friends, Cage is back again and again!
Since paying off his debt, the quality of Nicolas Cage's films has skyrocketed. Not only did
's Douban score slowly start to pass 6, but it even began to take over work from various large studios.
just starred in Universal's vampire comedy "Rainfield."
Now comes another movie co-produced with Hollywood upstart a24, with a Douban score of 7.0.
exceeded the passing mark by a full point!
In the past, this rating might have been a penny-pinching for Cage.
But after more than ten years of bad movies, from today's perspective, this is Cage's top rating.
Not only that, Cage was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy for this film.
I cried to death, Cage really turned over -
"Dream scenario"
dream scenario
2023.11.10. United States
When people dream of Cage
The whole movie is built on a strange high concept -
Somehow , starting from a certain day, many people began to dream about an ordinary bald man.
Of course I am not talking about this
"One Punch Man"
but the biology professor played by Cage, Paul .
He is a very ordinary and boring person, the kind who would be overwhelmed if thrown into a crowd.
goes to work and off work step by step every day, always wearing a plaid shirt and khaki trousers. Although
has a pretty good job and a pretty good family.
But in Paul's heart, he has always been longing for some changes, or some passion.
Changes are coming soon.
Many people suddenly find that when they dream, there is always a bald middle-aged man wandering next to them.
However, they did not know at this time that this bald man was the ordinary Paul.
Paul thought it was a prank at first.
Students will point at him, and when they go to the restaurant to eat, they will occasionally be asked by the waiter if they have seen him somewhere.
However, as more and more people began to recognize Paul, he was convinced that he had become the legendary dream boy.
Paul was a little scared, but more excited.
Many people came to leave messages on his social media homepage, and some news media wanted to interview him.
You must know that for most of his life, he has never received this kind of attention.
His wife was a little worried. After all, there were many celebrities, but Paul took matters into his own hands and accepted interviews from the media.
Paul became an instant hit.
Many people even came to the class to observe him just to see him.
His wife and daughter also benefited from him and became celebrities in the company and school.
The only thing that makes him feel regretful is that in everyone's dreams, he seems to have nothing to do.
No matter what danger the dreamer is experiencing, Paul always seems to have no intention of helping.
He always just wanders around quietly.
Even in his own daughter's dream, it was like this -
His daughter suddenly floated into the sky, but Paul just watched silently.
Good dreams don’t last long.
As some bad things happened to Paul, everyone's dreams slowly began to turn into nightmares.
In the dream, Paul was no longer a bald man doing nothing, but a murderer who stole souls and demanded lives.
Although in reality, Paul did nothing.
But people's attitude towards Paul has fallen from heaven to the bottom...
This film is none other than Cage
This film is Christopher Bogli's second feature film.
As a new director, he actually didn't expect to invite a star actor like Cage at first.
Cage was only considered after executive producer Ari Aster ("Hereditary") attracted investment from a24.
can only say that they chose the right person, and Cage is really suitable for this role.
Even Cage himself mentioned that this film was one of the five movies he felt compelled to take.
ps: The other four are "Leaving Las Vegas", "The Twilight Zone", "Adapted Screenplay" and "Vampire's Kiss".
A very important reason is that he himself has experienced a similar uncontrolled popularity experience in the film.
is just not because it appeared in other people’s dreams, but because it became other people’s emoticons.
At that time, Cage was already in debt and was crazy about accepting bad movies.
fans were waiting for him to turn around but couldn't, so they had no choice but to play with his emoticons to express their comfort.
At first, it was just some exaggerated performances made by Cage, such as the classic "Aren't you bullshit?"
and the classic emoticon package
that you may have used: "I tried hard to hold back my laughter but found that I couldn't hold it back and laughed wildly." However, netizens gradually discovered the magic of Cage's face -
he seems to be able to adapt to all other videos and various objects, even the faces of cats and dogs.
After years of development, Cage’s face has been played out.
Some people use his face to make emoticons and T-shirts to express any mood they want to express.
Even his name can be used as a joke.
cage is a cage, nicolas cage is a person.
nicolas cage in a cage is equal to Nicolas Cage in a cage.
is very cold, but sorry, it really makes people laugh out loud.
Cage was unbearable, but there was nothing he could do.
On the other hand, Cage is really suitable for playing this kind of slightly neurotic middle-aged loser character.
In fact, many mid-life crisis films have been made.
well-known ones such as "American Beauty", "Sideways", "Lost in Translation", etc.
"American Beauty"
But the temperament of "Dream Scene" is not as normal as the above-mentioned ones.
instead has some Charlie Kaufman ("Synecdoche, New York") style weirdness and dry humor.
For example, in his daughter's nightmare, Cage rushes over like a robot
For example, in the student's dream, he is eating a strange mushroom that looks like ice cream
And the dream setting itself is also very suitable for use to create various weird atmospheres.
In order to allow the audience to intuitively experience this weirdness, the film also deliberately removed the real-life props. With the lighting of
, the dream becomes more dramatic.
Top: Dream, Bottom: Reality
In fact, when everyone was experiencing danger in their dreams, Paul stood aside and watched blankly. The
thing itself is weird and hilarious.
Friends who are familiar with Cage must know that he is very suitable for playing some weird roles.
He is very good at adding some expressionistic exaggerated performances to the natural and realistic performance tone.
This makes his performance very obvious, and the emotion contained in it is full and natural.
"Face"
In addition, he has acted in several movies with similar roles, such as "The Weather Man" and "Adapted Screenplay".
's cowardly but unwilling state, his unwillingness to admit his selfishness, his inner ecstasy but calm appearance after seeing hope, are very suitable for Cage's performance style.
And he himself has long been familiar with it.
"Adapted Screenplay"
This film is certainly no exception.
The so-called dream boy is, on the one hand, the director's joke, wanting to see what it would be like to make "A Nightmare on Elm Street" more realistic.
On the other hand, the dream is actually a concrete manifestation of Paul's midlife crisis.
When his daughter told him about her dream, his first reaction was not that what happened to her.
complained about why he did nothing on the sidelines.
This represents Paul’s anxious situation in reality.
He feels that life is dull and wants to make changes, but cannot take action.
In the film, Paul's biggest dream is to publish a book.
But this book will always only stay in his imagination, and he has been unable to write it.
turned out to be one step ahead and published a journal article.
It was precisely because of this stimulation that Paul could not vent his anger, so he transformed into a murderer in his dream.
It's just that he doesn't know it.
Under the anxiety of the mid-life crisis, Paul focused too much on himself and ignored the feelings of those around him.
Even if he apologizes so that his family will no longer be disturbed, Paul will still unconsciously turn to himself:
I am the biggest victim in the whole incident.
What he said is indeed correct.
From beginning to end, he did nothing.
People's attitude towards him changed instantly because they "felt that he had done it".
This is the social public opinion phenomenon that the film wants to criticize, and it is one of the themes that the film wants to express.
But when it comes down to the character of Paul, the main thing is that he is still addicted to the anxiety of the mid-life crisis.
He doesn't realize his selfishness.
The entire film can actually be seen as Paul's process of recognizing himself and getting rid of anxiety.
At the end of the film, due to public opinion, Paul was forced to move out and rent a house alone.
His book was finally published, but it was not as crowded as he imagined, with people queuing up to buy it.
's book is only a thin one, and people don't buy it because it is well written.
but for his title of "Nightmare Killer".
In the end, he relied on this dream to realize his dream of publishing a book.
As a result, I discovered that what I longed for most was actually the company of my family.
After this series of turmoil, Paul and his family have developed a rift. Whether
can be repaired is a question, and the video does not give an answer.
But at least Paul has realized what is really important.
At the end of the film, with the help of high-tech products developed later, he sneaked into his wife's dream.
He transformed into the knight in his dream that his wife once told him and saved her.
The dream is about to end, and everything is just like the daughter's dream at the beginning, slowly floating in the air.
But Paul was not indifferent this time.
Instead, he held his wife's hand tightly and refused to let go.
