Man On The Moon

Reviewed by: Suad Bejtovic, Bosnian Movie Critic

Directed by: Milos Forman

Starring: Jim Carrey, Courtney Love, Danny De Vito

Sudeci po glasanju citalaca ove stranice, vijest o novom filmu Jima Carreya dosla je i do bosanske publike. Nije ni cudo, jer je Carrey jedna od rijetkih holivudskih zvijezda koje imaju snazan medjunarodni uticaj. Ko zna, mozda su se svi oni stupidni filmovi u kojima se kreveljio i pravio face isplatili. No, s druge strane, isti ti filmovi su ga zauvijek pokopali u ocima glasaca za vazne nagrade, pa ga je prosle godine zaobisao zasluzeni Oscar za "Truman Show".

Ostaje mu stoga samo da se nada da ce njegova uloga u filmu "Man On The Moon" privuci paznju Akademije. Kriticari se vec slazu da je ova uloga mnogo bolja od samog filma, iako stari lisac Forman odavno nema sta da dokazuje. Carrey u ovom filmu igra Andyja Kaufmana, kontroverznog americkog komicara, koji nikad nikom nije dozvolio da ga naziva komicarem. Kaufman je bio na granici izmedju genija i ludaka, te je cesce svrstavan medju one druge. Cak ni njegov agent George Shapiro, kojeg u filmu igra Danny de Vito, nije poznavao "pravog" Andyja, mozda zato sto pravi Andy nije ni postojao. Andy je uvijek bio neki drugi lik – Foreign Man, blesavi stranac sa smijesnim akcentom; Tony Clifton, ofucani zabavljac iz zadimljenih lasvegaskih klubova ili neko treci, ili neko cetvrti. Na jednom nastupu bi imitirao Elvisa, na drugom citao "Velikog Gatsbyja" od korica do korica. Jedno vrijeme je bio i clan ekipe televizijske emisije Saturday Night Live, ali ga je ubrzo publika nadglasala i primorala da napusti emisiju. U neprekidnom nastojanju da sokira svoju publiku, Andy je poceo seriju hrvackih meceva sa zenama koje je smatrao "nizim bicima". Doduse, to nije bas precizno kazati, jer je cijelu galamu oko hrvanja Andy smatrao svojom predstavom, za koju je zaposljavao i najnevjerovatnije saveznike. Njegova nepredvidljivost je postala toliko predvidljiva, da mu niko nije vjerovao kada je svojim prijateljima otkrio da ima rak na plucima. "Ti nikad nisi povukao ni dima", rekao mu je Shapiro. No, ovaj put, Andy je govorio istinu. Umro je ubrzo nakon 35-og rodjendana.

Carrey je rodjen na isti dan kao i Andy Kaufman i u ovom filmu prihvata sve njegove likove kao svoje. Uloga potpuno odgovara njegovim transformacijama, pa Carrey s lakocom podnosi teret filma na svojim ledjima. Forman vodi film svojom sigurnom rukom i stvara atmosferu suosjecanja sa vjecno neshvacenim Kaufmanom. Nevolja ovog filma je u tome sto je ipak potrebno osnovno znanje Kaufmanove biografije za potpuno pracenje. Ako ne znate nista o Kaufmanu, nece vam nista reci ni cinjenica da je film radjen po istinitim dogadjajima. No, cak iako znate, sasvim je moguce da vam se pravi Kaufman nije ni svidjao, ili barem da niste razumjeli njegov iscaseni humor. Ja sam prvi priznao da bi me pravi Kaufman vrlo vjerovatno nervirao, pa ne mogu biti licemjer pa reci da bih ga razumio sada nakon gledanja ovog filma. Forman je sigurno bio svjestan takvih reakcija, ali ipak nije uspio napraviti film univerzalnim. "Man On the Moon" je vrlo blizu formanovske kritike modernog potrosackog drustva, ali mu ipak nedostaje nesto da stane rame uz rame sa "Kukavicjim gnijezdom", "Kosom" ili "Larryjem Flyntom".

Jim Carrey is one of those Hollywood stars who have an extremely strong international appeal, mainly because of the success of all those movies where he twists his face in ridiculous grimaces and generally makes a fool out of himself. On the other hand, those same movies buried him forever in the oblivion of the voters for important awards, which is why he did not receive a well-deserved Oscar for The Truman Show.

And even though his leading role in Man On The Moon was hailed by many as much better than the movie, he still did not get the attention of the Academy he was hoping for. In a movie directed by a veteran director Milos Forman, who doesn't have much to prove for some time now, Carrey plays Andy Kaufman, controversial American comedian, who never let anyone call him a comedian. On the border between a genius and a madman, Kaufman was often classified as the latter. Even his agent, George Shapiro, played by Danny deVito, didn't know "the real Andy", maybe because, as Andy offers in the movie, the real Andy did not exist. Andy was always a different character - The Foreign Man, with a funny accent; Tony Clifton, sleazy entertainer from the lounges of Las Vegas, or someone third or someone fourth. On one appearance, he would impersonate Elvis, and on another, he would read The Great Gatsby, from one end to the other. For a while, he was a member of Saturday Night Live, but the unforgiving audience voted him out, forcing him to leave. In the never ending efforts to shock his audience, Andy started having wrestling matches with women, who he thought to be almost a lower species. The whole hype around the wrestling, of course, was only Andy's show, for which he employed the most unpredictable allies. His unpredictability became so predictable, that nobody believed his announcement that he suffers from a lung cancer. Shapiro even says, "You never had a single smoke". But this time, Andy told the truth. He was dead soon after his 35th birthday.

Carrey shares a birthday with Andy Kaufman and in this movie, he accepts all Andy's characters as his own. The role is perfect playground for his ability of transformation, so Carrey carries the load of the film firmly on his shoulders. From insane happiness of his Carnegie Hall performance, to the ironic disappointment of the Far East pseudo-medical clinic, Carrey is always Kaufman, whoever that is. Forman guides the movie with his steady hand and creates an atmosphere with a never understood genius. The trouble of the movie is that it is still necessary to have the basic knowledge about Kaufman's biography. If you don't know anything about him, the fact that the movie is based upon a true story won't mean much to you. But if you do know of him, it is quite possible that you didn't like him, that you didn't understand his wacky sense of humor, that you may even voted him out of SNL. I admitted immediately that I would more than likely be initially annoyed with Kaufman, so I cannot be a hypocrit and say that I would have understood him now, after the movie. Forman was aware of all that, but managed to make the movie as universal as possible. Man On The Moon is very close to Formanesque criticism of the modern media-bound society, but there is still something missing for it to be compared to One Flew Over The Cookoo's Nest , Hair and People vs. Larry Flynt.