Dream Scenario
starring Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Geluka and Dylan Baker
written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli
Rating: ♦♦♦◊◊
Nicolas Cage has done some great films, and some not-so-great ones. Problems in his personal life motivate him to accept any and all projects that come along regardless of its merit, because he needs the money. Dream Scenario is an interesting film that I liked.
Paul Matthews (Cage), is a tenured professor of evolutionary biology. He excels as a teacher, not a researcher, although it’s obvious (he makes it obvious) that he yearns to be known as a researcher. He wants to publish a book on his specialty topic, ants.
A funny thing happens one day. People start seeing him in their dreams. No, they aren’t dreaming about him. He just appears in their dreams, doing nothing, a passive, reserved and emotionless bystander to events - usually weird events. It starts out slowly, involving people who know him - first his daughter, and later his students, and eventually people in his community and around the world. But it soon escalates, and people who don’t know him begin seeing him, with perfect recollection. He begins to get recognized by strangers on the street. How is it possible for strangers who’ve never met or seen him to see him accurately in their dreams? Maybe the fame he quickly accumulates acts as a catalyst: people see him in their dreams after they first see him on TV. The film’s explanation is the totally bogus-sounding “shared dream subconsciouness.”
In reality, Paul is a kind, loving, harmless human being. But soon, his presence in people’s dreams becomes active, violent and hateful. The worst part of it is that people blame him for his behavior in their dreams. Is that crazy, or what? Paul himself hasn’t done anything - nothing at all. And yet, he gets “cancelled.” His students feel uncomfortable around him, and he is put on leave from his tenured position. In public, people feel uncomfortable around him, leading to at least one physical attack in a restaurant, one intruder in his home, and vandalism of his car. People blame him for their dreams. His wife, Janet, feels negative blowback in her job, as well.
Janet wants her husband to publicly apologize. But that’s ridiculous to imagine why. Paul should apologize for other people’s dreams? But that’s the way it is in today’s , isn’t it? Dream Scenario is a commentary on fame as well as a study in how a man gets cancelled in today’s society. Reality has nothing to do with it. It’s just the automatic PR reaction to people’s “feelings.”
In the end, the strain of the situation breaks Paul and Janet’s marriage. Instead of publishing his research book on ants, he writes a biography, Dream Scenario, to mediocre reaction.
Sometime later, the dreams have stopped, and dream-traveling technology has been invented in light of the discovery of a shared dream subconsciousness, primarily to be used for advertising. I don’t like this part. There’s a continuity break between Paul’s story and the outcome of telepathic consumer advertising. The former is supposed to be a setup for the latter, but it doesn’t work. The writers would have done better to close the film on Paul’s story, and leave this whole dream consciousness thing alone.