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Overlooked & Underrated Docs & Features
(click on broll or dschwartz for all his posts)
Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond Chris Smith’s “Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond—Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton” is two documentaries in one: An interview with actor/mystic Jim Carrey juxtaposed with utterly fascinating archival footage of legendary comedian Andy Kaufman and Carrey’s portrayal of him in Milos Forman’s biopic “Man on the Moon”.
Kaufman was the master of non sequitur—eating a bowl of chocolate ice cream on stage, wrestling with women, taking the entire sold-out Carnegie Hall audience out for milk and cookies at the conclusion of his April, 1979 performance, etc.
Through his interview and the archival clips, Carrey speaks of and shows how he fought for the Kaufman role, got it, and his time on set—in character. However, since Kaufman had a few alter egos, staying in character meant Carrey also becoming those alter egos one of whom is rude, crude lounge singer Tony Clifton. Carrey’s performance of Clifton on and around set—along with other shenanigans—caused considerable mayhem for Forman and company. My acting friend told me this was an extreme example of ‘Method Acting.’ Whatever the word is, I found Carrey’s behavior utterly fascinating, as I did Kaufman’s.
‘Fascinating’ is the one word I use to describe seeing Netflix’s “Jim and Andy”. I’ve never seen anything like it, and probably will never see such again—except, of course, for watching the film with friends who don’t have Netflix.