By Mark Fields
Offbeat Critique on Loneliness, Attention, and the Corrosive Power of Social Media
In Dream Scenario, Paul, a frustrated academic played against type by Nicholas Cage, discovers he is frequently showing up in many peoples’ dreams — doing nothing, just there. This unexplained situation brings him some of the professional and personal attention he has long craved, perhaps unhealthily. Paul’s passive dream presence underscores the sad banality of his waking existence.
But when Paul’s nighttime cameos turn more sinister, his life begins to collapse, quickly. And his hunger for public affirmation begins to have some dire and disturbing consequences.
As written and directed by Norwegian Kristoffer Borgli, Dream Scenario has a lot to say about many things — academic torpor, the thirst for attention seeking, and mercurial viral fame. One of the striking things about the tone that Borgli creates in this film is an uneasy balance between dark comedy and psychological devastation. Its meta awareness, craftily playing on Cage’s own gonzo place in modern celebrity, helps open the opportunity for one of the actor’s best performances.
