Review: Will HBO docuseries ‘ALLEN v. FARROW’ finally lead to accountability?

ALLEN v. FARROW

The four-part documentary series Allen v. Farrow, from award-winning investigative filmmakers Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering and Amy Herdy, goes behind the years of sensational headlines to reveal the private story of one Hollywood’s most notorious and public scandals: the accusation of sexual abuse against Woody Allen involving Dylan, his then 7-year-old daughter with Mia Farrow; their subsequent custody trial, the revelation of Allen’s relationship with Farrow’s daughter, Soon-Yi; and the controversial aftermath in the years that followed.

There is a chilling feeling while watching this series. As a critic, I long fell into the same category as the journalists featured at the beginning of the episode. You grow up with the notion that Woodey Allen represented the quintessential essence of what New York City culture was. You’re enamored with it all. While inarguably furthering the early careers of actresses Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway, and Mia Farrow (they made 12 films during their relationship), the pattern of behavior and theme of his obsession with young women run through his scripts. Woody Allen has somehow been allowed to continue to work mostly unscathed, even after the world knew about his relationship with Farrow’s adopted daughter Soon-Yi, even after the #MeToo movement continues to rain hell down on abusers. Allegations swirled about the sexual abuse of adopted daughter Dylan. This is the first time that Dylan gets to tell her story in earnest. This doc utilized Allen’s own words against him as excerpts of him narrating his 2020 memoir play in between intimate sitdown interviews with Mia, Dylan, Ronan, family, and friends of the once power couple. Mia took endless hours of home videos for years, adding to the amount of readily available footage from the media. Finally hearing all the details from the source is brutal. It’s a visceral watch.  As a parent, it is next-level painful. Watching the cycle of emotional abuse Mia endured from one man to the next, all while unconditionally loving her children adds another complex layer to this situation. This series will undoubtedly be controversial. It will be interesting to see the apologists come out loud and proud. There’s an enormous amount of evidence to digest. You will be shocked, sickened, furious, heartbroken. All this just at the end of the first of four episodes. ALLEN v. FARROW has to potential to reopen old wounds for a lot of trauma survivors. It also has the potential to knock another man off the pedestal we’ve kept him on for far too long.

The remaining episodes of ALLEN v. FARROW will air over the next subsequent Sunday nights on HBO at 9 pm.

Sundance Hit ‘The Hunting Ground’ Release Date Moved Up

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Although I thought The Invisible War was a worthy story to tell, I felt that documentary had too much emotion in it’s presentation. I look forward to seeing The Hunting Ground to see how they deal with a topic that hits closer to home. Read More →

Jeremy’s Review: Peter Sattler’s ‘Camp X-Ray’ Captures Some Strong Performances and Nearly Delivers on Its Premise

CAMPXRAY_FINISH_27x40_1_rgbThirteen years after we first waged war in response to the September 11 attacks in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania, we are still seeing a trickling of films addressing the consequences of the invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq. While there have been some great ones, the bulk of them have been documentaries – Hornet’s Nest, Restrepo and Standard Operating Procedure come to mind, while narrative films haven’t had quite the same success, The Hurt Locker winning Best Picture in 2009 being the shining example. There hasn’t been the same connection to the plight of the soldiers in these wars as, say, those who fought in Vietnam with Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Coming Home, The Deer Hunter and Full Metal Jacket leading the critical praise. Camp X-Ray is writer/director Peter Sattler‘s entry into the post-9/11 film mix. a film that hits some high points, but ultimately doesn’t capitalize on an interesting premise. Read More →