Year 1998. Milos Forman hired Jim Carrey to play the extraordinary comedian and comedian Andy Kaufman in his biopic Man on the moon. Then begins one of the craziest shoots in history, where the actor and his role become one: Jim Carrey literally becomes Andy Kaufman, until remaining in his character even outside the scenes. Jim & Andy, directed by Chris Smith, retraces the extraordinary journey of this shoot, accompanied by a sincere and touching Jim Carrey. A month after the death of Milos Forman, let's take a look back at the Netflix documentary of the most spectacular film of his career.
A brilliant meeting between two extraordinary beings
The first thing that captivates us when we watch Man on the moon is the perfect resemblance between Jim and Andy, as if these two souls had met somewhere else, on another planet. This link, invisible but obvious, Jim maintains throughout the shooting, so that the fiction then becomes reality and vice versa. To better understand this documentary, we must take the word "extraordinary" in the first sense of the word: for the duration of the shooting, Jim was not there, there was only Andy and, in a fabulous mise en abyme, Tony Clifton. And if you want a taste of this great performance, I advise you to watch the video of Jim Carrey's audition for the role, available here.
The most extraordinary common point between the two men is surely all the reflection they have carried out about their own role, about the place of the comic in society, about their place in a world where they are considered so different. In a passage that is both touching and enlightening about his life as an actor, Jim Carrey evokes his desire to free the public from his worries; And this desire to make comedy to heal others gives meaning to many of his films.
"I'm going to seem like the guy without worry."
Finally, as Jim & Andy progresses, the staging of the documentary fades to better leave room for the two actors, who already take a lot, and gives the impression that the most interesting film did not happen in front of the camera but behind the sets.
A fascinating reflection on identity
Through all these answers of today's Jim Carrey to the camera and this mise en abyme of bodies and characters, a question comes to haunt the minds of the two actors: the question of identity, both in front of and behind the spotlight. We are told of a certain protection of the actor, who himself reverses reality in such a way that we no longer know what is a role and what is no longer a role.
When Jim plays Andy, he is freer to talk about himself, resulting in touching statements full of sincerity; But it is all the distance taken by the actor today that gives this documentary all its strength and depth. Jim Carrey looks back on his entire career, in enlightening statements. Who is the Jim Carrey the public knows? Who is the comedian Jim Carrey wanted to be? Who is Jim Carrey? So many questions that the actor tries to answer, in a reflection on himself and his profession. But is there even one answer to all these questions…
Like a real show orchestrated by Andy Kaufman himself, Jim & Andy traces the crossed destinies of these extraordinary characters, and these incredible humans behind the masks. An essential documentary to better understand the genius of these two extraordinary actors, to watch on Netflix.
