Cassandra's Dream Review

"Cassandra's Dream" reviews

Movie

Cassandra's Dream

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2008-09-04 22:06:55

Rating

1.5/5

Provider

CinemaSource

Review

Cassandra's Dream may be darker Woody Allen territory, but it's just as familiar--and just as mismatched with the distinctive cast.

Story

Woody Allen's neurotic-speak works wonders coming from a New Yorker, but coming from a Brit? Not so much. The British could very well be just as phobic as anyone else, but they are also repressed, and trying to force the neurosis out just doesn't ring as true. Nevertheless, Allen is bound and determined to film abroad these days and thus once again sets Cassandra's Dream in contemporary London, where we meet two brothers struggling to better their lives financially. The more blue-collar Terry (Colin Farrell) has a gambling problem and is in debt up to his eyeballs, while enterprising Ian (Ewan McGregor) dreams of leaving his family's restaurant and moving to California with his newfound love Angela (Hayley Atwell), an ambitious actress. Their only hope is their wealthy uncle, Howard (Tom Wilkinson), but the boys quickly find out you can't get something for nothing. You see, Uncle Howard is also in a bit of trouble, and he asks his nephews to help him out of his jam--with sinister consequences.

Acting

First of all, Farrell and McGregor look about as related as a dog and cat. Secondly, they don't seem at ease in the film, partly because their characters are anxious, but also partly because they don't mesh as well with Woody Allen's sensibilities. Farrell fares a bit better since his natural Irish tendencies towards emotional outbursts fit the character well. His Terry is the one with the conscience, and murdering someone just doesn't sit well with him. McGregor, on the other hand, plays Ian almost robotically, saying the words with as little emotion as possible, which doesn't do Allen's dialogue any justice. Wilkinson falls under the same category as McGregor, but his character is the one most morally challenged, so playing it cold sort of works. The women in Cassandra's Dream are fairly wasted, including newcomer Atwell as the manipulative actress and Sally Hawkins as Terry's sweet and concerned girlfriend. Even the boys' mother, played by veteran stage actress Clare Higgins (The Golden Compass), comes off screechy. The cast must have all been thrilled to be in a Woody Allen movie, to be sure, but it just seems like Allen didn't get them.

Direction

Cassandra's Dream suffers from some of the same hang-ups as Match Point. Even though many heralded that 2005 movie as Woody Allen's return, the film had the same problems, namely the ill-fitting British cast. At least Match Point had an American, Scarlett Johansson, whom Allen could pour all his tried-and-true fixations into--the paranoia, the obsessiveness and the ultimatums. But Cassandra's Dream really proves that as a filmmaker, Allen has become a stick-in-the-mud. He really hasn't changed his tune in 25 years, exploring the same themes over and over again, and it's finally getting old. When his films turn dark, it's usually about how murder can corrupt the soul. Natch. Sometimes the murderers, however bothered they are by their deeds, get away with it; sometimes they don't. But rarely does Allen veer from this path, making Cassandra's Dream a now very stale rehash of Crimes and Misdemeanors, without the benefit of having, at the very least, some good old-fashioned Allen-styled, American-acted neurosis to back it up.

Bottom Line

Hollywood.com rated this film 1 1/2 stars.

Copyright © CinemaSource 2008.

Movie

Cassandra's Dream

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2008-05-19 12:34:08

Provider

MRIB

Review

Woody Allen has another stab at the London scene. This time two brothers are caught up in a family issue that could spiral out of control.

Brothers Ian and Terry (Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell) are eager to change their lives for the better. Ian has his eye on hotel investments so he can escape running the family restaurant, whilst inveterate gambler and mechanic Terry is having a streak of luck that could allow him and his girlfriend (Sally Hawkins) to get their own house. After Terry meets a beautiful, but potentially high-maintenance, actress and Terry gets in over his head at the card table, an opportunity presents itself via a family relative that could solve all their problems. But, as with several past Allen plots, sinister and sometimes dubious entanglements complicate everyone's plans.

As with 2005's Match Point, Allen portrays a sunny London, filled with refined half-empty bars and leafy streets (someone needs to show him more of London than Notting Hill, Hampstead and Hammersmith). Thankfully the story has the power to prevail over his rose-tinted view of London - it's one of his finest for some considerable time. It's thrilling, simple yet convoluted with a tragi-comic make-up that echoes the kind of sophisticated writing evident in previous Allen works such as Hannah And Her Sisters, September, Crimes and Misdemeanours and Husbands and Wives. At its core is a brilliant, constant undercurrent of tension and unease - thanks to one actor.

The surprise is that actor is Colin Farrell, not Ewan McGregor. Despite failing to hide his Irish brogue at times, Farrell's portrayal of Terry is powerful, dominating, intense and exhaustive. He single-handedly lifts proceedings way beyond being 'another Woody Allen movie'. If anything stays with you after seeing this it will be your sympathy for Terry and nervous ticks acquired due to Farrell's superb acting.

It's not all good, however, as several points conspired to peg the film back from the Woody Allen excellence of old, namely: 1. McGregor's grating accent and stagey, hammy performance makes him a totally unbelievable presence and his character one you wouldn't grow tired of slapping. 2. Sally Hawkins is criminally underused; And (3) with her bleached hair and vacant expression is evidently an attempt by Allen to replace his then unavailable current muse, Scarlett Johansson. 4. We've already touched on the look of the piece, but the jigsaw collection of locations that he gets away with would have New Yorkers running screaming from the cinema if he tried it in his home town. 5. Haley Atwell's insipid character (Why can't Allen make his females three-dimensional anymore?) And finally 6. The timeslip set used for the brothers' parents' home is straight out of a 1970's ITV situation comedy.

All those faults and weaknesses could make Cassandra's Dream a bit of a nightmare. However, their relative incidental nature next to the strong script, a wonderful Tom Wilkinson cameo, but most of all Farrell's performance, means it's merely a restless night out. And, along with a shocking 3rd act, that should hopefully still be recommendation enough for a Woody Allen film.

Copyright © MRIB 2008.