‘Dream Scenario’ Review: In a Career of More Than 100 Credits, This Nightmare Ranks Among Nicolas Cage’s Best
variety.comPeter Debruge Chief Film Critic Just when you thought Nicolas Cage’s filmography couldn’t get any weirder, along comes Kristoffer Borgli’s “Dream Scenario” to mess with your head.
Cage plays a character you probably wouldn’t notice in real life: Paul Matthews. Schlubby, balding, in wrinkled pants and brown leather loafers, he’s a tenured professor at a university you’ve never heard of, droning on year after year about collective consciousness and the wisdom of the herd.
And then something weird happens. Paul starts to appear in people’s dreams, either standing around or just strolling through, and suddenly this all-but-invisible man has people paying attention to him.
What does Paul do? What would you do in those terrible shoes of his? A Norwegian helmer making his English-language debut for A24 (by way of Ari Aster’s production company), “Sick of Myself” director Borgli takes this surrealist premise and approaches it in with a tone that’s a singular mix of comedic and sinister.
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