credit: www.impawards.com
Director:
Woody Allen
Cast:
Ewan McGregor……….Ian
Colin Farrell……….Terry
Tom Wilkinson……….Howard
Sally Hawkins……….Kate
Woody Allen has been directing films for over 40 years at almost a rate of a film a year. Cassandra’s Dream is Allen’s 38th film and his third set in London. Like the popular Match Point from, ’05 the auteur has chosen to go the thriller route in lieu of his usual and expected genre: comedy.
Dream starts of rather slow and innocuous. We are introduced to two brothers, Ian (McGregor) and Terry (Farrell). These are two average guys living average lives. They’ve just purchased and fixed up a small sailboat that they are very proud of. Terry has a bit of a gambling and drinking problem and finds himself $90,000 dollars in debt, while Ian is looking to the future and trying to make some big money. When he meets a stunningly beautiful young actress, Kate (Hawkins), this dream becomes even more important.
This is roughly the first forty-five minutes of the film and while it’s interesting it’s hard to see where the film is going from here. Allen seems to have left out the usual twenty-minute plot point and just when you think he may have forgotten it all together the film turns from okay to amazing.
Enter the brothers’ super rich uncle, Howard, played brilliantly by Tom Wilkinson. It seems the answer to all their problems lay at the bottom of his seemingly limitless pocketbook. However, what they didn’t count on is their uncle needing a favor from them, and no such small one at that. The short of it is Howard needs a man killed and the only ones he can trust to do the deed are his nephews.
To spill anymore of the plot would be a disservice to the film. It must be pointed out that what the first part of the film lacked the second part makes up for it in spades. There are moments of suspense that would make Hitchcock proud.
There are two brilliant scenes worth mentioning. The first is where Howard talks to the boys about what he needs. Wilkinson is pure genius in his portrayal of this understated manipulative man who convinces his nephews and the audience they could commit a murder. The second comes when Ian and Terry first attempt to kill the man in question. They are waiting nervously in his home when he walks in with a woman. They’re nervous enough as it is about killing one man and they refuse to kill the woman. Now they are stuck in the home and must wait until the couple leaves. My heart was pounding the entire time.
The performances in this film are impressively subtle. Both Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor are completely believable in the roles they’ve been cast. They are believable as brothers and every decision they make or don’t make works.
Match Point was a huge success for Allen and it surprised many for him to not only make a thriller, but make a film not in New York. Personally I liked this film way more than Match Point, but I feel that due to the similar themes and locations most will pass this film off as an over the hill director dipping into a successful well. Do yourself a favor and see the film before coming to any conclusions. It’s well acted with some top-notch suspense and even a few moments of humor to keep you thoroughly entertained from beginning to end.
