Who does not dream of Nicolas Cage? There was a time when the man himself was dreamy. He still is. Balding and jaded, with a lumberjack beard and a Freddy Krueger presence, his role in Dream Scenario is the splendid, off-kilter appeal he has fashioned a career from in the last two decades. Long may it continue – though for how long not even Cage knows. His re-evaluation as a dependably out-there interpretation of ambition and how we visualise it is a shock to the system. But what is not so stunning is the re-evaluation offered to him by audiences. Just six years ago, Cage was appearing in shoddy action flicks and dense thrillers. He still does, but with this comes an appreciation of his unique and out-there style.
Dream Scenario does its best to ground Cage for fear he will become a self-eating pastiche of himself. Director Kristoffer Borgli has cracked the code of keeping Cage grounded. Lift everyone around him. Normalise the bizarre. Dream Scenario is exceptional at this and brings this sense of mundanity with striking metaphors and a sense of tired terrors in the family unit. Stifled careers and the general malaise which runs through the latter stages of life are turned on their head – as they so often need to be. You do not need to be the star of dreams across the globe to make a change, but it helps Paul Matthews (Cage) make a desperate grab in the final third of his life. There is a sense of broader difficulties looming over and shaking the ground beneath you is the only change possible.
Meeting with members of the public and just having Cage idly wander through the dreams of millions has the sketches of a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode. It is easy to drop Larry David into place on this one though Dream Scenario survives on the process found in an old comedy routine from Irish comedian Michael Redmond. Would it not be strange to consistently see the same face of a stranger in places it does not belong? Your garden. Near the crash where a dear friend died. Out-of-the-blue moments are brought to life and are very dependent on an almost irrelevant man desperate to get himself published. Borgli hopes to avoid the pitfalls of the loser handed a platter of hope by keeping Paul down but not buried enough to never linger on hope.
Clap and cheer for the A24 logo you slop-eating freaks. They made this possible as much as they made the air around us breathable. Lose yourself to the brand giving Tim Meadows chance after chance to provide some clear evidence of brilliant work. Julianne Nicholson marks another exceptional supporting performance as the seemingly quiet but head of the Matthews home in a rush of strong supporting scenes which are the essential unravelling of Paul, struck by fame and broken by the aftershock. Dream Scenario is off-kilter enough to work and manages to adapt the Cage Rage into a performance which truly benefits him. Paul is struck by the sudden urge people have to now talk to him, and life in the shadows and being kicked around for so long becomes his undoing as their ulterior motives, worn on their sleeve for much of Dream Scenario, unfurl rapidly.
