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Cassandra's Dream
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Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: WELLSPRING/GENIUS
EAN: 0796019810647
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, NTSC
Item Dimensions: 100
Label: Weinstein Company
Languages: English (Original Language),
Manufacturer: Weinstein Company
MPN: 81064
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Weinstein Company
Region Code: 1
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Running Time: 109 minutes
Studio: Weinstein Company
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
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Editorial Review:
Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell star as working class brothers whose dreams of better lives leads to desperation greed and deadly betrayal. When gambling debt and an expensive courtship place them in a financial bind a rich uncle (Tom Wilkinson Michael Clayton) offers them an out in exchange for committing murder. Featuring gripping performances from an all-star cast; "this family tragedy puts us near the edge of our seats and pulls us right along on its downward spiral" (William Arnold Seattle Post Intelligencer). Woody Allen returns in razor-sharp form with this "intense intelligently-written and directed" (Jeffrey Lyons Reel Talk) thriller that challenges how far a man should go in the name of family.System Requirements:Running Time: 109 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA Rating: PG-13 UPC: 796019810647 Manufacturer No: 81064
Scottish Ewan McGregor and Irish Colin Farrell play two Cockney brothers who get in over their heads when a wealthy relative asks for a favor. Woody Allen's sleek thriller Cassandra's Dream begins in innocent times: Ian (McGregor) and Terry (Farrell) buy a sailboat and name it Cassandra's Dream. But soon Terry falls afoul of gambling debts and Ian falls head over heels for a sultry actress who doesn't take him seriously, leading them to ask their uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson) for money, which he's happy to give them--if they'll get rid of a man who's going to testify against him. The first half of Cassandra's Dream zips along with short, concise scenes and charismatic performances by the lead lads. Newcomer Hayley Atwell (Brideshead Revisited) is alluring as the actress, while Sally Hawkins (Persuasion) brings warmth and sympathy to the underwritten role of Terry's girlfriend Kate. The second half--as with many of Allen's later films--seems to run out of steam, though there's still much to admire about Allen's clean, unfussy filmmaking. Regrettably, he seems to have lost the ability to sustain his imaginative spark. The weakness is in the writing; too many of the characters are barely sketched and clumsy lines of dialogue jar the ear in otherwise well-shaped scenes. But just when you're ready to throw up your hands, there's a moment of understated grace, in which Allen's simple visuals capture something with crystalline clarity. Cassandra's Dream is a frustrating movie, but it has its rewards. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - An "Interesting" Woody Allen
Shadow Watcher
Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake
I love the films written and directed by Woody Allen. Comedy or drama, even when he's not on top of his game, his pictures are, at the very least, "interesting".
Admittedly, CASSANDRA'S DREAM (2007) is not one of his best, primarily because it's a bit too long and the story's focus wanders off into unnecessary tangents. On the other hand, the performances are uniformly gripping and Allen's simplicity in staging his scenes ... Read More
Rating:  - Leopold and Loeb redux
***1/2
Whenever he turns to drama, Woody Allen always seems to wind up
channeling either Ingmar Bergman ("Interiors," "September") or Fyodor
Dostoevsky ("Crimes and Misdemeanors," "Match Point"). "Cassandra's
Dream" finds him in one of his Dostoevsky moods (with traces of
Hitchcock thrown in for good measure), once again making the case that it is
both impossibly difficult and ridiculously easy for the common man to
engage in cold-blooded murder.
... Read More
Rating: - Sterling performances from Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell!
A few years ago, you may remember, Colin Farrell was touted as a hot young up-and-comer...a great actor with great looks. Someone who would be a movie star at any moment. Farrell then proceeded to "star" in a number of movies that the public was not interested in, such as THE NEW WORLD, ALEXANDER and THE RECRUIT. The soul-less MIAMI VICE was the bottom. It made some money, but Farrell was so uninteresting in it (and seemed so uninterested)...his moment of glory was done.
A few years ago, ... Read More
Rating: - Cassandra's Nightmare
Colin Farrell and Ewan MacGregor turn in stellar performances as brothers in "Cassandra's Dream," a stark tragedy which demands that its protagonists choose between loyalty to family and the right thing to do; and because of their respective failings, they become enmeshed in a net from which there is no escape.
It is clear that Woody Allen is not out to please the average movie-goer (nor should he necessarily), because throughout the film he alludes to Greek tragedy in general. By beginning slowly ... Read More
Rating: - Woody gives us a dark tale of crime and greed
Very well acted and beautifully shot, "Cassandra's Dream" is certainly worth the time of anyone who enjoys a good drama. I particularly enjoyed Philip Glass' moody score and Colin Farrell's skillful turn as the guilt-ridden brother who can't live with the crime he and his sibling commit for monetary gain. Colin, by the way, is clearly the "good" brother here (or, at least, the less bad one), and only considers the crime because he needs to pay off loan sharks, not because he wants to make some easy money, which ... Read More
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