Last year I referred to Train Dreams as a “Book Club Movie”, the sort of film that practically begs to be unpacked over wine and dessert, offering a host of moral quandaries and character choices to chew on. Plenty of movies can spark conversation, of course, but some feel engineered for it and leave you itching to talk about them with someone. The first of these I’ve encountered this year is writer / director Kristoffer Borgli’s daring and darkly comic The Drama.
Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie’s (Robert Pattinson) wedding is fast approaching and the couple are busy sorting out the final details of the ceremony. Several bottles of wine into a menu tasting with their best friends Rachel (Alana Haim) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie) the conversation shifts to revealing the “worst” things they’ve ever done. Emma’s confession, which I won’t spoil here, is alarming enough to incur disgust and even wrath from Rachel, effectively ending their friendship, and to leave Charlie wondering how well he actually knows the supposed “love of his life” and if he still wants to marry her.
It certainly doesn’t sound like the recipe for a comedy, and much of what follows isn’t comedic, but there is a rich vein of dark humor pulsing throughout The Drama, that may only occasionally induce audible laughter but keeps a wry grin planted on the viewer’s face throughout most of its hour and 45-minute runtime. The revelation about Emma’s past is genuinely surprising and will have the audience questioning how they would react if told something similar about a loved one. The uncertainty about our own answers lends the proceedings some suspenseful unpredictability that, coupled with some truly spectacular performances, will keep you glued to your seat. If there are any lingering doubts as to whether Pattinson and Zendaya are true movie stars, this should quickly put them to rest.
Full to the brim with thorny questions about how well we can truly know anyone, whether people can change, and what we should be willing to forgive, The Drama more than lives up to its name. Moments are often shown non-chronologically and are sometimes only in a character’s head, keeping us on our toes and even questioning exactly what’s real and what isn’t. These characters aren’t saints (far from it) but their flaws feel recognizably human, sometimes uncomfortably so. And woven through the personal mess is a sly commentary on contemporary American society.
By mixing raw honesty with formal artifice, Borgli has crafted one of the most unique movies of the year. It will have you wide eyed with shock, chuckling to yourself, angry, riveted, nervous, and cringing internally at various points, before finding its way to a surprisingly tender, well‑earned note of romance. It’s a must-see. ★★★★★
rated r for sexual content, some violent / bloody images, language throughout, and brief drug use.
★★★★★ = Excellent | ★★★★ = Very Good | ★★★ = Good | ★★ = Fair | ★ = Poor
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