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'Harry a Pezzi' is written, directed, and acted by Woody Allen. Year of production 1997. Original title "Deconstructing Harry". The cast is extremely rich. Supporting the tangled and successful comedy are, in no particular order, Demi Moore, Amy Irving, Robin Williams, Stanley Tucci, Judy Davis, Mariel Hemingway, Billy Crystal, Kirstie Alley, Elisabeth Shue, Eric Bogosian, Jennifer Garner, Bob Balaban, Tobey Maguire.
The film is about a writer, Harry Block (Allen), who is in a complete mental block and uses real episodes from his life to flesh out the plots of his books, thus ending up exposing, albeit with fake names, the real characters. The story revolves around this writer who is to receive an honor from the university where he did NOT complete his studies. He is accompanied by his son (whom he kidnaps), a friend (who will die), and a drug-addicted prostitute (whom he pays). The journey is bizarre and full of unforeseen events culminating in a final police raid, intent on discovering a corpse in the writer's car, recovering the kidnapped son from his guardian, and arresting the prostitute in possession of marijuana. He will be bailed out of jail by the newlyweds Billy Crystal (former friend) and Elisabeth Shue (former fan and lover) to whom he will not give his blessing!
The film borders between dreams, imaginary and reality. The writer in question writes about himself and perceives his reflection through the filter of his stories. The name Harry Block (block) strongly characterizes the character (hence the strong cinematic reference to Bergman and "Wild Strawberries" where the protagonist Isaak (ice) Borg (castle) is a cold soul living in an isolated castle). The film is very rich, in terms of ideas and how they are put into practice. It is dynamic, has a fast pace, but at the same time dissipates these energies, especially from the sudden jumps between reality and fiction, from real life to fantastic. The editing is fragmented and discontinuous: neurotic characters equal neurotic editing. The film is not autobiographical at all. If anything, the character and the director are connected by feelings (obsessions and neuroses), but there is no relation with issues of kidnapping or encounters with prostitutes (nor possible writer's blocks).
The content dictates the form: the story is told effectively and the editing enhances the dramatic part of the comedy. The language is unusually brazen and vulgar compared to the usual Allen films. The narration is free (as when Harry suddenly finds himself face-to-face with fantasy characters and interacts with them). Interesting the Allenian vision of hell: in his story, the devil kidnaps the beloved from the character (in real life Billy Crystal takes away Elisabeth Shue from him). We find Harry interacting with the devil Crystal, descending into the underworld (where among others he will find his father) to recover his beloved. Hell is like a cave full of desperate damned chained to the wall and punishing devils, and amidst fumes, groans, and laments, a sour and marching jazz can be heard.
The ending is moving and sees Harry meeting all his fictional characters who celebrate him with applause. He reciprocates and declares his love in return: art as a metaphor for a lifeline. Allen finds art a useless social phenomenon: according to him, the value of art lies in entertainment and an artist cannot contribute to social changes in a significant way. Positive is the choice to close the film with Harry starting to write a new novel and writing "we all know the same truth: our life consists of how we choose to distort it".
It closes as in Manhattan, where the character reflects on the joys and possibilities of life. The artist continues his work.
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