'Cassandra's Dream' (12A) - Starring Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Tom Wilkinson (2007)

The annual Woody. No, it’s not a new Judd Apatow film, rather a comment on the legendary Woody Allen’s one-film-a-year output. Certainly, his best work is behind him, but he’s still providing solid and entertaining films even now. Recently, he’s grown a fascination for thrillers, and for London with 2006’s great Match Point. He returns to both with Cassandra’s Dream, a thriller that asks a simple question- how far would you go for your dreams?

Terry (Colin Farrell) and Ian (Ewan McGregor) are brothers who are both coasting through their lives. Ian is trapped helping out at his father’s restaurant, but dreams of a better life through an investment opportunity and a fledgling relationship with a beautiful actress. Terry is a mechanic who escapes the monotony of his life with booze, pills and high risk gambling. Ian needs money fast, and a bad poker loss means Terry’s needs match his brother’s. In steps their rich uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson), who needs a problem employee (Phil Davis) killed, in return for solving all their problems. The brothers agonise over the morality of the proposition, and the reality of their lot soon begins to tear them apart.

Just as the plot is a tale of two brothers, so the movie is a tale of two halves- early on the morality question and the brothers’ plight draws you in, and literally has you looking through your fingers. But once the brothers have made their decision the film begins to lose its way. The rift between the two isn’t properly explored, and thus the consequences of what happens are glossed over in a way.  The ending pulls punches both in terms of plot and morality. Anti-climax is too harsh a word, but a little bit neat given the build-up.

For such a small cast, the performances needed to be good. Thankfully both McGregor and Farrell are on top form, the former as the sensible brother finally thinking about himself, and the latter as the loose cannon slowly losing his mind. Farrell in particular makes us forget his awful cockney accent by turning in an affecting performance that maybe demanded more action in the story. Strong support comes in the form of Tom Wilkinson as the amoral uncle, and Happy-Go-Lucky star Sally Hawkins as Terry’s oblivious girlfriend.

It’s clear that, even at 72, Allen is still a master of his craft. Visually the native New Yorker has a knack of framing his characters just right, and the lack of on-screen violence is a brave choice, a reminder of the days when directors let the audiences’ minds fill in the gaps. The story may be nowhere near as daring as one would want, and the script is very much an older man’s view (of both London and younger people), but it is nonetheless a satisfying thriller that may spark a few morality conversations on the way home.