The premise of Dream Scenario is an absolute blast, and Nic Cage at the wonderful center of it all will delight both Cage fans and the Cage skeptics (if there is such a category of person).  He puts in his best, understated but most riveting kind of performance: this is the Adaptation-Cage, not the Wicker Man-Cage, and it's just fabulous. 

Cage plays Paul Matthews, a bland, failed academic, an uncharismatic professor who plans to write a book and acquire a much-desired recognition but he never quite manages to begin writing, and he, instead, obsesses over the idea that another academic has stolen his best idea. Things change for Paul when he discovers he's been appearing in random people's dreams through no agency of his own; these people have never met Paul nor he them, but he drops into their dreams all the same. And in these dreams, he’s not doing anything in particular. Just standing there, doing nothing. As the “man of people’s dreams,” Paul gains overnight notoriety: talk shows want to interview him, he becomes the most popular professor at the university, he's offered lucrative deals by people who think they can cash in on the strange phenomenon. 

And then things take a dark turn. And I won't spoil where it goes, but the whole thing is a heckuva lot of fun and very very funny.

I do, admittedly, have a few quibbles with the film: namely, thematically, I think it tries to do and say a little too much, and, while making some insightful points about celebrity in a frenetic internet-culture, it perhaps gets a little muddled at the end, not quite sticking the landing, ultimately offering a vague and uninsightful commentary on cancel culture. It's not really coherent enough on the subject to be toxic in its commentary, however, and it doesn't really detract from how deeply, thoroughly enjoyable Nic Cage is and how much fun the whole premise and its execution is. There are very few films like this out there, both in terms of the inventive creativity and in the brilliance of the central performance by one of the best leading men of our time. It’s not to be missed!

We also have three very special events this week: It’s a Wonderful Life, a Cinema East double feature of In the Mood for Love and 2046, and our The Boy and the Heron preview screenings. 

I grew up watching It's a Wonderful Life every Christmas; my parents did not allow TV in our house and very few movies, so going to Grandma and Grandpa's with a glorious TV and seeing movies like It's a Wonderful Life in their living room was one of the most exciting things of the year. And as I grew older and encountered more films, I realized It's a Wonderful Life was not just candy for my little TV-starved soul, but an actually good movie. Like, really good. One of the very best. 

Everybody seems to know what's come to be regarded as the rather cheesy line from the film, "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings." Frank Capra-sap times 100!  And the movie itself is often dismissed as sentimental clap-trap.  But what is increasingly clear to me and I think to everyone who loves It's a Wonderful Life deeply and knows its every beat and frame, is that the film is just about the farthest thing from sappy you can get: 

It's about a man who feels increasingly stifled in a small town; he dreams and dreams of leaving, shaking the dust off his feet and seeing the world, building things, doing something significant. But every time he tries to leave, he finds he must stay, that if he does not, he'll be hurting someone else. So he pushes off his dreams and pushes them off, and he lives in a house he doesn't like and works a job he doesn't like, and maybe isn't even particularly good at, and watches others around him follow their dreams instead. He tries to be a good person, but as a reward for this life of sacrifice, the most powerful man in town, a capitalist whose sole moral compass is money, steals what little he has from him -- and the capitalist gets away with it. In despair, he makes a suicide attempt. There is, of course, then, the famous deus ex machina moment -- an unglamorous angel is sent to convince him life is better than death. And in the end, the man ultimately chooses life instead of death, and he realizes he is loved. A happy ending.  

But what always strikes me is this: this man will still never fulfill the passionate dreams he had. They are gone forever. And the evil capitalist is never brought to justice. There is no indication he will be.  As such, it is a film that acknowledges the deep pain and injustice that is life, that the life we have is not often the life we choose. A life that can certainly be filled with love and community, but one that is still full of broken dreams and injustice. 

It's a movie for realists, not saps, and that, for me, is what makes it one of the all time great movies, a holiday movie that acknowledges the unbearable heartache as well as the joy. Christmas can mean tears as much as it can mean happiness. 

And the film, of course, brought us one of the greatest performances of all time, too, from Jimmy Stewart. His character's moment when he must grovel before the capitalist and ask for help rips my heart out. Or that moment of his final full despair at the bar, when he is at the lowest point of his life, praying to a god he isn't sure exists -- that is one of the most profound bits of acting there is. And its devastating power is drawn from the consistency of his performance throughout the film. Stewart knocks me off my feet, every time. 

It’s a Wonderful Life will play twice: Saturday, Dec. 2, 1:30, and Sunday, Dec. 3, 10:00 am. 

Cinema East this month brings us a rare opportunity for a double feature of a couple of the most gorgeous and swoon-worthy films to ever grace the screen: Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love and 2046. Stay tuned for the newsletter from Cinema East curator Jeff Purdue coming this Sunday; he’ll be offering some brilliant and tantalizing insights on both films in that letter, as well as offering in-person introductions at the screenings themselves. I’ve got my tickets already, and I cannot wait to rewatch both films on the big screen but also back-to-back for the first time. It promises to be an incredibly special experience.