Cassandra's Dream
Rated: R
How many times can you tell the same story adding only minor tweaks before anyone notices? For Woody Allen, two was the limit as Crimes and Misdemeanors and Match Point cover almost the exact same thematic territory as his latest film Cassandra's Dream and while the ideas remain interesting, the story is now stale almost to the point of self-parody. Brothers Ian (Ewan McGregor) and Terry (Colin Farrell) are normal men who come into dire circumstances. In past Allen films it was women but this time around it's money. Their rich uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson) has a proposition for them: kill an innocent man so he can't testify against Howard and in turn, Howard will grant them happy futures. Thus the conflict we've seen before: is your life worth more than another's? And if you've seen the previous two Woody Allen films using this plot, you know how the morality play will play out. The only difference is that now Allen is including the theme of family along with the themes of fate, self-interest, and morality. Cassandra's Dream isn't a bad film but Allen has made it twice already and I can't help but feel that maybe his desire to make a film every year is more important to him than having a story worth telling. Along with no notable performances, Philip Glass using the same score he's used for almost every other movie he's ever done, and uninspired cinematography, the film is so over-stated that with a little more humor and perhaps Allen playing one of the roles, this would be a lampooning of his previous works. Unfortunately, he's just trying to tell us the same story for the third time and no one likes repeats. Words by |