Cassandra's Dream
Family is Family. Blood is Blood.
Set in contemporary London, Cassandra's Dream is a powerful and thrilling story about two brothers (Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell) who are desperate to better their troubled lives. One is a chronic gambler in debt over his head, and the other is a young man in love with a beautiful actress (newcomer Hayley Atwell) he has recently met. Their lives gradually become entangled into a sinister situation with intense and unfortunate results.
Member Reviews
Sloppy - movie_goer
Truth be told: If I knew it was a Woody Allen Film I would have passed on the whole concept completely.
Perhaps the rustiest nail in the coffin is an abysmal performance by Colin Farrell, cast correctly but totally unfocused. My frustration was outside this insular, dull universe Allen had created. The two figures who emerge unscathed are Sally Hawkins, luminous and heartbreaking as Farrell's trivialized girlfriend, and Tom Wilkinson, who is chewing the scenery but at least he's doing something. It becomes tragically clear who the real actors in the cast are and who's just along for the ride.
Actors aside, there's not much they could have done for this ridiculously pat morality play, where absolutely nothing worth noting is going on except Philip Glass' cool score. The movie strings you along on generic conflict after generic conflict, when finally it decides that an end has been reached and it sweeps everything under the rug in a mostly hilarious fashion.Outstanding and acidic portrait of family and crime - moviemonger
Cassandra's Dream is Allen's most grim and uncomfortable film to date, surpassing even Cri mes and Misdemeanors and Match Point. At least in those films the upper class criminals get away with their deeds and get on with their lives (however psychically diminished those lives may be). Not so in Cassandra's Dream, where two lower-middle-class brothers commit a dark crime (almost a British translation of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead) that not only shatters their humanity but also destroys their family ties and much more. All in all, Cassandra’s Dream is an outstanding and acidic portrait of family and crime, and one that was shamefully dismissed, when not neglected, by the idiotic elitists that populate the critical consensus that dominates film reviewing. Go against the grain, seek out this filmThe Woodman Rules - susieq
I am an unabashed Woody Allen fan. I love his early, silly comedies that made him famous, I love the period that gave us Hannah & Her Sisters, Mighty Aphrodite and more and I love his recent phase of crime mysteries that are taught, interesting and if were not written and directed by him, I believe they would be reviewed better. In fact, I am such a fan that he was the first artist that I truly understood the benefit of separating a personal life played out in the tabloids from a body of work that should speak on its own. His stature as a comedic filmaker is so strong that people are unable to switch off the expectation of his brand of slapstick, although with the recent success of Vicky Christina Barcelona, I believe the tide may be turning. This movie, Cassandra's Dream was done prior to VCB and it has tremendous performances from Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor, which I believe come from the writing and direction. The film isn't perfect, but it is worth your time, particularly if you are a fan, like me.
Member Reviews
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Sloppy - movie_goer
Truth be told: If I knew it was a Woody Allen Film I would have passed on the whole concept completely.
Perhaps the rustiest nail in the coffin is an abysmal performance by Colin Farrell, cast correctly but totally unfocused. My frustration was outside ...Outstanding and acidic portrait of family and crime - moviemonger
Cassandra's Dream is Allen's most grim and uncomfortable film to date, surpassing even Cri mes and Misdemeanors and Match Point. At least in those films the upper class criminals get away with their deeds and get on with their lives (however psychically diminished ...The Woodman Rules - susieq
I am an unabashed Woody Allen fan. I love his early, silly comedies that made him famous, I love the period that gave us Hannah & Her Sisters, Mighty Aphrodite and more and I love his recent phase of crime mysteries that are taught, interesting and if were ...