Dream Scenario (2023)

I'm beginning to realise I'm a bit of a Nicholas Cage apologist. Although when it comes to Dream Scenario, even the most ardent of Cage haters have to admit the omens were good for this, the main positive being that it's been released by A24 films, one whose output is impressively consistent.

Dream Scenario sees Cage's Paul, a mild mannered biology professor whose kids find him a bit pathetic, having his life turned upside down when millions of people begin seeing him in their dreams. I read the film as a surreal fantasy satire of cancel culture, one which comes at the issue slightly differently but no less effectively than Todd Field's Tar earlier this year.

As Paul becomes something of a celebrity and his status grows, the severity of people's dreams increases with Paul beginning to attack his victims instead of simply standing there.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, his students who have naturally begun to see him in their dreams, can't seem to distinguish between reality and unreality, refusing to show up to Paul's classes to the point where he's eventually stood down by the college because students feel 'unsafe' by his presence.

If this sounds familiar it's because we see it more and more in society today; people having their lives ruined - effectively because others don't agree with their opinions. Dream Scenario plays on this rather well, especially in terms of a college professor being ejected because students don't like his or her point of view (or in this case how they behave in dreams). Kristoffer Borgli's film satirises this aspect of society, weaving it around an interesting Sci-Fi idea leaving it blackly comedic enough to even bring those who it's satirising on board without them perhaps realising.

Cage is very good, playing an awkward middle aged man who's so wrapped up in his job whilst attempting to write a novel that he has no real idea of his daughters lives; although his relationship with his wife Janet is one that drives the narrative and provides Dream Scenario with some sort of emotional center. There are similarities between Paul and Cage's portrayal of Charlie Kaufman in Adaptation (2002), and of course it's hard to consider an individual visiting people in their dreams without thinking of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

Although there are elements of everyday horror as I've previously stipulated, Dream Scenario is laugh out loud funny at times, most notably in a sequence where a young woman asks Paul to play out her own version of a dream in her apartment.

In the end the Sci-Fi elements of the plot aren't fully fleshed out to any satisfying conclusion as the film begins to focus more on the emotional side of Paul's life and his relationship with Janet. That's all very well and is clearly the most important element of Paul's life, but the initial set up of Dream Scenario centering around the introduction of a random person into everyone's dreams promises more than the film eventually offers, pulling away from a gun ho finale in favour of a more sombre and down to earth finish. Which is perfectly fine, and works rather well, but it would have been fascinating to see a deeper unpacking of the dream scenario itself.

Still, this is Cage's finest performance for some time, and Dream Scenario is a terrifically interesting piece of work. As far as whacky A24 Sci-Fi flicks are concerned, I enjoyed it more than Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022). 7.8/10