10 Best Films About Writer's Block
Sometimes, writers just have to work out their own demons.
The common wisdom has always been "write what you know." Yet readers often complain when some authors take it literally – when main characters are writers facing mid-life crises or other problems. In literature, no one is more guilty of this than Stephen King, whose worst works (books he's even since decried) feature alcoholic writers – which, throughout the 80s, he was. King claims he was so hooked on narcotics, legal and otherwise, he has no recollection of writing Cujo.
In film, author characters are often easier to get away with, as their actual work rarely needs to be heard nor seen, merely their presumed success or failure.
A "writer" is a common non-job for characters in a movie – much like an architect or marketing executive. They serve as an excuse for a character to own a house and live a life, but have little impact on the plot. However, they can serve as the very crux of the story - films about frustration or lack of drive or unexcised ambition and potential. Here are some of the very best.
10. Deconstructing Harry
Woody Allen's late 90's work can generously be described as spotty. In this 1997 film, the director/actor plays Harry Block, a successful author about to be honoured at a University from which he was once expelled while working on a semi-autobiographical novel. Worse, he is suffering from his namesake while trying to distract a distressed, suicidal ex with a brand new story - a kind of neurotic Sherherezad.
Along the way, segments of Block's fiction serve as flashbacks along a roadtrip with a prostitute and his son. These vignettes also blend in with his own reality, serving as semi-autobiographical examinations of his own damaged psyche. By the end of Harry's own personal dilemma, he's literally slid out of focus, overtaken by a blurry image.
A few segments are late-period Allen's best work, like Robin William's out-of-focus actor and Billy Crystal's Satan. It's one of Allen's more open-ended comedies, and surprisingly personal for such a prolific writer. Yet the question still lingers: can one who functions so well in art manage to do so in their personal life?
Ask Ronan Farrow.