Dream Scenario is the sort of movie that will divide an audience. Like all dreams, it’s pretty much open to interpretation. Or at least your impression of it. That said, I found it terrific.
Nicholas Cage is one of the most prolific actors out there with a remarkably uneven career. In his own words, Dream Scenario is one of the top five movies he’s ever made. And he’s right. Dream Scenario is as weird, quirky, and unconventional as Cage himself. And just as great as Cage is on a good day. In the movie, he plays Paul, a mild-mannered tenured professor of evolutionary biology, who has a mild, unremarkable life or a married man with two kids, a nice wife, and a stalled comfortable career. With a bit of a paunch and the worst hairstyle known to men, Paul is hitting the middle age hard. And the middle age hits back, making Paul feel inadequate when compared to his more illustrious colleagues. More than inadequate, ineffectual and invisible. And then by reasons unknown and through no effort of his own, Paul begins appearing in other people’s dreams. Much like in life (and much to his consternation), Paul doesn’t do much of anything on these dreams, he’s just kind of there. But in this day and age, when most fame comes undeserved and goes like wildfire across social media, it’s enough to propel him into a sort of stardom. For a while, Paul is delighted with his newfound fame. Then it backfires, when the dreams turn into nightmares, and in those nightmares, he is no longer passive. Now people are afraid of Paul. And it still has nothing to do with him, though it affects his entire existence. Specifically, it kind of ruins it. Eventually, the sleep technology becomes ubiquitous and, of course, monetized, and Paul is left to dream of a life he once had, before all the madness. So, why did I like this movie so much? Well, outside of it being well written and very well acted, I very much enjoyed everything it had to say about the modern society, the perverted meaning of celebrity, the outsized significance placed on insignificant things, and so on. Bottom line is that this movie is about the meaning of life. What is enough? What we need and what we want and the difference between the two. Bravely enough, the movie doesn’t take it easy on its audience. It doesn’t give it easy resolutions or even a particularly likeable protagonist. It is Paul’s everydayness, his averageness, even his patheticness that makes him so compelling to watch. Also, it’s just a fun, original idea for a movie. Genuinely original. So yeah, nicely done. One of the better A24 productions, for sure. Positively dreamy.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
December 2023
Categories |