Dream Scenario

Well, I must be dreaming! I once got scolded for something I did or said in a dream... Interesting premise, skillful execution, albeit with a slightly underwhelming ending, and most importantly, Nicolas Cage's big comeback. Kristoffer Borgli does a great job with modern trends and the fickleness of human favour. I was expecting some sort of climax towards the end, a lingering denouement rather than a reconciliatory epilogue. A possible prequel to Nolan's Inception? (12/27/2023)

A great idea, an excellent Nicolas Cage, Woody Allen-like marital dialogue... And such an unnecessarily VERY rushed ending, I felt sorry for it. It's as if someone suddenly noticed that the budget had been slashed and there were only a few dollars left. Too bad, too bad, it felt completely like a sudden awakening from a dream you didn't care for. (02/12/2024)

A remarkable yet rather simple satire about fame and its transmutations, renown on social networks, internet celebrity, over-sensitivity in today’s world and cancel culture. Nicolas Cage excels in the role of the ordinary bored professor who suddenly starts to appear in millions of people’s dreams. It’s as if he is a living meme who is capable of being funny, scary, sorrowful and embarrassing. It’s also worth mentioning the entertaining dream sequences and surrealistic atmosphere, though the whole high-concept metaphor is only partly effective, as it doesn’t go very deep and is exceedingly literal. (10/14/2023)

Dream Scenario benefits mainly from the novel premise and the performance of Nicolas Cage, whose character, Paul, becomes the target of both unprecedented admiration and cruel hatred, with both completely contradictory emotional levels based not on the real world, but on the dream world – which makes the ending of the film all the more absurd. Kristoffer Borgli plays with the theme of cancel culture in an unconventional way, and by incorporating dream sequences, his satire takes on fantasy, even horror, dimensions. There are a few humorous sequences, but the feelings with the film as a whole are rather chilling. A truly unconventional piece that, despite the somewhat questionable ending, makes you think. (01/25/2024)

For the vast majority of the film's running time I was excitedly thinking that I must be dreaming, it can't be that good. And "I can't believe it" was also what I said during the epilogue, but in a completely different sense. After all, it's not possible that one and the same person is able to write a concept like Kaufman, direct it like Gondry, and then send the whole thing down the drain because he figured he'd get away with it (when he didn't need to) with a final 15-minute epilogue from a different cupboard, one with unused ideas from a dozen Black Mirror episodes, and he just pulled out the worst possible option on a whim. That the same creator thought “yeah, this is a good ending” still boggles my mind. A satirical mirror-setting, a family drama about the breakup of a family, a more-than-successful Freddy origin story, a pint-sized comedy working brilliantly with the awkwardness of the moment, the Jung in us and you. It works on all levels. The plot, however fanciful, unfolds on a believable ground level of "yeah, this is how it could be if it were happening". One of the films of the year diluted (read shattered) by an eye-rolling conclusion. (12/18/2023)