The Nicholas Cage renaissance continues with another great, quirk-filled performance. Here Cage is playing a doubly extra ‘ordinary’ college professor, Paul Matthews who starts randomly appearing in people’s dreams. 

An old college friend is on the verge of publishing a paper that Paul feels plagiarizes his ideas.
Soon after, he bumps into an old girlfriend who writes an article about him appearing in her dream and tags him on Facebook which opens the floodgates to people everywhere admitting they have also dreamt about him.

“Look at me Pa, I’m flying.”
Jessica Clement and Nicholas Cage in Dream Scenario

He finds out that he is the same in almost everyone’s dreams, he does nothing, just appears without engagement.

A man who just observes, an unimpressive man who is far from active. 

This is reflective of his real life persona, a man who has been meaning to write a book for years but hasn’t yet written a page.

His desire to be ‘special’ is especially relevant in this world of social media and the potential or idea of going viral. It somehow feels like validation but like the idea of winning the lottery.
In the immortal words of Admiral Ackbar: “It’s a trap.”

The consequences of begging.
Nicholas Cage in Dream Scenario

Even an ordinary 60-something professor, who seems to have no real ambition, longs to be treated specially. This socio-personal commentary by Norwegian director, Kristoffer Borgli couldn’t be more prescient. We all suffer from it in one way or another. Whether we latch onto a conspiracy theory to make ourselves feel ‘special’ or somehow feel clued into something outside the norm of society or the hope that that the picture of our food we posted on Instagram goes viral and we are awarded validation by likes, this is a modern day problem. Nic Cage’s Paul is no different from you or me. 

As normy as he is, we are all Paul in one way or another. 

Like Sully said in the last season of Top Boy: 
“Don’t beg. It’s disgusting”.

Too. Many. Thoughts.
Nicholas Cage in Dream Scenario

The cast are all brilliant in this A24 film including the über talented Julianne Nicholson, who plays Paul’s wife, Janet and the ever-brilliant Michael Cera, who plays the head of a company Thoughts. Dylan Gelula plays Molly, an assistant at Thoughts and also has dreams which feature Paul, in which he is anything but passive. The comedian Tim Meadows as the dean of the college where Paul works. Lily Bird and Jessica Clement play Paul and Janet’s daughters, Sophie and Hannah and we get a big treat with the inclusion of the always ace Dylan Baker who plays one of Paul’s old friends. Also worth mentioning, there is a cameo from Amber Midthunder taking a break from hunting Predators and the excellent Nicholas Braun as the head of a dream company.

All the cast are on point.

Dylan Gelula, Michael Cera and Kate Berlant in Dream Scenario

This is a film about the subconscious bleeding into the real world of sorts. A metaphor for deep desires that will never really give us what we want. A cautionary tale or a reality cheque that needs cashing in immediately and investing elsewhere.

The dream sequences are brilliant, hilarious and sometimes terrifying, all kudos to the editor, writer and director Borgli, he has truly delivered one of the most original, interesting and refreshing films of the year.

My take is that the whole film is a dream, or at least dream-like in its delivery.
Nicolas Cage’s performance seems stylised and slightly dialled up from the rest of the cast and I think this is deliberate. From the film opening with Paul’s daughter’s dream to the final sequence it could definitely be seen as a fever dream about one person’s desperate desire to be seen.

Out in Australia on January 1st, 2024.

Out already in the United States of America and the United Kingdom.