Having scored a success with his previous British based movie Match Point, Woody Allen returns to serious mode in the movie Cassandra's Dream. This crime drama stars Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell as brothers pushed to the limits by their need for cash.
Having thoroughly enjoyed Match Point I delayed watching this crime thriller for a considerable time, why you ask? Because having flicked through the DVD's chapters I was greeted with two of the worst "mockney" cockney accents I have ever heard. And these terrible accents come from the movies big stars. I guess if we turned the clock back 50 years these accents would be acceptable, but in modern day cinema this all seems terribly bad. But I guess as both actors have incredibly broad accents McGregor Scottish and Farrell Irish there has to be a bit of give, for anyone with an accent the Cockney accent I'm told is one of the worst to pull off; I can't help but think why they never opted for "Queens English" and avoided the accent altogether, few Londoners have such an accent nowadays anyway, and we know both actors can talk reasonable Queens English.
I apologise for the lengthy dissection of this, but as I watched the movie the ongoing thought was "why did they do those accents?"
The story itself is reasonably paced and to some degree in respect of the overall treachery of the movie has a lot of similarities to Match Point. In fact I'd go as far as to say with obvious plot differences this movie is almost a re-imagining of Match Point.
Here Farrell's character Terry has a vice for gambling, and after a losing streak he finds himself in the winning lane, gambling and winning time and time again. Of course like all good winning streaks, it comes to an end and when Terry has a big loss its one that is so big normal people would consider leaving the country. McGregor's Ian is less clumsy with money, but has a dream to be someone big. Having ran his parents restaurant for years Ian wants to make a name for himself, this longing coincides with a meeting with a very attractive but high maintenance actress. Initially winning her by charm Ian realises that in order to keep her he needs to make a pretty strong impact, and almost as if to solidify this knowledge this love interest hops into bed with another man, Ian must act soon if he wants to keep her.
Of course there is an answer to the problem and this comes in the form of Uncle Howard played by Tom Wilkinson, I should add at this point that Wilkinson has a few aggressive outbursts in this movie; he'd make a great gangster. The option that Howard offers the two brothers in exchange for resolving their financial issues is something far darker than they expected.
I should stand up now and say that despite my less than shinning opening paragraphs the story is actually quite entertaining, and rather like Match Point I feel is Woody Allen's best works since Hannah & Her Sisters. Allen has a really careful eye for detail when it comes the thriller movie, so much more in fact than when he works on a comedy movie, well at least over the last 20 years. Something else he has a good eye for is location, selecting some most magnificent locations that I as an ex Londoner would not know how to find. Few directors put so much attention into location's especially when these are alien location bearing in mind that Allen is American shooting a movie in London (and surrounding areas of course).
I really enjoyed the movie, Allen dragged out the cream of British crop when it comes to actors and actresses John Benfield (Prime Suspect) and Claire Higgins (The Golden Compass) star as the brothers loving and hard working parents. Quadrophenia star Phil Davis (soon to be seen as Lucius in Doctor Who - The Fires Of Pompei) plays an acquaintance of Uncle Howard who gets more than he bargained for in the dodgy deal. And TV classic Jim Carter (Cracker, Between The Lines, Silent Witness) has a brief appearance as Terry's less than impressed boss. And if you recognise the voice of Phil Davis' lady visitor its none other than Hotel Babylon and Eastenders actress Tamsin Outhwaite who for some reason you see from the rear but never head on.
The movie as a whole is pretty consistent, but I was most disappointed by the ending; it somehow seemed like a bit of a cop out. It even had a certain Scooby Doo style feel as your told matter of fact by a police officer the movies conclusion "Funny old things happen every day now" he says quite cheerily. This conclusion is rushed into a five minute spot (which includes end credits) but up to this point almost feels like a long way off.
This is a capable thriller and for the most part very good, even with the disappointing ending it towers above a dozen Ashley Judd/Diane Lane style thrillers.
While US cinema viewers have already seen this in the UK we have to wait until May 9th, thank the stars for multi-region DVD players.
Spencer Hawken 02/08
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 2003 - Drama - Director: Michael Winterbottom - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton, Om Puri, Jeanne Balibar
Hard-hitting thriller from the acclaimed director of Match Point. Colin Farrell and Ewan ... more
McGregor star as brothers torn apart by a life-or-death dilemma when their rich uncle offers to save them from financial ruin - but the price is murder.
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Feb 28th, 2008
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