Review - Dream Scenario
Directed by: Kristoffer Borgli
Written by: Kristoffer Borgli
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera
Running Time: 100 minutes
Rating: 4/5
The internet has always loved Nicolas Cage, and so has the audience at TIFF every year. In past festivals, the presence of Cage in the lineup (usually in the Midnight Madness program), has sometimes overshadowed the films that he stars in. For all the memeification the internet likes to ascribe to Cage, whether it’s in the form of compilation videos of his “freak-out-over-the-top” performances or gifs that capture a momentary absurd essence of the man’s acting genius, how does Cage himself feel about this parasocial fandom that his fame has created? “I felt I had the life experience” he succinctly said at the premiere of Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario.
Debuting this year’s juried Platform program, Dream Scenario has Cage play Paul Matthews, a tenured professor at Osler University, whose unassuming demeanor and lack of notoriety in his own field changes overnight, when he starts to appear in people’s dreams. For Paul, this unexpected and inexplicable source of attention and fame turns into a cacophonous amount of parasocial relationships in his personal and professional life that becomes overwhelming. Once these dreams start turning into nightmares, Paul becomes a social and professional pariah, turning him into a modern day Freddy Krueger to others without understanding why.
Without having to explicitly wink at the camera, Borgli has crafted a modern fable that exceptionally brought out all the best elements that are needed for a top-tier Cage performance of this film’s caliber: creepy, goofy, flustered, and downright scary at times. Personally, it’s one of his best in many years. Dream Scenario provides Cage with a richer character performance to explore the themes relating to the Faustian bargain of fame, especially as it pertains to the anxiety of having one’s “celebrity” image spiral out of control in the age of viral online discourse.
The elements of how Borgli correlates these themes within the aspects of cancel culture, particularly the signifiers within a reactionary angle, are a bit too simplistic to delve deeper into the empathetic absurdity that Cage, as Paul, deserves. Comparable to Beau Is Afraid (Ari Aster is a producer on Dream Scenario), Borgli is able to nail down the nightmarish tone and eeriness that the film needs, but compared to the dream sequences, the reality of Paul’s world operates on a different stress level. Reality is more scary than the dream world. Time and time again, Cage has been a victim of his public image, particularly his acting and personal life, being plastered online and mined for ironic laughter the same way intersecting fans appreciate Tommy Wiseau or Neil Breen. As unfortunate as it is, it’s why his performance in Dream Scenario; creepy, goofy, flustered, and downright scary at times, is one of his best in many years.
Those who know me, understand that it's not hyperbolic when I sincerely advocate Cage being my favourite actor. With Dream Scenario, Borgli pens a compelling and hugely engaging film that explores a major anxiety of being a "celebrity" that one possibly never comprehends. Cage, acting as both an interpretation of Borgli's understanding of academic cancellation, albeit one that treats the situation more than just a Jordan Peterson-esque right-wing pipeline downfall, and a vehicle for him to finally play a character that reflects how he feels about his fans, provides an amazing pairing between director and actor. Audiences should always appreciate how much Cage cares about his craft. He always has, and always will. He loves us too, and Dream Scenario is his thesis argument.
