The most surreal sci-fi film of 2023 gives Nicolas Cage his best role in years

In A24’s new surreal drama Dream scenarioNicolas Cage plays “The Most Interesting Man in the World.” This seems like a given – Cage has never encountered a wild swing that he didn’t take with the most unbridled enthusiasm imaginable – but Dream scenario He imagines that the most interesting man in Hollywood is not interesting at all. In fact, it’s a bit boring, a bit abrasive, and a bit unlikable. That is, until he starts appearing in everyone’s dreams.

Written and directed by Christopher Burghley, Dream scenario A hysterically dark takedown of “cancel culture” and all of its equally surprising highs and surprising lows. The film stars Cage as Paul Matthews, an unlucky college professor who is having a mid-life crisis. But his crisis comes in a very different way: he suddenly finds himself the star of his daughter’s strange dream. Funny enough, he’s not bothered by the content of her dream, which involves a scary scenario in which ordinary objects like meteors fall from the sky.

What Do It bothers Paul that he doesn’t do anything in the dream except collect leaves. Then, more people approach Paul and confess to him that they’ve dreamed about him: his ex-girlfriend, his students, and hundreds of random strangers who’ve never met him before. He soon finds himself, overnight, the man of everyone’s dreams. Paul is thrilled by this attention but frustrated by his own negativity in his dreams in all the dreams he hears about. As expected, this all changes when everyone’s dreams take a sinister turn, and Paul becomes the world’s No. 1 outcast.

Produced by Ari Aster dream scenario, He feels like a member of the same sarcastic family Boo is afraid. Both are comedies shot like horror films, taking everyday struggles beyond reasonable standards and magnifying every bad feeling until every social misstep plays like a jump scare. But as Aster stumbled under the weight Boo is afraidBurghley’s hard-hitting saga, in his English-language debut, delivers an awkward and very funny comedy about celebrity peril that manages to walk the line between goofy satire and secretly horrific indie drama.

Burghley and director of photography Benjamin Loeb shot the film using a natural, muted color palette while heightening the absurdity of each dream. These scenes play out like horror movies, a little ominous, and often horrific. In one student’s dream, bodies litter the classroom floor as tables and chairs fly upward—and meanwhile, Paul wanders along to offer stoic comfort. In another story, a student is chased across a field by an unidentified serial killer, and Paul is also there enjoying nature.

Do these often disturbing dreams mean anything? Burghley doesn’t offer much in the way of interpretation, though one can read it as a reflection of our collective anxiety about an increasingly chaotic world—and Paul’s there too. But just like the “dream epidemic” of which Paul is the center, no scientific reason can be found behind this phenomenon and no reason why dreams would suddenly take a violent turn, all at the same time. This is where reality and dream begin to blend together, and the ominous tone dances around its edges Dream scenario It starts to seep through the rest of the movie.

Dream scenarioThe unique tightrope works thanks to Nicolas Cage’s central performance as the utterly pathetic Paul. Not since Adaptation Cage played such a pathetic loser — a callback to the performance that seems appropriate given the similar reality-twisting narratives in both films. He seems to enjoy playing the role of a frustrated common man. Paul is not your average ordinary guy, he is an incredibly arrogant person who fully believes that he deserves more than his comfortable suburban life. That’s why he happily accepts his newfound fame, treating it as something he’s earned rather than a random phenomenon that just happened to him. And when it’s eventually canceled due to something beyond his control, it’s hard to feel sorry for him. It makes way for Burghley to remove viral fame, which is an arbitrary, ridiculous, and very fleeting concept that can happen to someone as undeserving as Paul.

Dream scenario It has a premise that’s so tight and interesting that it inevitably loses steam once you get past it, and the final act of the film seems to struggle to find the same kind of sharp commentary as the beginning. More star-studded appearances, including a hilarious Michael Cera as a savvy businessman who wants to cash in on Paul’s overnight fame, add to the load. Dream scenario With so many satirical points that you start to lose the plot.

But even as Dream scenario As he moves beyond the absurd, he maintains the same cynical view of cancel culture. No, he’s not saying anything particularly new, and yes, it’s another diatribe against social media. But it’s as absurd and ridiculous as the concept of viral fame it mocks. Best of all, Nicolas Cage plays the most interesting man in the world, in the most ridiculous way possible.

Dream scenario Opens in theaters on November 10.