Recently seen as Dracula in “Renfield”, Nicolas Cage teams up with the director of “Midsommar” (here producer) for the needs of “Dream Scenario”. An astonishing film in which his character appears in the dreams of people he doesn’t know.
WHAT DOES IT TALK ABOUT ?
Paul Matthews, an ordinary professor, finds his life turned upside down when he begins to appear in the dreams of millions of people. Paul then becomes a sort of media phenomenon, but his newfound celebrity will quickly take an unexpected turn…
SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS
2023, year of dreams for Nicolas Cage? After finally playing a role he cherished (Dracula) in Renfield, here he appears in the dreams of the characters in Dream Scenario. Both people around him, like his daughter in the strange opening scene which sets the tone for what will follow, as well as the students of the professor he plays, or complete strangers.
Like a rereading, in the form of a black comedy, of Claws of the Night (an openly cited and almost too assumed reference), born from the combined talents of Ari Aster, director of Midsommar and Beau is Afraid who plays the producers here, and the director Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli, to whom we owe the already very astonishing Sick of Myself, released a little earlier this year.
In an offbeat way, sometimes funny, sometimes horrific, often surprising, Dream Scenario examines the question of celebrity. And who other than Nicolas Cage could play the main character? The actor said that the script was one of the five best he had read (along with those of Arizona Junior, Kiss Me Vampire, Leaving Las Vegas and Adaptation), and that is understandable.
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Beyond his qualities, the subject could only speak to him, he who has experienced the high peaks as well as the depths of celebrity. This actor who we love for his tantrums on screen and off (see this lunar entry on an English talk show from the early 90s, where he performs pirouettes and martial arts gestures, and throws tickets in the public), which has become a meme on the Web.
It’s hard not to think about all of this when his character becomes an unwitting social media star without being able to control anything. Except that Paul Matthews does not play the rock star and appears particularly uncomfortable with the attention paid to him, notably in a hilarious scene.
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For the occasion and in order to accentuate the discrepancy at work, the actor wears a Mr. Everyman look, which goes directly into his personal top. If only for the bald head of the man who has long been all the rage with improbable haircuts.
Centered on cancel culture, the last part is more current and expected, and we may regret that the end does not live up to the beginning. But Dream Scenario has the good idea of not over-explaining its plot and Nicolas Cage’s performance, with metatextual accents as the actor seems to be in dialogue with his own celebrity, is worth the detour alone. Now it remains to be seen whether you will dream of him afterwards.
2023-12-27 18:06:01
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