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Cassandra's
Dream
(2007)
Let me preface this by stating that Woody Allen
is my all-time favorite filmmaker. That's why I was so surprised,
not to mention disappointed, to find that Cassandra's Dream was,
for all intents and purposes, not a Woody Allen movie.
His characteristic thumbprint is glaringly absent here, and
the overall lack of anything substantive leaves me wondering
if age and over forty years of near-constant movie-making
have finally taken their toll. Don't get me wrong—there's
nothing categorically bad about Cassandra's Dream,
there's just nothing great about it either.
Similar to past works such as Crimes and Misdemeanors and
Match Point, both of which I consider among Allen's
best for their skillful ability to delve into the depths of
mankind's potential for evil, this film follows a pair of brothers
(Colin Farrell & Ewan McGregor) as their financial situations
lead them to commit a terrible crime and examines their ensuing
guilt. As
I said, it's not anything groundbreaking from Allen, and is
territory he knows well. While
he might be on a relatively new continent (this is, after all,
only his third film made in the U.K.), he's cetainly not blazing
a new trail in his method of storytelling or the themes he's
exploring.
And this comfortability shows. Again, it never bogs the
film down, but it weighs upon it just enough that it never
reaches its full potential. The primary evidence of this
is the lack of a substantial climax to the film, and this is
a fatal flaw given that Cassandra's Dream is supposed
to be a crime thriller. When the film should be peaking
at the murder which is central to the plot, Allen provides
a thoroughly unsatisfying cop-out and fills the remaining third
of the movie with an extended and seemingly incomplete denoument.
Further cementing the film's position in mediocrity are the uninspired
performances be the lead actors. Neither McGragor nor Farrell
is noticeably bad, but neither pushes the envelope of their
already established careers. Tom Wilkinson, who has a small role
as the brothers' wealthy uncle, delivers a solid run and actually
steals much of the film from its stars. Any nuace in the movie
is muffled, however, by Philip Glass's overpowering and out-of-place
score. I love Glass as much as the next guy, and his film scores
can at times be incredibly moving, but it simply doesn't work
here, and he's not the easiest composer to ignore.
In all, Allen dropped the ball on Cassandra's Dream, and is clearly
just going through the motions he's established for himself.
I hope he has better luck in Spain than he obviously had in England
with his forthcoming Vicky
Cristina Barcelona. It's clear that Allen is at his best when he is
testing his own limits and treading new paths, and for this venture
he did neither. The best part about a disappointment, though,
is that it makes a redemptive comeback all the sweeter.
-Mark
Moreland
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All contents ©
2004-2009 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
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Director:
Woody
Allen
Writer: Woody
Allen
Starring: Ewan
McGregor, Colin Farrell, Tom Wilkinson, Hayley Atwell, Sally Hawkins,
John Benfield, Clare Higgins
Distributor: The
Weinstein Company
Runtime: 108
min
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: January
18, 2008
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