immersing himself within a role to an almost insane degree. In fact it
seems every year we get crazy stories like Daniel Day Lewis insisting upon
staying in character for the entirety of production or whatever Jared Leto is
doing to get attention. But I think it’s never been as well documented or as thoroughly
examined as it has in ‘Jim and Andy’. It’s an insightful, shocking and
sometimes deeply poignant look at the way an actor can so easily become lost in
their own craft and lose sight of their own identity, particularly in the case
of portraying Andy Kaufman, a man famed for never defining where the act ended
and the person began.
The documentary opens with a brief recollection of how
Kaufman and Carrey each started their careers. Both of them defied conventional
comedy practises by instead of simply telling jokes or monologues, embraced the
sheer uniqueness and outright bizarreness of their own personalities. Not only
does this establish a clear commonality between the two, but it’s abundantly
clear how Kaufman was a major influence on Carrey. They each represent the height
of individuality within comedy, not only in how they executed their stylings
but also how they were completely embraced for it.
This also helps to add context to what follows, because in
1998 Carrey was unquestionably one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. He
had a clearly established personality to his friends and fans so his subsequent
descent into embodying Kaufman is all the more disconcerting. It was an embodiment
that he maintained throughout the production of ‘Man on the Moon’ both when the
cameras were on and off. He adopted Kaufman’s eccentric personality and love of
practical jokes, gradually pushing the cast and crew to breaking point.
At times the footage actually takes on a frightening
realness. Carrey seems so utterly invested in his character that you can
clearly see the people around him struggling to cope. There is a sense of
unease in how they address and speak to him, acutely aware that they are not
talking to “Jim” as they know him anymore. In fact quite often they address him
as “Andy”, giving him information that he says he will “pass onto Jim, wherever
he is”. There’s also a good chronicling to development to those reactions. Initially
Carrey’s co-stars are elated by his transformation but as his onset antics
grind them down they shift towards a more unnerved reaction not just out of frustration
but genuine concern for how deeply Carrey immersed himself into the identity of
a dead man.
The documentary is also keen to point out the irony of
Carrey never dropping the act, as “never dropping the act” could be the perfect
way to describe Kaufman’s own life. Kaufman was so utterly committed to his own
routine that he blurred the lines between where his on stage persona began and
ended. In fact as a biopic ‘Man on the Moon’ doesn’t do a great job of
deconstructing Kaufman as a person, but how can a story do that when said
person was an ever churning machine of mystery and intrigue. To this day
rumours are still circulating that Kaufman’s death from cancer at age 35 was
part of some grand hoax on the comedian’s part.
But amid all of the insanity and questioning, there are numerous
moments of genuine poignancy throughout ‘Jim and Andy’. Carrey was able to meet
Kaufman’s family whilst still in character, including Kaufman’s own daughter
who had never had the chance to meet her father. It’s a truly surreal concept
and to then see Carrey recounting the crisis of identity he had when he had to
come out of the character is another thing entirely. He remarks upon how he had
taken the act as far as it could go, and now that it was over he found himself
questioning who he was, and who any of us were.
Hilarious at times but equally unnerving at others, ‘Jim and
Andy’ is a fascinating deconstruction of two uniquely talented people who never
even met.
Result: 8/10
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