I love this movie so much

Too much of everything

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Two brothers with serious financial problems get a chance to wipe the slate clean and fulfil their dreams when their wealthy uncle asks them to do him a favour.Woody Allen's light hearted take on the atrocious act of murder. Excellent Ewan McGregor's Ian gets slightly out shone by Colin Farrell's gambling alcoholic Terry here as the brothers' relationship is tested. Their girlfriends played by Hayley Atwell and Sally Hawkins are notable and the supporting cast are strong including John Benfield, Philip Davis and Tom Wilkinson to name a few.As the Greek-like tragedy morality play gradually builds the characters and meanders through Allen's basic effective plot. It's an enjoyable slow paced affair that hooks you from the first scene. Its naturalistic setting also gives it an unnerving off beat feeling echoing the likes of The Good Thief (2002) or The Linguini Incident (1991). It also has a vibe reminiscent of countless UK unconventional talky drama films of the 1980s. Yet, with no lead American actors London set Cassandra's Dream doesn't feel like a film synonymous with Allen. It's no Talented Mr Ripley (1999) but it's strength is the simplistic plot that comes full circle on an everyday back drop, its certainly worth viewing especially for McGregor's and Farrell's even-tempered performances.

I had recently talked to a friend about how much we both enjoyed "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", and she labeled that film as "an explosion of feelings". I instantly agreed with that, and while I was watching "Cassandra's Dream", that's all that came in my mind: an explosion of feelings. McGregor and Farrell professionally portray two brothers that commit a murder in order to help their uncle, and as tough as it can be, one of them starts having mental problems because of it. The relationship between the brothers is extremely convincing, mainly due to the great directing that Woody Allen provides, again. It feels hard not to put ourselves in the positions of Ian and Terry; it was undoubtedly a quite hard situation to deal with. The first hour of the movie is full of conversations, and it tired me a bit, but once the brothers get in the victim's house, I felt like SCREAMING for such an intense first climax-- in my opinion, there are two of them. The only thing I really disliked about this film was the rushed ending, and I'm sure many people really hated it, but that's an eccentric way to end the story. We don't always need to see all that happens next; sometimes it's good to leave up to the spectator what is the next step. All in all, "Cassandra's Dream" is another GREAT work from Woody Allen, and you can realize that after the first hour of length.

So I've been on a binge of less than amazing Woody Allen films in the past few days. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Scoop and finally Cassandra's Dream. All set in London, they all suffer from essentially the same issues, but I'll focus on the last one here.The single biggest problem here is Woody Allen's most unique feature; his incredible speed. Reading the book 'Conversations with Woody Allen' confirms that most of these films were written in a rush based on a selection of single ideas, I think Cassandra's Dream in particular was written in 8-10 weeks or something. Which, of course, is incredibly impressive, but also painfully obvious after watching the film. Woody Allen is an ideas man; Cassandra's Dream is full of fantastic thoughts, plot details and nuances, but the problem is that hardly any of them are properly developed! The storyline is simply all over the place, there's so much information squeezed into this 108 minutes that you would think there wasn't a dull moment. Yet the first 20-30 establishing minutes are the furthest thing from captivating. We meet the two brothers, one too ambitious for his own good, the other a gambling addict, existing in a sort of idyllic pre-Event (in the psychoanalytical sense) bliss. But why waste so much of the film on this when we're dealing with archetypes anyway? There's so much superfluous information that adds nothing to the story that I honestly wish Allen would decrease his rate of productivity and spend more time in the writing process. Take for example the boat; a criminally under-utilised plot-detail that I would wager was kept in the script mainly for the title's sake. Then there's the story of Ian (to me, an awfully artificial Ewen McGregor) meeting his girlfriend while out on a country drive with a previous girl; again, adds nothing to the story and could've easily been hinted at without wasting screen-time. Or the backdrop of the struggling family restaurant business; I suspect this was meant to heighten the pressure on our characters, but Ian keeps repeating he doesn't care about it and his father seems understanding over his long-term plan of abandoning it; so why complicate the plot with it in the first place?Overall, all three films feel more like plays than movies; every set could've been represented on stage easily. In fact this was something I was constantly conscious of during the film, which suggests to me that it really would be a more natural fit. Unfortunately, this being a film, the character's insistence to verbalise emotions that should honestly be beyond their scope often completely shatters the illusion. Speaking of illusion, I haven't even talked about the choice of words / accents yet (I'm not a stickler for such a thing, but I have to mention Collin Farrell slips up on the accent once in an almost comical way in a supposedly dramatic scene. Then there's the 1950s vocabulary of the apparently 20 year old girl played by Scarlet Johansson in Scoop).Overall, not a great effort. I would be more understanding if I thought Allen didn't care, but it's clear he was very proud of Match Point, so I wonder why he would not invest the time into perfecting these otherwise promising scripts. The ideas are there; it's the polish that's missing.

Woody Allen's latest foray into the thriller realm is an extremely compelling story of family ties and murder. Before the murderous game is afoot Allen spends a good deal of time setting up his characters with multiple layers and nuances.Two regular working class English brothers each hoping their rich uncle will help them out financially must first complete a murderous task. What makes this film so intense and highly suspenseful is that Woody Allen has created a pair of very believable characters in Ian (Ewan McGregor) and Terry (Colin Farrell). As they conptemplate the dreadful task of murdering an associate of their uncle, we are sucked right into this frightening dilemma with them. Allen's movie is so strong because it examines the daunting task and repercussions accepted by the brothers. This is not some standard Hollywood, glossed over, thriller where people are knocked off and life goes on. Woody Allen ratchets up the tension in every frame and his film is so exciting because it is so very real. McGregor and Farrell turn in some terrific performances as the two brothers. McGregor is in top form as the manipulative, deal maker. Without question Colin Farrell has turned in his most memorable performance yet. Farrell's character Terry is a very gentle soul, a complete opposite from anything he has ever played, a stellar performance that is both beautiful and tragic. Cassandra's Dream is a very entertaining film, it will make you think, it will make you squirm and it will stay with you long after you've exited the theater.