Yes, it’s been much healthier for Woody Allen‘s career when he revisits his love for dark Greek tragedies (see the only decent Allen film in a decade “Match Point“). But has this been done to death and more importantly didn’t Sidney Lumet‘s just-released “Before The Devil Knows Your Dead,” make the same kind of Faustian pact the emphasis of its story?
The third (and final?) installment in his unofficial London trilogy (“Scoop,” and “Match Point” were the first two), “Cassandra’s Dreams” stars Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell as cash-strapped brothers who find themselves in financial troubles after a gambling incident puts Farrell’s character desperately in the hole and imminently in danger. Meanwhile, McGregor has just found the love of his life which complicates his involvement in his siblings woes. Along comes their devil-like, cash-flush Uncle (Tom Wilkinson)with a proposition: dispose of a man who is accusing him of his own business trespasses and their debt will be repaid, no questions asked. After all this is family, right?
Just like Lumet’s ‘Devil,’ things get dark, twisted and complicated and the film then tracks the siblings and how the deal and unravel with their respective immoralties; it’s a morality tale obviously and not unlike the one that ‘Match Point’ represented.
But is it good? Early reviews aren’t exactly kind. The Hollywood Reporter calls it a “humorless misfire,” and the U.K. paper The Independent calls it a “nightmare,” (though it barely acknowledges ‘Match Point’ and the the seemingly tremendously obvious thematic connections). We’ll find out soon enough. “Dreams’ comes out January 18 in limited release and presumably opens wider if it does well enough.
The score to the film was written by legendary composer Phillip Glass and is due January 8 on Orange Mountain Music.
Watch: “Cassandra’s Dreams” trailer