THE DRAMA. The immersive paranoid magical realism of Dream Scenario (2023) made it tempting to presume to know what to expect from writer/director/editor Kristoffer Borgli: another fantasia set against the vagaries of the modern world, defined by wild departures from that reality and underpinned by bleak, comic hysteria. To indulge that temptation would have been — was, in my case — both justifiable and misguided. In so doing, we essentially pigeonholed Borgli as a satirist with a bizarre imagination, but also as an artist focused on a micro-genre; we were almost half right
With The Drama, Borgli retains some of his trademarks (if we can call the tropes of a single work trademarks) — the dark humor, the expansion of internal worlds until they impinge on the conduct of real life — while shifting to an exploration of a different strain of archetypal storytelling. Here, it’s the ostensibly bubbly but inherently strained eve-of-the-wedding comedy.
The movie begins near the middle of its greater timeline, with Charlie (Robert Pattinson) rehearsing his wedding speech for best friend Mike (Mamadou Athie). Charlie is deeply in love with Emma (Zendaya) and the initial setup might lead one to believe their relationship was born of a classic coffeeshop meet-cute. But the turn, which comes almost immediately, reveals that their initial introduction was born of Charlie’s insecurity and reflexive dishonesty. Seeing an attractive young woman reading alone in a window, he ill-advisedly contrives to share an affinity for the book in which she is engaged. Charlie has not, of course, read nor even heard of said book, and his bumbling attempt at a pick-up is salvaged only by the fact that Emma is deaf in the ear into which he pours his malformed untruths. Given a second chance, a restart, the relationship blossoms, leading, seemingly inevitably, to the impending nuptials.
As the loving couple linger over a tasting dinner for the reception, selecting wines and starters with Mike and his partner Rachel (a delightfully acidic Alana Haim), though, the conversation turns to a sort of parlor game of “what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done.” Three of the four reveal some lightly embarrassing, arguably cruel incidents, but Emma’s secret-telling opens a doorway into excruciating recrimination and, for Charlie, a long dark night of introspection and dark magical thinking.
At this inflection point, The Drama begins to share some of Dream Scenario’s fantastical elements but, where Borgli’s previous film expanded the inner life of its protagonist into a world-altering, quasi-supernatural exploration of fame and privacy in the modern world, this one turns inward, rendering the fallout of an intimate revelation in grave, granular detail. Rachel becomes a vocal detractor, Charlie spirals toward dissolution and Mike, poor Mike, remains caught in the maelstrom, an ostensible, ever less-heard voice of reason amid drastic interpersonal chaos.
Like Dream Scenario, The Drama uses a number of familiar elements, in this case from decades of wedding dramadies, and then unsettles us in our expectation, twisting the narrative knife with Lynn Ramsay or David Cronenberg’s maniacal attention to detail. The painful itchiness of our core four’s new knowledge spreads beyond the friend-group, creating personal and professional rifts that are probably irreparable. Because the movie is couched as much in curiosity and a belief in second chances, though, the crushing weight of its events are leavened both by an abiding sense of humor and something akin to hopefulness.
While Pattinson and Zendaya have again and again proven themselves broader and deeper than their previous teen-idol identities, The Drama gives both an opportunity to stretch out by getting small, doing the grand work on a small canvas that is the mark of actors keen on genuine art and exploration. Without grandiosity or actorly embellishment, both leads give life to their characters as adult children as adrift in the nearly unnavigable modern world as everyone else. They’re sad and hurt and funny, as defined by their misdeeds as by their honest attempts to transcend them.
While the broader, commercially accessible genre of romantic comedy continues to wither on the vine, stuck in the ’90s, largely devoid of the sardonic speed that gave it first life, it is exciting to see an example that deflates the pomp and prettiness. The Drama is more rough patch than easy going, but it is quick and clever and modern in a way that harkens back to what screwballs were, with the artist’s singular sense of style and pace. It’s infused with an unease and understanding of today’s aggressive sensitivities, placing it in its era and the genre canon. R. 106M. BROADWAY, MINOR.
John J. Bennett (he/him) is a movie nerd who loves a good car chase.
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For showtimes, visit catheaters.com and minortheatre.com.
This article appears in A Wing and A Prayer.