Due to a number of reasons, ‘Dirking about’ time has been hard to find over the past couple of weeks. There are number of posts in the pipeline, when I get round to writing them, but to ‘put you on’ I thought I would share this a little gem from EMPIRE magazine.

To coincide with the release of DECONSTRUCTING HARRY (1997) they ran an interview and feature article. The wounds from the Mia Farrow custody battle are still open in the interview. Many saw the embittered writer Harry Block as a his Woody’s sweary response to his detractors, and EMPIRE, being EMPIRE, enjoyed this spin. In their review they say:

“his 24th comedy is his most nakedly self-confessional yet. Unnervingly, its both hilariously funny and quite disturbing, with Allen’s neurosis and fixations manifested in some shocking ugliness and intimately personal revelations  we’d rather not have seen confirmed.”

In coming weeks, I will be reviewing some of the biographies of Woody and will make the point that these straight-forward analysis between the films and the man are a trap. Writers of this era struggle to see Woody beyond the prism of the child-abuse accusations and the Soon-yi affair.

The interview does contain some interesting snippets, including his lack of interest in the burgeoning internet:

“I couldn’t even tell you exactly what it is. I have no flair for anything mechanical or electronic … I hear the phrase all the time and I have my imagination of what it is – or at least half of what it is – but beyond that I have no connection with it. Sometimes I think I must find out what this all about, but I never carry through with it.”

I suspect if he was asked the same question in 2013, he’d give the same answer.

The accompanying graphic is the most interesting aspect of the feature. Eventually, EMPIRE would be dominated by these graphical flights of fancy, but by the mid-nineties they were merely an interesting diversion. They have provided a cut-out and keep flow chart to explore the world of Woody. I’ll leave you to get lost until I come back with something more substantial.

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• Woody’s Top is now open! (yha.org.uk)
• Woody Allen’s 10 Most Underrated Movies (flavorwire.com)
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