I have to begin by saying that The Drama is one of the most original movies I’ve come across. It features a spectacular script by writer-director Kristoffer Borgli and amazing performances by its two leads, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. While it is ostensibly a love story, it is the most unhinged romance movie I’ve ever seen, juggling a variety of genres from black comedy to horror while tackling a controversial subject matter in the most complex of ways. Ultimately, it asks the most fundamental of questions: Can you truly love someone unconditionally?
The film opens with Charlie (Pattinson) seeing Emma (Zendaya) at a cafe and becoming instantly smitten. In an attempt to ask her out, he lies about having read the book she’s reading. And this awkward meet-cute, so well executed, triggers a jump to two years later, where the couple is engaged and writing their wedding speeches. The opening serves as a flashback, and through the drafting of their speeches, we get to see the couple through each other’s eyes. With only weeks left to their wedding, and in the midst of the wedding coordination, Charlie discovers something about Emma’s past that sends him on a tailspin. It is rather shocking – an important detail that was left out – and the ramifications in the days leading up to the wedding creates the film’s title: the drama.
What is incredible about Borgli’s filmmaking – both in writing and direction – is how he introduces us into this world in a very ordinary way. Despite the presence of Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, the film and its aesthetic is lacking in gloss and shine. Cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan is excellent at framing the couple, often going in really close or situating them within a space, as if they are trapped in their own minds. While keeping the colors muted, stopping it from bursting out except for red. Charlie and Emma are presented as an ordinary couple, their love story as cute and very much-like an indie movie with the film jumping from one memory to the next until one night, while tasting the menu for their wedding, they enter a discussion with their married friends, Rachel and Mike (Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie), and then the revelations come.
At this point, the film shifts gears, transforming into a different movie altogether. The tone changes and the upcoming marriage is standing on a knife’s edge as Borgli’s filmmaking moves from a quirky indie romance into that of psychological horror. It’s actually funny, with Pattinson doing an amazing job portraying a man crumble under the confusion of the discovered secret. Relationships are tested, Zendaya’s Emma is desperately trying to hold her footing on stable ground. While the film’s first half sees Borgli and editor Joshua Raymond Lee whisking us back and forth from present to past, but in the second half, the film now shifts us from reality to the characters’ inner worlds. Charlie and Emma would shift into a trance-like states, imagining the worst.
The pacing of The Drama is exquisite, carefully building momentum toward a climax that goes to a place that is packed with tension and energy. Zendaya and Pattinson are doing nuanced work that requires them to show the audience the insecurities and lies they are hoping goes unnoticed. Here, they are not movie stars but feel like ordinary people dealing with an extraordinary circumstance and it’s an acting tightrope that they manage effectively.
While the premise itself feels larger than life in the way that it is presented, The Drama asks a really relevant question in these politically charged, socially aware times: Where do you draw the line between love and morality? The answer isn’t as simple as one might think, and the film dwells in that complexity. It is awkward and oftentimes painful. I found myself saying “oh no” and “don’t do that” loudly several times during the screening. The enjoyment of the film lies in the messy area of human frailty. It is finding comfort in watching someone unable to easily define the lines. It’s an amazing movie and I do hope that it didn’t come out early enough in the year for it to be left out during award season next year.
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
Get to know Charlie and Emma’s story, catch The Drama on the big screen while you can, this is one performance you’ll want to remember come awards season. Get showtimes here.
