Zelig

A charming mockumentary about a fictional 1920s personality filmed as if cobbled together from old black-and-white footage.

Leonard Zelig is a "human chameleon," but Zelig the film doesn't stop at mimicry. Indeed, this fictional documentary written, directed, and starring Woody Allen differentiates between imitation and parody the same way Hitchcock differentiated between action and suspense.

For example, the protagonist's parents used to punish him by locking him in a dark closet. If that were it, the film would simply be copying an aspect of Ingmar Bergman's childhood; Allen's genius lies in adding that when Zelig's parents are really mad, they "get into the closet with him."

Zelig's targets go beyond the filmmaker's family, and include the press (in those days, you'd do anything to sell papers. To get a story, you'd jazz it up, exaggerate, even maybe pl...