What was your last dream about? Can you remember it? Was it dangerous or weird or maybe wholesome? Was it absurd or horrific or hilarious? The one I remember most vividly is the one where I yell at Edward Norton as I direct him in a stage play. Or there was the one where I watched a documentary of Tom Cruise stabbing Jude Law with a giant, broken Oscar statue. How do you know you’re not in a dream right now? Maybe you’re seconds from waking up. Get out of bed, you’ll be late for work, maybe you’ll have time for the breakfast drive-thru on your way.
‘Dream Scenario’ is the latest Nicholas Cage film directed by Kristoffer Borgli, about a man who finds that suddenly, everyone around him, except for his wife and boss, has been seeing him in the background of their dreams, and finds himself becoming an overnight celebrity. However, as he tries to use his newfound fame to advance his career, people’s dreams of him turn to nightmares and he is instantly seen as a potentially homicidal villain through no fault of his own. What follows is a horror story about the power of perspective and the collective over the individual. Cage’s world crumbles to dust and he needs to find a way to save himself.
Cage plays Paul Matthews, a down-on-his-luck university teacher hoping to get a book deal on his newest discovery. Paul is very self-indulgent, bathing in his newfound fame, taking every TV interview he can to show the world he’s incredibly humble, despite his inability to let go of his newfound reputation. Cage wonderfully walks the line between an earnest, hardworking professor and an egomaniacal, self-centered jerk. He wants all the rewards but shows no effort to actually work for it, making the dream phenomenon a golden opportunity. Paul Matthews is more of a showreel for Cage, giving the chance to be as ridiculous and as exaggerated as he likes, while also delivering an interesting character study. Because the world around him views him either one of two ways, it forces the audience to examine Paul and decide whether there’s a third perspective. Tim Meadows plays Brett, Paul’s boss and one of the only people not to dream about him. Meadows’s performance reminds me of his character from ‘Mean Girls’ but with only a fraction of the comedy. The script doesn’t give him much to do, the only thing really being representing the audience as an objective observer. Micheal Cera makes an appearance as Trent, the leader of a hip, new publication desperately wanting to sign Paul. Cera does an amazing job replicating the manipulative capitalist artist, acting as if they want what’s best for the client, but more wanting steady revenue streams.
It’s hard to talk about individual performances because almost every character behaves as part of the collective, slowly eating away at Paul’s sanity and mental wellbeing. Each and every small character, whether it be Molly (played by Dylan Gelula), who invites Paul to re-enact a psycho-sexual dream, Janet (Julianne Nicholson), Paul’s wife who slowly turns against him, Richard (Dylan Baker), the man whose approval Paul hopelessly tries to earn, every single character and actor lends a hand to create a depressing world which can build and demolish a man in a matter of days or even hours.
‘Dream Scenario’ is, in my opinion, a horror film, not in terms of the nightmares depicted, but by the slow change taking place over the course of an hour-forty, where a man is slowly degraded, his rights taken away because of a group of people’s perception of someone who has done absolutely nothing to encourage it.
Mason’s Top 3 Reasons To See ‘Dream Scenario’
- A social satire targeting the micro-celebrity fame of Instagram, TikTok and Youtube stars
- An enigmatic character study that’ll have you questioning whether you stand with Paul or the world
- An astounding display of Cage’s acting range, from psychotic and crazed to balanced and sane to anxious and disturbed
Mason Horsley is a graduate of UOW with a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Arts, majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in Theatre. He hopes to write and direct a feature film and has been working on screenplays since he was 17. He writes film reviews for the Tertangala and works on his latest project ‘The Last Film’ while working a full-time job at a fish market. Mason despises reviewing films he dislikes and because of this, every review he writes acts as a recommendation.
Credit Image: IMDb