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Mia Farrow gives one of her best performances as Cecilia, a Depression-era waitress with her head in the clouds who gets dumped on over and over; after a miraculous situation comes her way and promises a better life, she has to choose between reality and fantasy...although some outcomes are predestined. Luminous Farrow is at her most vulnerable, and writer-director Woody Allen allows her to be funny too, yet the film is a preconceived, bittersweet whimsy about dashed dreams; it's ready-made to collapse. In the interim, we get bland Jeff Daniels in two roles (occasionally working the same scene!), a whorehouse full of romantics, a group of acidly funny movie actors on a theater screen, and Danny Aiello as Mia's abusive husband. The theme of "Cairo" concerns the blurred line between movies and reality--it's a valentine to the magic of the movies--but the central idea plays itself out too quickly, and Allen's sub-plots don't always work (you can sense that he's biding his time). Wonderful production design and music score, some marvelous sequences. *** from ****
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