Cassandra's Dream

by Ari

It's amazing how often Woody Allen continues to work. Here's a veteran filmmaker over 70 years-old who still manages to put out one or two movies a year. It's true that several of these movies have been lacking in quality, but at the same time it's admirable that he continues to push forward regardless of how defeating the public reaction can be. In recent years his comedies have been fairly underwhelming, but with his electrifying drama Match Point, Allen returned to serious, dramatic storytelling with undeniable force. With Cassandra's Dream, Allen continues to explore Match Point's tone and style, but he doesn't quite reach the same level of character or thematic depth. Cassandra's Dream is a straightforward thriller with some excellent performances by leads Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor, but its uneven pacing and sometimes shallow writing prevent it from greatness. It's a good film and certainly entertaining, but too forced and rushed to be compared to his classic thrillers.

The story follows two well-meaning but financially troubled middle-class brothers Terry (Farrell) and Ian (McGregor). Ian is the smarter and more collected of the two, a handsome dreamer who helps at his father's restaurant but hopes to invest in hotels. He only needs the money. After he meets an intelligent and beautiful stage actress with high ambitions, Ian looks to his Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson) for help. Terry, meanwhile, is a sweet but flawed garage worker who spends too much time gambling and eventually loses 90,000 pounds. Because of his dangerous situation, he too looks to Howard for aid.

Unfortunately for the brothers, Howard demands an enormous favor for his support. He wants Terry and Ian to kill a colleague of his who holds vital information that could send Howard to prison. It takes some time for the story to develop, with a few too many sequences of exposition and some dull moments between Ian and his new girlfriend. But once the brothers agree to knock off Howard's colleague, the film becomes tense and compelling. Ian tries to block out the immorality of the act with his absurd logic, but Terry is too grounded to easily move on. Allen does a fine job of gradually building the intensity of the characters as things spiral way out of control towards the end. It's not as powerful as Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, but Allen makes the crucial moments count.

As mentioned, Farrell and McGregor are fantastic as Terry and Ian. Farrell is the emotional center of the story, and his paranoia and internal plight is convincing and tragic. As Ian does whatever he can to forget the evil they've committed, Terry falls deeper and deeper into a state of panic. Philip Glass contributes an effective, driving score at specific moments and Vilmos Zsigmond's photography is strong but not spectacular. Cassandra's Dream isn't a classic, but it's still a worthwhile and engaging thriller.