A professor’s life turns upside down when thousands of people around the world start dreaming about him.
Unique script, approach and perspective! A whole analysis can be written about Dream Scenario. Writer/director Kristoffer Borgli and A24 made a film where every cut matters. The diegetic (natural) and non-diegetic (added) sounds are meticulous, as well as the lack thereof. The slow motions and the specific choice of angles add to every other element that, at first gradually, and then consecutively, confuses you about what is real and what isn’t.
Why is this happening? How is it even possible? It doesn’t matter. What matters is how people react to this phenomenon. And equally important, how Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) expresses his actions and reactions. Every sequence is visual poetry and an audiovisual experience. Borgli, Cage, and A24 brought to life something exquisite that defies many narrative formulas. Julianne Nicholson is also fantastic, and all of them, as well as the rest of the cast and crew, deserve massive praise.
Again, so much could be said about the relationship between the dream/reality sequences and image and sound, but I will let you see for yourselves. If you are interested, please read below how this film made me feel and inspired me to post online about it.
Thanks for reading!
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“Dream Scenario” (2023): Dreams, Nightmares, and the Attention Economy
What if fame and attention came to you for doing nothing — and vanished just as quickly? That’s the world “Dream Scenario” reflects: A highly knowledgeable man unrecognised in his field becomes the dream of the masses — and then their nightmare. He does nothing to deserve either. That, perhaps, is the point.
It mirrors our world of social media and television, where people rise to fame for nothing and fall just as fast for the same nothing. Demagogy thrives, witch hunts flare through tabloids, and mass audiences turn as quickly as they applaud.
Everyone has the right to dream big. Dreams are the creations of our unconscious mind — the writer, editor, and director. Reality, however, is the truth we ultimately must face.
The lesson? Let’s not support or give in to “nothing.” Stopping the scroll and using the remote to turn off “nothing” are small but powerful acts — ways to protect our sanity and focus on people, ideas, and situations that truly help us grow.
Agree or disagree — constructive criticism and critical thinking are a couple of compass points that should guide how we scroll, what we consume, and the culture we choose to sustain.
