It's a pulp story pinned to the screen with an ice pick of conscience in a manner that would have pleased Allen's idol, Ingmar Bergman.
Woody Allen’s latest excursion to the dark side of human nature, is good enough that you may wonder why he doesn’t just stop making comedies once and for all.
I recently rewatched this film and though I remember liking it the first time it was ( I certainly can't say lovlier) better the 2nd time around. It works on so many levels the classic story, the acting, perfect Hitchcokian score courtesy of Philip Glass and finally it is beautifully shot. I agree with Manahlo Dargas maybe Woody should abandon comedies all together? I especially feel that after seeing "From Rome with Love". Cassandra's Crossing is one of those movies you want to rescue the characters, save them from themselves somehow. The two leads, Colin Farrel & Ewan McGregor have such chemistry and Farrel gives a truly poignant performance makes a gambling addiction understandable in a way I've not seen before on screen. Please see this film
I really enjoyed Cassandra's Dream. Tense, sad, and dramatic, Cassandra's Dream is a very different film from Woody Allen, but shows that an old dog may be able to learn new tricks. Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell are great together here and have great chemistry as brothers who are asked to kill somebody in return for great financial gain. Though the morality play the film poses and the theme of family relationships may be unoriginal, Allen never fails to elicit tension and thrills along the way, with his two leads game to follow his lead. There is nothing wrong with a genre film and Cassandra's Dream certainly fits the bill as both a drama and a thriller. It executes its well-worn cliches to perfection, while entertaining in spades. Though its ending may be predictable to some, it does not lose its impact and can be quite spellbinding in the lead up as you watch these brothers grapple with the ramifications of the decisions they make; both positive and negative. Overall, Cassandra's Dream is a very good film from Woody Allen that has even better performances, while leaving you on edge for much of the film anticipating the next turn it will take.
Allen, who stays behind the camera, brings too little wit and too much contrivance to material that quickly dissolves into warmed-over Dostoevski.
An uninspired if perfectly watchable drama.
Like a tragic overture played at the wrong tempo and slightly off-key, Woody Allen's London-set Cassandra's Dream sends out more mixed signals than an inebriated telegraphist.
Farrell is quite good, though it's hard to buy the Scottish McGregor and the Irish Farrell as brothers. But mostly, the film feels rudderless, almost as if it's been directed on autopilot.
Takes a long time to say nothing new, which is a shame because it wastes fine performances across the board (it's a nice reminder that Farrell, can, in fact, act), and, well, a really effective score by Philip Glass.
I like Woody Allen's work, this might not be his best film, but it's still pretty good. The characters are what move this film forward, they are very well-written, the two brothers both have a bit of good and a bit of bad. I was interested in seeing how things turn out for them in the end. Unfortunately the ending was very rushed and I did not like it very much. I didn't expect anything because I did not know what to expect, it wasn't easily predictable, still... I felt let down by that ending.
In discussing my thoughts on the last movie I saw of his -- "The Purple Rose Of Cairo" -- I talked about the many different shades of Woody Allen we've seen over the years (i.e. "satire Woody Allen," "crime/thriller Woody Allen," "romantic drama Woody Allen," etc.) Welp. I can say this is, without a doubt, my very first exposure to "Woody Allen, the occasionally mediocre screenwriter/director." Don't get me wrong, I'd still say I enjoyed the net product overall, with the second half of the movie presenting moral dilemma after moral dilemma, each **** at the base of your skull like a migraine waiting to happen. It just so happens that there are other migraine-inducing things in play here, namely the hammer-fisted dialogue and character development, ultimately plaguing a good portion of this film's first half. Combine that with some of the weakest direction I've seen in a Woody Allen picture to date and you get the experience of watching "Cassandra's Dream," a marginally thought-provoking, decently acted morality play, with some upsettingly sub-par writing interspersed throughout it.
Brothers buy boat after winning on horses, one brother meets actress, falls in love, other brother gambles & loses lots of money, ask rich Uncle for help, zzzzzzzzzzzz. It is pretty dreadful & not Woody Allen's finest hour. The accents are all over the place, McGregor & Farrell's acting are awful & not even the great Tom Wilkinson can save it. Didn't help that the ending was rubbish too!
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