If you know anything about Allen's films, you'll already be aware that many of them mirror actual
events that occur in his life. Relationships, career issues, scandals,
and his love of art -- they are all fodder for his fiction.
Unfortunately, those that know Allen personally will see more than just Allen
within the framework of his films; they also will see themselves. As a
result, the real-life people in Allen's life sometimes take umbrage to being
used in his writing in such a thinly-veiled fashion, and though the names and
specifics may change, they feel a bit violated about being written about, even
if indirectly.
Allen stars as bestselling author, Harry Block, who is suffering from writing
block of his own when certain people in his life have complained that they are
sick of him writing about them, and it is causing problems in their personal
lives from those who recognize them in the fictional works. On the cusp
of receiving an award for his body of work from his alma mater, Block is
visited and revisited by the many characters in his life, both real and their
fictional counterparts, pointing out his inadequacies and giving him even more
anxiety about his many vices.
While I think that Deconstructing Harry is another
ingeniously-conceived film by Allen, I wonder how much enjoyment it will hold
for viewers
who are largely unfamiliar with his other films and books, and also his
personal life. It's not the first film where he thumbs his nose at the
critics, detractors, and acquaintances that have dogged him over the years
about his work (Stardust Memories is
perhaps his most deliberate), but it may be his most incisive, cutting right
into the very core of his personal life as an artist and a man. Just as it is difficult for
many to distinguish between Allen's fictional yarns and the reality of his
personal life that he liberally mines ideas from, so it is in this film, where
the characters come to life and interact with him in a way that makes them
almost interchangeable with the people that inspired their creation.
Different actors and actresses play the basic archetypes at various times in
the film, each representing a particular character in a book written by Block.
It can be confusing to keep up with the characters at first, but once you
realize the basic premise, it does become more readily apparent who is being
depicted in
each particular scene.
Ironically, even the "real-life" characters of the film just become one more
set of fictional characters that have been regurgitated for yet another one of
Allen's works. This speaks to a story told within the film about a man
who brutally murders his own family and eats them, mirroring the creative
process that Block (or Allen) is going through, and the tribulations he is
currently facing. He is figuratively doing harm to his family, friends,
ex-wives, and associates, using them over and over in his works in a manner
that could metaphorically be called cannibalism.
With Deconstructing Harry, Allen is blessed with a very strong cast of
celebrities and actors, who deliver quite well in their respective roles.
Allen's direction is a bit more stagnant than is his usual custom, perhaps
trying to keep with the experimental vibe of the film, with many scenes
performed in one take, or if in multiple takes, spliced together in a manner
that resembles jump-cuts that appear as if something may have been truncated
or excised altogether in the editing phase. It's quite possible
that with so many big-name stars in the film on tight schedules, Allen didn't
have the normal amount of time to set up scenes and didn't have as much
footage to choose from in the editing phase, which caused a more hurried
approach to the shoots and amount of film to choose from.
Allen does up the amount of strong language and sexual references in the film
well above his usual quotient, which some viewers may find a bit jarring,
particularly because it feels more like a forced effort to be more
contemporary. It can be argued that Allen intentionally made Harry a
vulgar and weak-willed man, mirroring how he was being portrayed in the media,
but that he should still be honored as an artist, if not as a human being -- a
theme which Harry touches upon himself during a key moment of reflection in
the film where he discusses functioning better in art than he does in life.
Along with sexual references and some nudity, it may be Allen's strongest
R-rated film, and wisely, he ditched this effort to be funny through higher
vulgarity after -- it doesn't really suit him.
Deconstructing Harry represents Allen at his most neurotic, which
generally translates to his most inspired. While the casual viewer may
find it more difficult to relate to than other works by the prolific creator,
if you know Allen's body of work well, it is a treat for the mind on his
opinions regarding the creative process he undergoes, and the ramifications
that speaking from personal experience creates. While it is sloppier and choppier than your
typical Allen-directed film, from an ideas standpoint, it is one of his
freshest. It is a sharp, funny film about how one man's reality has
effected his fiction, and conversely, how his fiction's popularity has
affected his reality
