The Drama
Rating: 4.5/5
By: Nathaniel Simpson
For the past couple of weeks, Kristoffer Borgli's newest film from A24, titled The Drama, has been clouded in controversy and boycotts from various people. What started out as perhaps one of the year's most anticipated movies for a lot of people became one that felt like the controversy was going to ruin what the film set out to do. Going in, I was excited to see this story that Borgli was going to present on the screen, as I was a fan of his previous film Dream Scenario, and I was confident that Zendaya and Robert Pattinson were going to be fantastic together. Thankfully, Borgli did not disappoint, conjuring up this story that we haven't seen played out before in this manner with absolutely brilliant performances from our two main leads.
The movie is centered around Charlie (Pattinson) and Emma (Zendaya) who are just days away from getting married. Everything seems to be running smoothly until an outing with friends (Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie) prompted them to expose their deepest, darkest secrets to one another. When Emma reveals something that none of them expected, it leads them all down a rabbit hole of whether or not this marriage is going to happen.
The first thing I want to comment on here is the performances as they simply make this movie what it is. For a while now, I have had my reservations about Zendaya. I thought she was fantastic in Euphoria and I respected this career she had built for over a decade now, but I felt like we hadn't seen too much of her in a leading role that garners the amount of praise and attention she deserved before this film. However, her performance proved me wrong, crafting this character of Emma so expertly that she easily steals many of the scenes she is in. She commands the audience's attention, and her character is so complex and complicated that it is impressive to be able to pull it off. I think this would have been a hard role for any actress, and Zendaya handles it like a professional. Consider the scene towards the end of the film, when Charlie gives his speech at the wedding. When the camera lingers on Emma during the speech, you can't help but get a lump in your throat. If that isn't award-winning acting, then I truly don't know what is.
Pattinson, on the other hand, gives another performance that proves why he may truly be one of the best actors working right now. Every single role he has been given lately is so incredibly different from one another, and he is able to pull it off expertly. Pattinson had his start in the limelight as this incredibly handsome bad boy in Twilight, so to see him now nearly twenty-years later and playing an awkward, nerdy guy, it's so much fun to see. His character takes center stage in many moments throughout this movie, and Pattinson is just so damn good as the character of Charlie. From the way he positions his mannerisms to the stress and anxiety his character goes through from beginning to end, this is one of those rare roles where the character simply outshines the actor, hiding the celebrity counterpart behind this gripping performance. In terms of the chemistry between our two lead actors here, it feels like this is a real couple that has already been together for two years. It's wonderful and refreshing to see, and I appreciate the various different moments of this relationship that Borgli put in.
In addition, Haim and Athie are great secondary characters that help put a lot of this story into motion. I've always been a fan of Athie and Haim, and seeing them play these sort of despicable and horrible characters is so much fun and so refreshing to see. When I literally start to despise Alana Haim towards the end of this movie, that's how you know she did her job perfectly. Both of them here have wonderful chemistry and perfectly complement each other.
While the performances are easily the major part that drives this film, the story crafted and directed by Borgli is excellent. He is presenting this incredibly taboo topic that then crafts the movie as a huge anxiety trip from beginning to end. As a viewer, I was constantly gripping the chair and cringing at numerous moments throughout this picture, and Borgli definitely achieved what he set out for. This movie makes almost every couple reflect on this couple put before us on the screen, and how we would act if we were in their shoes. At the same time, he adds in this sense of incredibly dark humors, with moments sprinkled through that you feel incredibly bad for laughing about after. Borgli knows how to manipulate and craft the viewer's emotions around certain topics, and I think he is already a very skilled storyteller in the art of film. The only complaint I have here is that this movie may be a tad too long, and he seems to rehash a couple of topics one or two times too many. I'm not sure if this was intentional to make the film feel more stressful and anxiety-inducing, but I think it could have benefitted from being cleaned up a little.
All in all, this movie works on every single level, and Pattinson and Zendaya blow me away with some fantastic performances here. I was scared my hopes and expectations were too high for this movie, but Borgli pulls out all the stops to craft this excellent picture that I think audiences will be talking about and debating for a long time now. This is one that deserves to be seen on the big screen, and I think we all need to see it a couple of times to fully appreciate what Borgli is trying to do here.
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