Monday Night Film Series presents DREAM SCENARIO-FR

Event date(s): March 11, 2024
Time(s): 07:30 PM - 09:30 PM
Category: Fredericton
Location: Fredericton

The Monday Night Film Series presents DREAM SCENARIO on Mar. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in Tilley 102. 

Hapless family man Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. But when his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to navigate his newfound stardom, in this wickedly entertaining comedy from writer-director Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself) and producer Ari Aster.

This satirical swipe at celebrity and groupthink from writer-director Kristoffer Borgli and co-producer Ari Aster stars Nicolas Cage as an inconspicuous academic who is thrust into the limelight after he starts inexplicably appearing in people’s dreams.

Nicolas Cage stars as Paul Matthews, a listless family man and tenured professor with an affinity for evolutionary biology and anxiety regarding his own anonymity. One day, he discovers he has begun to appear in other people’s dreams at an exponential rate. As in life, his presence in these dreams is banal and non-intrusive — he’s simply there, staring indifferently at the fantasies and nightmares of strangers. Nonetheless, he becomes an overnight celebrity, and is soon showered with the attention he has long been denied. But when Paul encounters a dreamer whose visions of him differ substantially from the norm, he finds himself grappling with the Faustian bargain of fame as his dream-selves start inexplicably becoming violent within their respective subconsciousness’s.

Co-produced by Ari Aster, a consummate alchemist of surrealist horror and anxious comedy, Dream Scenario proceeds as a kind of comedic reversal of A Nightmare on Elm Street, with Paul in the proverbial striped sweater terrorizing the populus, but, here, facing real-life consequences for actions he does not control. Cage is brilliant as the pitiable Matthews, and outright terrifying as some of his manifestations, which feature an iconic intensity not seen in a Cage part since Mandy (incidentally shot by this film’s cinematographer Ben Loeb). Buoyed by a terrific cast that features Julianne Nicholson and Michael Cera, this dryly hilarious satire-cum–social horror affirms writer-director Kristoffer Borgli as an astute critic of influencer culture and societal groupthink, and a gifted purveyor of the absurd.

“Dream Scenario does feature some surreal dream sequences, but it’s not really about dreams. It’s about life as a modern, viral celebrity, on display in the unblinking eye of the public, social media and cancel culture.”  Richard Crouse

This year, 30 limited release, independent foreign & Canadian films will be shown. Admission is $10/film, but a yearly film society membership reduces admission cost to $7/film. The series is open to all. Memberships are available at Tilley 102 every Monday night.

For further info, contact NB Film Co-op 455-1632  info@nbfilmcoop.com https://www.nbfilmcoop.com/monday-night-film-serie 

The NB Film Co-op in partnership with the UNB Faculty of Arts and the Toronto Film Festival presents the series.

Building: Tilley Hall

Room Number: 102