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Cassandra's Dream
Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell star as two ambitious brothers asked to commit a murder in this tale of crime and guilt from writer-director Woody Allen
Having averaged a film a year for the past 20 years, it'd be safe to call Woody Allen prolific - but this turnover isn't always matched by the quality of his movies. There've been major ups and downs since early classics such as Annie Hall and Manhattan, and it's also been a long time since his last impressive run of successes in the 1990s with films like Husbands And Wives and Bullets Over Broadway. Allen himself may have barely slowed down since, but his films have been losing audiences and struggling to make money, and some (like 2002's Hollywood Ending) haven't even received a UK release. With 2006's Match Point, he abandoned his attachment to New York and relocated his films to the UK, as well as shifting gears unexpectedly for a psychological crime thriller with echoes of The Talented Mr Ripley. The results netted him some of his best reviews in years, and after the failure of his more comic UK-shot follow-up Scoop (which again didn't reach UK cinemas), he's gone back to the crime genre with Cassandra's Dream, a story of ambition that almost acts as a companion piece to Match Point. The plot follows the fortunes of Ian (McGregor) and Terry (Farrell), two brothers with big dreams who want to escape their humdrum existences for a world of wealth and privilege. They're both good at faking an affluent lifestyle, even going so far as buying a boat (the 'Cassandra's Dream' of the title), but their plans don't go well, with Ian relying on a shaky property deal in LA and Terry suffering from a serious gambling habit. With both brothers in debt, they're in need of a helping hand, and their successful, high-flying uncle Howard (Wilkinson) seems the ideal person to assist. What they're not expecting is what Howard wants in return, as he's having trouble with a business associate named Michael Burns (Davis), and would be extremely grateful if said Mr Burns was silenced - permanently. This leads both brothers into a moral quagmire from which there's no return, as their quest for a better life begins to tear their relationship apart - but Cassandra's Dream doesn't provide a fresh angle on what's a very familiar and well-worn story. It's a classily mounted film that delivers a number of effective scenes, particularly the unexpected meeting at a party between Farrell and Davis, but the script ends up feeling terribly melodramatic, and Allen's old-fashioned directorial style doesn't bring it to life. Allen is not helped by the fact that both leads are miscast, with Farrell straying close to unintentionally funny as the nervy, guilt-ridden Terry, and McGregor seeming a little stiff as the confident, go-getter Ian. It's hard not to think the film might have been helped if they'd swapped roles - but even this wouldn't have made up for Allen's overwritten and unconvincing dialogue. As with Match Point, he's out of his depth when dealing with aspirational English characters and the dialogue ends up feeling hesitant and awkward, suggesting that he doesn't have enough familiarity with the world he's writing about. There's a whole host of effective support performances, particularly from the ever-superb Tom Wilkinson and also from Phil Davis as the unwitting target, while the film is as beautifully shot and crafted as you'd expect from Allen. However, it lacks a real sense of conviction or reality, instead mulling over issues of guilt and recrimination that Allen tackled far more effectively back in 1992's Crimes And Misdemeanors. What we're left with is a watchable yet empty crime melodrama which doesn't have enough impact to be truly memorable, and takes far too long to work its way towards an awkward conclusion. Verdict Cassandra's Dream may have its classy moments, but it's a very long way from Allen's best. |
