Woody Allen's films have always drawn a very distinctive line between audiences: people either his work or hate it with a passion. For years, he has alternated between the comedy and drama genres, exploring the day-to-day lives of couples and the obstacles that arise along the way, and almost all of his films played out against a backdrop of his native New York. However, Allen's career has taken something of a detour in the last few years, with 2005's MATCH POINT standing out as a radical departure from the stylistic trappings of his previous work. First and foremost, the film was filmed on location and set in and around London; the first of Allen's films to be set outside the US since BANANAS in 1971. Secondly, the film, though indulging some of the themes apparent in other Allen films (class structure, fidelity) has the structure of a thriller at its core. Though Allen dabbled with generic conventions with his amusing comedy/whodunit MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY, MATCH POINT marked the director's first foray into the realms of the full-blooded thriller and came as something of a shock to his legion of fans who were expecting more of the same. The film became Allen's most successful film since HANNAH AND HER SISTERS in 1986 and opened his work up to a much younger, wider audience.
Allen remained in London for his 2006 follow up, SCOOP; a comedy that comes exceedingly close to rehashing the aforementioned MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY and a film that remains unreleased in the UK. This light-hearted farce stars MATCH POINT's siren—and what would appear to be Allen's latest in a long line of muses—Scarlett Johansson. The film drew lukewarm reviews and was scarcely released in the US, and one would guess that Allen was forced into revisiting the source of his freshly invigorated success, the thriller, in order to secure the financing of his next film...
With CASSANDRA'S DREAM, Allen is back in thriller territory. Two brothers, Ian and Terry Blaine (Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell, respectively), seem to coast through their day-to-day existences, dreaming of a better life. Terry is a mechanic and a chronic gambler, always one dog race away from the jackpot but is somewhat grounded by his caring, if slightly simple girlfriend, Kate (Sally Hawkins). Ian, on the other hand, is a chancer in a completely different way. Helping his father run the family's ailing restaurant business, Ian plans to become an investor in a group of hotels in California and has been skimming money from the restaurant in order to do so. Ian's dreamy, frivolous lifestyle is further complicated when he becomes romantically involved with an aspiring actress, Angela (Hayley Atwell). Ian becomes infatuated with Angela and soon realises the only way he can keep this extremely ambitious actress (read: she'll sleep with anyone to further her career) in his life is by getting the money together to move to Los Angeles and develop his hotels and introduce Angela to his plastic surgeon uncle's vast array of celebrity friends. Meanwhile, Terry has had a terrible evening at the card table; one that's just cost him £90,000. Both in the grip of despair, the brothers approach their Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson) for the money, and to their delight, he's willing to listen to what they have to say and prepared to lend give them the money, but in return, he expects them to end the life of someone that's about to blow the whistle on his plastic surgery practice...
So begins CASSANDRA'S DREAM, a thoroughly engrossing potboiler, though one not without problems. First off, Allen's script is riddled with clunky dialogue, much of which wouldn't seem out of place in an episode of EASTENDERS. Secondly, both Farrell and McGregor struggle to deliver convincing Cockney accents, with the former sounding more Australian and the latter like a semi-serious Frank Spencer. If you can overlook the accents and dialogue, there's a lot of fun to be had here. Allen certainly keeps things moving along at a brisk enough pace and there are some solid supporting turns, especially that of the relative newcomer and stunningly beautiful Hayley Atwell.
The Region 1 DVD from the Weinstein Company under review here is presented in anamorphic widescreen, framed at 1.85:1. The picture looks solid, though colours seem deliberately muted. As is usually the case with Allen's films, CASSANDRA'S DREAM is presented in Mono, though sound is filtered through the front three speakers. Besides trailers for other releases there are no extra features.
CASSANDRA'S DREAM isn't vintage Allen and the film doesn't hold a torch to the thematically similar, but far superior MATCH POINT. That said, if you're in the mood for an effective thriller that doesn't require too much stimulation of your grey matter, it's certainly worth a watch.
(Paul Alaoui)
