Hello all, Mad Dashiell here, thanks for joining me in my review of Netflix's The Great Beyond, fully titled-
"Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond - With a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton"
THE GREAT BEYOND- may have meant many different things to Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe, but to Jim Carrey, it defined Andy Kauffman. Miloš Forman, legendary god filmmaker, what else does anyone need to say besides ONE FLEW OVER A CUCKOO'S NEST and AMADEUS. In 1999 he wowed us all again with his intimate biopic of Andy Kaufman's life, MAN ON THE MOON. It was a masterful piece of film as one would come to expect from Forman's work but audiences witnessed something bigger happen. The ridiculous spaz that America was fastly coming to love/pay big bucks at the box office, was no longer present on the big screen. It wasn't just a good impression either, it felt like it was so much more. We witnessed Jim Carrey channel the being, the force that was both Andy Kaufman and Tony Clifton in all their detestable, lovable glory. He was so into the character he wouldn't even respond to being called Jim anymore. During the filming of MAN ON THE MOON Jim did not know what was real or not real half the time. In this documentary we see a grizzled Jim Carry reflecting in a mixture a fondness and sadness on the events surrounding the film and 100 hours of footage shot on and off the set. The behind the scenes footage that was shot by Andy's former girlfriend, Lynne Margulies and a former writing partner, Bob Zmuda captures 4 months worth of work. This behind the scenes footage eerily documents the transformation into Kaufman and the effects it had on everyone working on the film as well as Andy's family members. Some of the most touching moments in the documentary were Andys family actually connected with Jim/Andy sharing tender moments connecting with their lost son. Jim starts fighting back tears while recounting the time Andys daughter, the daughter Andy never met came to share the only father-daughter talk she will ever have with "Jim/Andy". The mad antics of "Jim's" Tony Clifton romping the studios, the trailers, all the way to the Playboy mansion is about as priceless as it get's. His Kaufmaneske performance starts bleeding into tonight-shows and he recounts his agent attempting to wrangle him back from destroying his career. It's easy to see why the footage was hidden for 18 years so Jim wouldn't have ruined his acting career. You see the pain on Miloš Forman's face in every scene and though he is living a nightmare, he knows he is working with pure alchemical acting gold. Speaking of gold, Jim was awarded the Golden Globe and received critical acclaim for his channeling, but that wasn't all he brought home. He had stepped out of the driver seat of who he was for so long that when it was time to go back to his life, he saw it now with a new perspective. No longer the excited comedian with a fresh story of manifesting his 10 million dollar check. He was now after something greater, he was now a man on a spiritual journey.
"Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond - With a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton"- A remarkable documentary! Intimate, remarkable, and bewildering. The Great Beyond is a fantastic voyage you can find now on Netflix! -Mad Dashiell
Thank you for joining me, time to swim back to shore.
