Picturenose

What dreams may come…

Woody Allen completes his ‘London trilogy’ with this surprisingly dark, moody effort. The title refers to the name that close-knit brothers Ian (Ewan McGregor) and Terry (Colin Farrell) Blaine give to their newly acquired pleasure boat, paying some £6,000 for which only adds to the pair’s financial difficulties - Terry’s a gambler whose habit is spiralling out of control, while Ian is looking to invest in a Californian hotel chain, to get away from the struggling restaurant of his father (John Benfield). A surprise visit from their generous millionaire uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson) could be their way out of a hole, but the potential benefactor has a surprise request - Howard’s looking to make a real killing of his own, and he wants his nephews’ help…

Allen quickly proves himself adept at handling the mechanics of a psychological thriller, territory into which he has not previously strayed. With its naturalistic dialogue and menacing camera angles, the film quickly disavows any audience expectations of customary Woody belly laughs. Rather, what we have here is a sense of genuine foreboding that grips early and is only occasionally loosened: both brothers have to learn that all actions bring consequences, but one of the pair turns out to be far more professional about the task in hand than the other.

That’s not to say the film is entirely bereft of humour - Allen, removed from his traditional angst-ridden exchanges, nevertheless shows a flair for the Brit domestic scenes, with the exchanges between nagging wife (Clare Higgins), Blaine Sr and the brothers providing a few wry chuckles as well as providing insights into the close-knit family bonds that are about to be broken.

It falls down a little in its conclusion, which unfortunately gives the impression that writer-director Allen ran out of ideas just when things were getting really grim and interesting, but the sense of the screw turning in an entirely credible prosaic family setting makes up in overall effect for the script’s occasional shortfalls. Death is a dirty business, as the boys discover quickly. Recommended.

108 mins.