by Brett Parker
Critics have not exactly been kind to Woody Allen’s latest film, Cassandra’s Dream. It scored a 46% rating at rottentomatoes.com, giving it a “rotten” status. The general consensus appears to be that the film pales in comparison to Sidney Lumet’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead and Allen’s own Match Point. Even critics who liked the film label it as contrived, watered-down Allen. Me? I couldn’t have loved it more! While exploring his usual themes of class, morals, and murder, Allen has crafted one of his most entertaining pictures ever; a film that leaves no emotion unturned and no audience member out of its grasp. How excited I was to kick off the New Year with a powerhouse film! It’s been a long time since I’ve been this worked up over a film and even longer since I’ve been so baffled by a film’s negative reception.
Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor star as Terry and Ian, two working class brothers in London. Terry is a mechanic with a sweet girlfriend (Sally Hawkins) and a huge gambling problem. Ian is the co-manager of his father’s restaurant and dreams of one day hitting it rich by purchasing hotels in Los Angeles. As the film unravels, the brothers run into financial anxieties. Terry owes serious money to loan sharks after losing big in a poker game while Ian wants serious money to impress a high maintenance actress (Hayley Atwell). Terry and Ian come up with the idea of asking their rich Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson) for the dough.
Uncle Howard is a rich business owner in China who agrees to see the boys on a visit to London one afternoon. He agrees to help the boys with their financial troubles if they do a huge favor for him. He wants them to murder a business aquatince (Philip Davis) who is threatening to reveal information that could destroy Howard. At first the boys are shocked by this request, but Howard is an intense persuader who plays the family loyalty card and ultimately has the boys agree to do it. The rest of the film plays like a philosophical conversation on committing murder and dealing with its aftermath.
Cassandra’s Dream is that rare film that absorbs you from the start and holds your eyes on the screen the whole time. You get caught up in the drama and you honestly don’t know where the film is going to lead you. Allen wisely avoids elaborate plot twists and police involvements and instead focuses strictly on the psychology of the two brothers as they are pushed to their emotional brinks. This might seem limiting in another film, but McGregor and Farrell expertly play their parts to perfection and sell you on every nuance in the screenplay. McGregor is skillfully empathetic with Ian even in the face of overwhelming selfishness. Farrell gives one of his best performances as the disintegrating Terry, the brother who has the hardest time facing the idea of murdering someone and being completely unable to live with himself after the crime has been carried out. Farrell is awesome in the way he makes us feel Terry’s every feeling of guilt and depression. He plays Terry as if emotions are literally trying to burst through his face.
Critics are perhaps right to compare this film with Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, a film with a very similar premise. Indeed, it is hard to watch Cassandra’s Dream without even lightly thinking about the other film in the back of your mind. Both films involve two brothers carrying out a crime to settle financial woes with the emotional weight of the crime’s aftermath sending them both on a downward spiral into tragedy. Lord knows Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is a wonderful film. It’s a smart and inventive heist film that catches a legendary director in the wonderful act of crafting a film as if he were a fresh, young innovator. Yet in the end, I prefer Cassandra’s Dream. It fleshes out its moral ideas more strongly, weaves more complex motivations, and brings more emotional weight to it. It basically brings deeper and more thoughtful dialogue to the moral dilemmas at hand. My only problem with Lumet’s film is the way it marches through its emotional developments without fully expressing its weight. It all leads to an interesting climax that I wanted to buy, but in the back of my mind I never fully did (would Albert Finney really do what does in the end?).
The other complaints about the film involve the fact that Allen is repeating themes in this film he already explored superbly in Crimes and Misdemeanors and Match Point. Granted, but one would find that the true pleasure in auteur filmmaking is the fact that strong themes are repeated film after film. It can be fascinating watching an auteur take ideas they feel strong about and film similar variations on them movie after movie. Just look at the way Howard Hawks kept “remaking” Rio Bravo. Look at how justified he was in his decision to do so. I’d rather see Allen remake the same film over and over than watch most Hollywood directors churn out countless pictures.
In a time of clunky, unremarkable filmmaking, we should get over ourselves and realize how special a Woody Allen film like this truly is. It’s superbly framed, masterfully acted, and fascinating in its emotional complexities. It is patient, attentive, and emotionally stirring. Allen doesn’t rely on plot twists and a flashy visual style; he tells the film with straight-forward simplicity that helps flesh out its underlying drama more effectively.
There are those who might think I’m bonkers calling Cassandra’s Dream a great film, but what makes a film great anyway? Usually it’s when a film presents a highly-original idea in an awesome manner or when every element of a film is done to perfection. Well I feel this film is perfection. I don’t think anything could’ve been more entertaining to me. I sat down in the theater, was excitedly involved the whole time, and couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. For the rest of the weekend, I couldn’t stop thinking about it and I can’t wait to see it again. If that doesn’t make a film great, I don’t know what does!
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