Dream Scenario (2023)
A mild-mannered dad's life unravels as millions see him in their dreams; fans of quirky comedies and surreal drama will enjoy.
Genres: Comedy, Fantasy
Cast
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Dream Scenario(2023)
Overview
Hapless family man Paul Matthews finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. But when his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to navigate his newfound stardom.
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Cast
Full Cast & Crew
Nicolas Cage
Paul Matthews
Julianne Nicholson
Janet Matthews
Lily Bird
Sophie Matthews
Jessica Clement
Hannah Matthews
Michael Cera
Trent
Dylan Gelula
Molly
Tim Meadows
Brett
Kate Berlant
Mary
Dylan Baker
Richard
Jennifer Wigmore
Kayla
Nicholas Braun
Brian Berg
David Klein
Andy
Maev Beaty
Naomi
Al Warren
Chris
Ben Caldwell
Eli
Agape Mngomezulu
Robbie
Lily Gao
Realtor
Marnie McPhail
Claire
Star Slade
Greta
Noah Lamanna
Jessie
Featured Comments/Tips
Nicholas Cage keeps up his bizarre career streak of pinballing between high and low art. He works really well in this post-Ari Aster drama/comedy/sci-fi/fantasy/horror/....; basically it's this experimental, surrealist art piece that refuses to pigeonhole itself into a specific genre. It's surprisingly cohesive and comments on topics such as celebrity culture, image and how fame can make one lose perspective of the important things in life. Like _Beau is Afraid_, it's structured like an unpredictable rollercoaster ride that hits many different emotions along the way. I was really enjoying it, though it started to lose me a little bit towards the end because you could tell the filmmakers had a hard time wrapping up this story. The filmmaking also feels like it's coming from a director who's just starting out. The filmic look is quite nice (pay special attention towards the trees when Cage is walking outside), but too much of this is shot like basic coverage. There are also some questionable editing choices and the score that doesn't really fit the quirky, surrealist tone. Still, I'd recommend the end result to any A24 loyalist. 6.5/10
What a delight. Flipping genres on a dime and with a cautionary tale of modern virality and the destruction it brings to those hunted by it, Dream Scenario is a fantastic smorgasbord of ideas that really shouldn't come together as well as it does. Not many films can be funny, tragic and scary in equal measure and still come out feeling as complete as this movie does. Excellence, I can't wait to watch it again.
Very interesting premise, but they forgot to put any meaning in it.
One of those ideas that seems more appropriate for a short film.
I was familiar with the term 'feel-good movie', but this one introduced me to the genre of 'feel-bad movies'. Not a bad movie though and a perfect fit for Cage.
This was really going somewhere, until it doesn't. the acting was spot on for the horrifying existential crisis that carried through the silver screen, but just as you thought you were going to get some resolution for going through all the suffering with Cage's character for 2 hours, you were left hanging when the lights came on.
Interesting concept very strong start but it all starts to fall apart at the end. Wasn’t very impressed.
Wow, that was weird. Looks and feels so bizarre and Nic Cage has the perfect face for the role. His acting was phenomenal too, I think one of his best performances.
Was legit scared I will dream of Nicolas Cage after watching this movie Enjoyed it!
OMG, I don't know where the "metascore" came from on this movie, it was terrible. No ending, no explanations for why he was showing up in dreams or why it stopped. It was painful, a waste of time.
*A Nightmare on Cage Street* Directed by Kristoffer Borgli and produced by Ari Aster and it felt exactly like an Ari Aster movie... there's something we don't know here. Anyways I really enjoyed this the whole way through. It's genre bending, just like an Ari Aster movie, from drama, to fantasy, to pure comedy to even horror. I felt such a wide range of emotions watching it, the first half was very funny and the second half had me frustrated and sad. Nicolas Cage was perfect for this character, so clever to use a famous actor like Cage to play a character that's in everyone's dreams—he did a great performance! The dream sequences looked stunning and quite imaginative. The ending was so poetic, it made me emotional. What it's lacking is great cinematography, it isn't bad or anything but there's nothing special here. So a little bit of wasted potencial because of that but overall i'm ok with it not being overly stylish. Unpopular opinion but I like this better than Ari Aster's *Beau Is Afraid*.
Dream Scenario - :heart:x7 Weird and creepy. Cage's portrayal of the character's neuroticism is brilliant, creepy, and uncomfortable. It's worth a watch just to see Cage's performance. How I rate: 1-3 :heart: = seriously! don't waste your time 4-6 :heart: = you may or may not enjoy this 7-8 :heart: = I expect you will like this too 9-10 :heart: = movies and TV shows I really love!
I have no idea what I just watched.
A good film that just misses greatness is more disappointing than a bad film. Dream Scenario is outstanding until the last 20 minutes. It feels as though Kristoffer Borgli just couldn't figure out how to end it and ran out of time. Too bad. #BestNicolasCagePerformanceEver!
Great idea, poor execution. It's like they focused everything on the dreams part and forgot they were making a movie (with everything else this requires).
Neurotic, loser doormat gets punished the whole movie for being a neurotic loser doormat. But enough about BEAU IS AFRAID GUYS! I liked it!
Like a marriage: starts off fun but they don't know how to end it. For some strange reason, a man shows up in everybody's dreams and no one knows why so they stop making the movie. Too bad, because even Nicolas Cage did all right in this one.
As with most A24 films unfortunately, an interesting premise that carries for the first hour, followed by 30 minutes of not knowing how to wrap it all up.
**Pros:** Nicholas Cage. **Cons:** Unfocused. The premise is great. The first half is interesting, quirky, new. But- all the ideas that are thrown in here, while extremely topical (sudden fame; subconscious influence onto others; cancel culture; herd mentality) are never explored deeply enough, and we are left exactly as Paul Matheson (the main character), wondering why all of this is happening. It is almost as the movie didn't know which idea to explore, and left all of them just floating there. It's a "headline movie", very fitting for modern times where people don't have the focus to actually stop and think and go deeper. If that was made on purpose, kudos. The movie might've easily been a 7. It's the introduction, in the final 15 minutes, of a completely new concept that feels almost from another movie (and not in a good way) that throws a big wrench in the works, sticking the landing completely. It's beautifully shot and directed, and with an incredible photography from Benjamin Loeb which avoids the pitfall of modern trends and gives it a classic look; the issue, for me, is in the writing.
One of the best of the year!! Only Sorsese's latest tops it atm. I couldn't stop laughing through the ENTIRE thing and mostly I was the only one doing so in the cinema lol. Nicolas Cage might be my favourite actor.
I wish I would dream about Paul Matthews idling near me while I meet a grim fate.
Featured User Reviews
Packing a lot of material and ideas into a single film can result in a muddled, confusing mess, no matter how well-meaning a filmmaker’s intentions might be. However, in his third feature outing, writer-director Kristoffer Borgli succeeds for the most part when it comes to tackling such an imposing task. This offbeat tale of tenured but underappreciated university professor (Nicolas Cage) takes viewers on a wild ride through the diverse realms of fame, metaphysics, cancel culture, unrelenting group think, and unexpressed, underpursued desire, and the downside consequences of each. All of this comes about when the middle-aged everyman protagonist inexplicably begins showing up in the dreams of countless people, many of whom he doesn’t even know. This curious oneiric anomaly – an inspired metaphor for one’s presence on social media and in the public eye – quickly transforms him into an overnight viral media sensation, one that starts off with a generous showering of attention and lustful admiration but that almost as quickly leads him to become a scorned put-upon pariah. He swiftly becomes more than just yesterday’s news; he turns into the object of a targeted campaign of cancel culture, hate speech and unapologetic ostracism. And, ironically, it all stems from something he never wanted nor asked for in the first place (at least in the form it ultimately took). From the foregoing description, it might sound like the filmmaker has tried to overstuff this vehicle with far too much material for viewers to process and comprehend, and there are points in the story (especially in the last half hour) where a good case could be made for that argument. However, in telling this allegorical fable, the director manages to keep the narrative’s ideas distinctly sorted and in context to drive home his message, a powerful cautionary tale about the point we’ve collectively reached as a society with respect to these powerful and potentially damaging matters and practices. These are notions that we all need to hear but seldom do because of all the noise surrounding us that prevents us from hearing the music because of all the notes. For all this seriousness, however, “Dream Scenario” is loaded with hilarious, laugh-out-loud humor and fine performances all around (especially Cage and Michael Cera as an empty-headed, self-absorbed brand management expert), complemented with skillful film editing and carefully selected incidental shots that effectively punctuate the mood of many scenes. The script is generally solid, too, though it begins to stray somewhat from the material that works best in the final act, and there are a few graphically violent sequences that sensitive viewers should be wary of. On balance, though, this is the kind of production that should be made in greater numbers in an age where so many of us have lost touch with reason, our existence and ourselves. Maybe watching an offering like this could help us all sit up, think and get back on track while we still can.
When college professor "Matthews" (Nicolas Cage) starts appearing in the dreams of strangers (oh, and his wife!), his whole life is turned topsy-turvy. Initially it's all a rather benign phenomenon with his appearances fleeting, inconclusive and harmless. Until, that is, he meets one person who has been having a rather more intimate experience. Not only does this meeting not go very well (on various levels!) but it seems to change the very nature of the illusions for everyone, turning them more into nightmares... A predictable, occasionally violent, backlash ensues which makes the man's life - and that of his family - all but insufferable. What to do now his fame has come back to bite him? I quite enjoyed the first half hour of this quirky and entertainingly written drama. Cage is always rather good at taking the rise out of himself, and he seems to be enjoying the ride at the start. Once the story turns a bit darker, though, it runs out of steam. It's charm and uniqueness becomes rather subsumed in a rather unsubtle whack at the "cancel culture" that exists amongst those who live their lives via social media. It's not the first or the best to draw a parallel between what's real and what's fact - even when such distinctions are easily identifiable, and after a while I felt the film had no clear idea of how to conclude without actually proving it's own, rather depressing, point. The idea is interesting, the delivery is fine - but the end product is all a bit underwhelming.
It must be not the most original movie but hey, it is something unexpected. Being from A24 I did what I do on almost all movies - didn't read anything about it beforehand. After watching the movie and taking my conclusion, I researched a bit about it: it is a black comedy movie from the norwegian (ok strange film spoiler) Kristoffer Borgli produced by Cage and Ari Aster. Ok, this also got my attention: the director has only 3 movies with this one, being the last one "Sick of Myself" (2022) literally the opposite of what this one talk about - a satyre of cancel culture in a mildly surrealistic way (maybe there also enters a pun later in the movie about France). He is a normal biology professor that starts popping into millions of people dreams and gains notoriety just to be the the fruit of nightmares and start to be cancelled by the society. The base of the acting is the "good actor version" Nicolas Cage as Paul Matthews, a college professor and Julianne Nicholson as Janet Matthews, Paul's wife. Other recognized actors like Michael Cera in minor papers. The cinematography by Benjamin Loeb ("Mandy", 2018, "Pieces of a Woman", 2020, "After Yang" 2020) is very effective especially in the use of angles. On the soundtrack, that is very adequate without any music other than OST the last music (credits one) City Of Dreams by Talking Heads is very nice. But the real deal with the movie aside from the theme and story is Nicolas Cage in another good role, Thanks God for that. On my score, not a movie for everyone, only those who enjoy northern Europe cinematography, a solid 7,5 out of 10,0 / B+ - I am sure you can call the story something you've seen before.
Only Cage can create such an awful, self-centred person on screen and maintain relatability. He is incredible. Creative little woke-sterpiece giving an unbelievable twist to some modern issues that results in tragic comedy.
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