Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond

I understand… I *guess* I understand what he´s doing, he is wanting to be so in character. For years carefully built and maintained, a through and through purely Kaufman (un) mystification based on methodical escalated ad absurdum, Jim Kaufman and Andy Carrey are really crazy. In the admirable sense of the word and in the literal sense as well. After being with him/them on spot, you will kill him/them after one day. By far the best (not) movie about a movie you'll ever see. (24/05/2018)

Jim & Andy is not just a film about the making of Man on the Moon, but also a fascinating study of method acting taken to the extreme. Jim Carrey, whose talking head forms the basis of this documentary along with previously unreleased footage from filming, very openly talks about why it was so important for him to bring Andy Kaufman to life at that stage of his career and how the role transformed him. On the one hand, it is surprising that Miloš Forman (whom Carrey does a superb impression of, by the way) didn’t replace Carrey, who was a pain in the ass par excellence, with someone who would be easier to control. On the other hand, it’s possible that if Carrey hadn’t undergone the transformation into Kaufman/Clifton and back and thus recognised the full extent of his acting abilities, we would still know him only as a funny, rubber-faced screwball and not as a sensitive and thoughtful actor. Or rather, this is the “lesson” we should take away from the documentary, depending on which storyline it emphasises the most. Jim & Andy works best as a biopic revealing a life-changing period in Jim Carrey’s life while attempting to point out the parallels between the two comedians and the rules of movie marketing (the shots of Carrey released from handcuffs were originally made for the EPK). You may or may not believe it. Like anything associated with Kaufman/Clifton. 75% (13/12/2017)