Cassandra’s Dream (2007)

There’s a line that goes something like this: “Pizza is like sex. Even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good”. Well, that is how I feel about Woody Allen films. I’ve seen pretty much everything he has ever made and I’d be hard pressed to find something that I at least didn’t like a little bit. Mostly, I love it (make that, I luuurve it, I loave it, I luff it).

Admittedly, a lot of his recent efforts have not been on par with his golden years but so what?  For someone so amazingly prolific (one film a year) he is bound to drop the standard occasionally, and when the original standard is so high, it’s forgivable. 

In Cassandra’s Dream, set in London, we meet Ian (Ewan McGregor) and Terry (Colin Farrell), two nice, working class lads desperately aspiring to make some decent money and climb the social ladder a step or two. Their mum says Terry is the “sporty one” while Ian is “the brains” which seems a fitting description from what we can gather. Terry works as a mechanic but frequently likes to test his luck with the horses and poker. He is in a happy, long term relationship with a nice waitress. Ian has been loyally helping at their dad’s restaurant but is keen to get into the hotel business, if only he had the funds. He is also fervently pursuing a glamorous young actress, quite aware he is way out of his depth there.

Enter uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson). A self-made millionaire, plastic surgeon to the Hollywood’s rich and famous. The family has always relied on him for financial help, the boys and their mother quite happily, the father with resentment.  Uncle Howard is wiling to help again – bail Terry out of a major gambling loan and finance Ian’s hotel deal. But first, he has a favor of his own to ask. I won’t reveal the details, let’s just say, it’s nowhere near in the same sphere as a simple cash loan, and it puts the brothers in the middle of a serious moral dilemma.

This is not a film most people would associate with Woody Allen (it’s not funny) but fans will know he’s been in this crime and moral dilemmas territory before, most recently in Match Point and most famously in Crimes and Misdemeanors. He seems to be fascinated by this idea of how far people are willing to go to secure their own happiness and what happens after they’ve gone too far.

This again, is not amongst Allen’s best work but it’s still enjoyable enough. It’s suspenseful, well-acted and quite thought-provoking. I know I didn’t say what the brothers’ predicament is, but trust me, you are bound to mull over, however briefly, what you would do in their place once you see the movie.