There are a lot of ideas in Dream Scenario (2023, Kristoffer Borgli), but they don't exactly gel. The movie seems to be about celebrity, internet influencers, and the specious blandishments of fame. These themes are developed by way of an outre occult narrative that raises more questions than it answers. One has the suspicion that these ideas could be explored more persuasively without the aura of mystery intrinsic to the movie. Ultimately, the picture's premise turns out to be a distraction since the real concerns of the movie are rather remote from its narrative.
Professor Paul Matthews teaches something like evolutionary biology at a small private college. He's happily married, has two teenage daughters, and, like many in academia, is rather indolent and feckless -- he has been working on a book about insect intelligence, something he calls "antintelligence" for years except that he has never come around to putting his ideas on paper. Suddenly, without explanation, he starts appearing as a bemused observer in people's dreams. The phenomenon is widespread and Matthews becomes an instant celebrity. People want selfies with him; his students regard his lectures as chances to rub shoulders with a famous figure -- although he's famous purely for standing on the sidelines in people's dreams. Matthews flies to the big city where he is courted by an internet advertising agency -- they are trying to set up a meeting with the Obamas and suggest that he become a pitchman for Sprite. (Matthews insists that the agency assist him in publishing his book about insect evolution -- they are less than enthused about this project). One of the young women at the agency has been having torrid erotic dreams about Matthews. She tries to seduce him with comically disastrous results -- he farts uncontrollably and ejaculates the moment she unzips his pants; the gap between dream and reality here is an uncomfortable chasm. After this mishap, Matthews dream-appearances become sinister -- now, he is a nightmare figure haunting people's dreams as a sadistic torturing monster. As can happen with internet fame, his celebrity turns dark in a heartbeat -- he is maligned, beaten up in restaurants, and loses, first, his job and, then, his wife. Matthews leaves the country for PR tour in France -- his book has been published through the Agency as I am your Nightmare. (Matthews wanted the book to be named Dream Scenario) Matthews poses with bayonet-taloned gauntlet of Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street. Gradually, he ceases appearing in people's dreams and his "fifteen minutes of fame" is at an end. Scientists have studied the phenomenon of his dream appearance and conclude that Jung's notion of the collective unconscious is verifiable. In fact, a high-tech company has developed a product called the Norio, a wristband that lets you enter the dreams of other sleepers. Matthews has a Norio and, in the film's last scene, seems to enter his divorced wife's dream in which he and she are briefly compatible, and, even, happy together. (The identity of the dreamer in the last scene is ambiguous -- it may be that Matthews is simply experiencing a wish-fulfillment dream about his wife.)
The movie is unassuming, anchored by a uncharacteristically restrained performance by Nicholas Cage as Paul Matthews. He looks morose through most of the film and suffers a series of humiliations at the hands of colleagues and women -- for instance, his theory of "antintelligence" is stolen by a female colleague. (This subplot goes nowhere and isn't tied to the movie's plot.) There are a number of eerie dream sequences, also understated, and, therefore, I think all the more effective. Matthews starts the film as the sort of unpretentious nebbish teacher that his more accomplished colleagues don't invite to their parties. The idea of the film is clever and interesting but the material is somewhat thin -- the movie's concept is explored at length and there are a number of scenes that don't really go anywhere. Examples are a dinner-party scene in which the host's wife flees the table at the sight of Matthews -- it's painful and embarrassing but doesn't add much to the story; similarly, there's an attempt by a professional therapist to use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to acclimate Matthews' students to his presence after his dream appearances have become garishly nightmarish -- predictably this fails. Dream Scenario is not a long movie but feels oddly padded. There's some suggestion that the whole thing is just a dream -- in a couple shots, posited as waking life, we see leaves falling inexplicably in the corner of the frame; falling leaves signify dreaming in some scenes. The landscape is vivid with bright autumnal colors, in fact, suspiciously vivid as if these images show dreamscapes. When Matthews is thrown out of his house by his wife, he stays with a colleague in a dank basement with a florescent light that inexplicably can't be turned off. Later, in Paris, Paul goes to a book signing also held for some reason in a basement corridor which looks like the rooms in his friend's cellar and also lit by a bright florescent light overhead. Matthews asks his wife in an early scene if she dreams of him, wondering if she has erotic dreams in which he features. She tells him that he appears in her dreams wearing the outsized suit featured in the Talking Heads concert doc, Stop Making Sense -- this big, bulky suit worn by David Byrne figures in the last scene in the movie, a fairly arcane reference, I think, for many younger viewers. There are nice touches. Paul meets the young woman at the Agency in a bar on Halloween and we see various people with gruesome fake wounds and, even, a man who is made up to look just like Paul -- he has become so famous that people impersonate him on Halloween. (This is before he starts starring in dreams as a sadistic monster.) One theme of the movie has to do with zebras: zebras look conspicuous in order to blend in with their herd -- a predator can attack a single animal but not a herd. Zebra imagery is visible in a number of scenes and Paul keeps a picture of a zebra on his bookshelf. This suggests that we all blend in with our herd, a sort of protective coloration, but when we are exposed by the internet, "doxed" as it were, we are liable to become prey.
Dream Scenario is well-written and intriguing. Much of the dialogue, particularly Paul's tendency to whine, is similar to the brittle, hyper-literate way people talk in a Woody Allen movie. But there's something wrong with the movie -- it doesn't land exactly right. I think the problem is that the premise overwhelms the picture and, once, it is established, the movie has nowhere to go. (The movie is directed by Kristoffer Borgli, a Norwegian filmmaker, and produced by Ari Aster.0
No comments:
Post a Comment