day 14 - Deconstructing Harry

OK film fans, tonight marks the 2 week mark and it seems like a good time in our relationship to reveal something about myself. I love Woody Allen films. There, I've said it. And I won't take it back. I love his films and I'm not afraid to say so. Woody is often a polarizing figure in film and many people flat out hate him. I find there are 2 camps of Woody's detractors. In the first camp are those who find the New York Jewish pseudo-intellectualism off-putting and repetitive in his films. In the second are those who are appalled by his third wife, Soon-Yi Previn, who was not only his step-daughter with his longtime girlfriend Mia Farrow, but is also 38 years his junior.

While I can't defend the latter, it is inexcusable after all, I am prepared to voice my opinion on the former group. You guys suck and I feel sorry for you. You are missing out on one of the greatest film directors of all time. Now film is completely subjective and I understand that everyone is entitled to their own tastes. But, for just a moment let me make an overly simplistic analogy. Let's say that, for this ridiculous example only, film critics are analogous to scientists. They have, in the case of the more accredited, spent years studying film by methodically breaking them into their individual components in order to understand how they work as a whole.

If you can accept this idea for a moment, then allow me to go a step further. Scientist agree upon the basics, like gravity, without question. Then there are other theories that are still widely held, but up for discussion as new information comes to light, like the Big Bang Theory. I think you know where I'm going with this. By knowledgeable critics, he is widely held as a master of modern cinema, especially as a writer. I know this will rankle some and delight others. But honestly, that's why I'm writing this blog in the first place.

Deconstructing Harry is one of my favorite Allen films and perhaps the last of his New York canon. In a departure from from the majority of his films, especially those of the 80's and early 90's, it's vulgar and overtly funny. Allen is well known for intricate, witty dialogue but here he often goes straight for the punchline. The storyline of the film is lifted from "Wild Strawberries,'' the 1957 film by his hero, Ingmar Bergman, about an old professor who revisits scenes and memories from a long life, as he returns to his Alma Mater to be honored. Harry Block, played by Allen himself, is a famous writer in the midst of a writer's block who is to be honored by the college that expelled him. Unsurprisingly, due to the habitually degenerate use of family and friends for his own ends, both personal and professional, he has no one to go with him. Instead he makes the trip with a hooker, an acquaintance who is on the verge of death and his son, who he essentially kidnaps from school against his mother's wishes.

One of the first of a series of short stories told within the film is that of Mel (Robin Williams), an actor who suddenly is out of focus, literally. One day during a shoot everyone around him sees him only as fuzzy figure. The only solution is for his family to wear special glasses which enable them to see him clearly. As his shrink explains to him, his compulsion is for the world to adjust to the extortion he's become. Later in the film another character sums up Harry's ramblings neatly by stating, "I think the author's message is to know yourself, stop kidding yourself, accept your limitations and get on with your life."

The main theme of the film is Allen's own self-hatred, self-acceptance and an acknowledgment that he is not only as messed up as we think he is, he's been this way his entire adult life. It's an obvious response to the thrashing he was taking both in private and public over his split with Mia Farrow over his affair with her adopted daughter. But no other director before or since has put as much of himself on display. I doubt it was mere coincidence that this film was released 10 days prior to his marriage to Soon-Yi. He simultaneously asks the audience to realize that he knows he is a horrible person and to accept him for what he is. And what is he? I think the idea that breaks Harry Block out of his writing block says it all. It's about a character who's too neurotic to function in life and can only function in art.