The Drama movie review: Zendaya-Robert Pattinson shine in a complex dramedy

Modern-day romance is complex. Gone are the days when boy-meets-girl and they fall in love form the ideal rom-com in Hollywood. An entire generation may have grown up on light frothy rom-coms that Hollywood used to churn out in a dozen back in the day. But that very generation has now grown up and is navigating complexities in life. And thus, Kristoffer Borgli's latest dramedy, The Drama, may resonate with many of its viewers. Featuring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson in the lead, Borgli’s film explores love in the time of violence, accessibility and wokeness.

It gives a deep inside view of how relationships undergo evolution. Love is not blind anymore. In The Drama, love makes you reassess, reconsider and restart from time to time.

What’s the plot of The Drama

Emma and Charles are madly in love. Two years after they first met at a coffee shop, they are now set to get married. A week or ten days before the wedding, a confession from Emma leads to complexities that they both never thought would come their way.

During a drunken night with their best friends, everyone is asked to share the worst thing they have ever done in their lives. Everyone has a back story which others laugh about and judge untill its Emma’s turn, who admits that as a teenager she had considered gunning down her school, but eventually backed out days before due to a firing incident in another school, which left a lot of her schoolmates devastated. She instead found a group of friends and a calling in life, and became an activist against gun violence.

The revelation leaves everyone in the room stunned. Charles is now not sure if he knows his bride-to-be and the revelation obviously puts a strain on their relationship days ahead of their wedding.

The writing is solid

Written by Kristoffer Borgli, the film depends heavily on long drawn scenes of conversations juxtaposed with flashbacks. The screenplay is non-linear and it takes a while to understand the narrative, but once you are in it, you enjoy the chaos that unfolds on screen. The climax, particularly when all hell breaks loose, is brilliantly written and executed.

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson in top form

Since the film is about everyday people and their lives, the performance is not supposed to be theatrical in any way. The leads, Zendaya and Pattinson, are both equally good and complement each other well. They share a great chemistry on screen (something that needs to be tapped by other filmmakers) and play two very flawed characters. Zendaya’s Emma is a bookstore clerk with a complex past, but someone who has come of age with time. While she is ready to move past the issues and make her relationship work, it is Charles, played by Pattinson, who is unable to move on from her past.

However much the two try to work things out, the drunken admission that fateful night keeps coming back. Pattinson’s Charles is a Brit in America, working as a director at a museum. Ideally, he should be more confident. But Pattinson downplays the character, making everyone love Charles (At least initially). He is nervous and very smitten by his ladylove, despite her flaws. But he is also a man who sits and ponders a lot about how things should have been.

Deeply complex individuals, Emma and Charles want the marriage to work but are also not sure how it would, as past stumbles out of the closet.

Final verdict

The Drama is a welcome change in a cinematic world heavy with actioners and big budget thriller. It rests easily on the eyes and sensibilities. It skims through the conversation of gun violence a bit, infuses humour to show the lead in a certain way, but still makes for a good watch.

The Drama is now running in theatres across.