Day 179: Deconstructing Harry

5190Q1J1FJLAs if the cast of Everyone Says I Love You wasn’t big enough, Deconstructing Harry raises the bar even higher – at least in body count.

The cast for Deconstructing Harry reads like a Who’s Who of Hollywood:

Caroline Aaron
Kirstie Alley
Bob Balaban
Billy Crystal
Judy Davis
Richard Benjamin
Eric Bogosian
Amy Irving
Julie Kavner
Eric Lloyd
Hazelle Goodman
Mariel Hemingway
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Tobey Maguire
Demi Moore
Elisabeth Shue
Stanley Tucci
Robin Wiliams

Unless all those people opted to work for peanuts, the cost for the cast, alone, must have been the entire budget of the movie.

Deconstructing Harry is about an oversexed novelist (Woody Allen) who writes – when he doesn’t have writer’s block – without conscience or guilty about the people in his life, spinning thinly veiled yarns that ruin lives.

“I still love whores,” Harry tells his shrink as they “deconstruct” his life, which is told in flashbacks and covers various relationships and/or sexual conquests he’s had over the years.

Deconstructing Harry is another caustic, foul-mouthed Continue reading

Day 176: Don’t Drink the Water

51K2CVB5NDLWoody Allen adapted this 1994 movies from his 1966 play of the same name.

Don’t Drink the Water, the 25th film Woody Allen directed, opens to voice-over narration, delivered in that sonorous, well-modulated radio-announcer (or TV news anchor – a la Ted Baxter, “The anchor man”) style, and period visuals of the Cold War, circa early 1960s.

But the narrative is convoluted, hard to follow, runs on too long, and uses too many words.

Sort of like the movie itself.

By the time Michael J. Fox appears – and he seems woefully miscast – I’m not only not hooked, I’m turned off.

Plus, Woody used hand-held cinematography again. Yuck. It totally interrupts the flow of the movie, although it appears he was going for a documentary style. So perhaps he Continue reading

Day 166: Radio Days

41E6BFRBHMLRadio Days, the 1987 movie written and directed by Woody Allen, is “one big stroll down memory lane” (my wife’s words) told through witty and poignant voice-over narration provided by Woody, and visuals of a young boy growing up in the years just before and during World War II whose constant companion is the radio.

There are many guest stars in Radio Days, some of whom appeared in previous Woody movies.

This is an interesting movie from a nostalgia perspective. But I couldn’t get wrapped up in the story.

Radio Days isn’t a bad film. It’s just not one of my favorites.

Next up: September.

Day 165: Hannah and Her Sisters

5191TZS18DLHannah and Her Sisters, the 14th film Woody Allen directed, was awarded the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

I can see why. It is a very consistent, compelling movie.

From its entry on Wikipedia:

Hannah and Her Sisters is a 1986 American comedy-drama film which tells the intertwined stories of an extended family over two years that begins and ends with a family Thanksgiving dinner. The film was written and directed by Woody Allen, who stars along with Mia Farrow as Hannah, Michael Caine as her husband, and Barbara Hershey and Dianne Wiest as her sisters.

The story is told in three main arcs, with almost all of it occurring during a 24-month period beginning and ending at Thanksgiving parties hosted by Hannah (Mia Farrow) and her husband, Elliot (Michael Caine). Hannah serves as the stalwart hub of the narrative; her own story as a successful actress (a recent success as Nora in A Doll’s House) is somewhat secondary, but most of the events of the film connect to her.

Part of the film’s structure and background is borrowed from Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander. In both films, a large theatrical family gather for three successive year’s celebrations (Thanksgiving in Allen’s film, Christmas in Bergman’s). The first of each gathering is in a time of contentment, the second in a time of trouble, and the third showing what happens after the resolution of the troubles. The sudden appearance of Mickey’s reflection behind Holly’s in the closing scene also parallels the apparition behind Alexander of the Bishop’s ghost.

An interesting exchange occurs in a segment titled “The Hypochondriac.”

The scene is with Mickey (Woody Allen), a TV writer and Ed Smythe (J.T. Walsh), a Standards & Practices representative. Gail (Julie Kavner) stands nearby, offering support for Mickey.

Mickey: Why all of a sudden is the sketch dirty?

Smythe: Child Molestation is a touchy subject with the affiliates.

Mickey: Read the papers. Half the country’s doing it.

Smythe: Yes, but you name names.

Mickey: We do not name names. We say the Pope.

Smythe: That sketch cannot go on the air.

This subject – child molestation/pedophilia – is one that recurs in Continue reading