LorenzoL

Here is the trailer for the new Woody Allen film coming in late November in the US in limited release.

The trailer is located about halfway of this French website:

http://eric-c.blogs.allocine.fr/eric...31_10_2007.htm

pjflyer

It will be at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. I'm going to try and see it there.

Amel

say no more, I'm in.

That's a damn good linuep for me as I really dig all 3 of those guys. I'm not the biggest Woody Allen fan, but I have liked some of his movies.

Daytripper

Just got back from seeing it, and I thought it was just terrible. The dialogue AND the acting were so stiff and forced. I felt like I was watching a really bad indie film. Can't believe how much I disliked it. "Match Point" was so good.

Geofferson

I'm still looking forward to seeing this. While not glowing, the DVDTalk reviews here and here are positive.

Daytripper

Yeah, I saw those reviews. And I almost always agree with the DVDTalk reviews. Not this time. This critic sums it up perfectly:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/colum...mprobable.html

hulka

"The truth is that there is no terror untempered by some great moral idea." -- Jean-Luc Godard

Cassandra's Dream constitutes another masterpiece from Woody Allen. Sadly, almost every critic is panning the film, with only a few giving the feature a marginally positive review. Specifically, most critics are deeming the film a retread of Match Point (as well as Crimes and Misdemeanors) due to its serious-natured narrative featuring a murder as a central plot point. However, there is a distinction that should be made here. Whereas Match Point's sexy and seductive visual aesthetic gives the protagonist's immoral disposition a devilish appeal, Cassandra's Dream is low-key and down-to-earth in its storytelling. This has led many critics to dismiss the film as simply being mundane. Alas, they are missing what Allen is doing. Cassandra's Dream is stylish enough, but there is no hyper-stylization like the rich hues seen in the elegant veneer of Match Point's visuals. To be sure, the deceptively simple visual exteriors of Cassandra's Dream may dissuade casual filmgoers from exploring the intricate pathos of the film's psychological interiors. Simply put, Cassandra's Dream is to Match Point what Ozu is to Kurosawa. While Kurosawa uses every cinematic technique in the book to keep the audience engaged, Ozu simply and plainly tells a story with the onus for engagement placed on the audience as opposed to the film itself. While Match Point may have been a grand return for Allen, Cassandra's Dream is a much more quiet work. If one blinks, then he may miss the greatness of it all.

Economical. Efficient. Entertaining. I give the film 4 vases in the foyer.

P.S. Beyond the superficial, the comparison by some critics of Cassandra's Dream to Match Point and Crimes and Misdemeanors is a stretch to some extent. While Match Point is a visual treatise on Allen's sentiments regarding luck, Cassandra's Dream is an articulation of his sentiments regarding fate. Although related, both are indeed different concepts. Moreover, the linking of these two films to Crimes and Misdemeanors is a crime in and of itself. The dramatic portion of Crimes and Misdemeanors is a meditation on faith (or lack thereof) and its place in the (moral?) universe in terms of choice, rationalization, and conscience. Once again: although related, the concept of faith is markedly different from those of luck and fate. How certain critics can conclude that these three films are going over the exact same ground is beyond me. Needless to say, this author currently finds himself -- with Match Point and now Cassandra's Dream -- in Allen heaven.

CloverClover

I agree, it has every lazy aspect of an Allen film magnified too thick this time. It even brings down Match Point a little for me because pretty much every character between both films speak in the exact same voice.

Finisher

You can tell Allen hammers out these dim-witted scripts in a single weekend.