A young couple on the brink of marriage watch the lead-up to their big day spiral wildly out of control when Emma reveals a dark, life-altering secret.
Spoilers below:
Written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli whose previous similar works also include Sick Of Myself, comes a psychological black comedy which shines a light on the darkness that in various forms lies beneath all of our skins yet rarely rises to the surface. Starring Zendaya as Emma Harwwood, and Robert Pattinson as Charlie Thompson, our potential young lovers through a meet-cute seem later destined to find out too much about each other in the week leading up to their wedding; but Charlie underestimates what Emma’s deep, dark secret actually is.
Also with Alana Haim as Rachel, Emma’s maid of honour and Mamoudou Athie as Mike, Charlie’s best man, this is most definitely a double header of our leads and the devastation of potential truths which are sometimes better left unsaid and kept in the dim distant past. Predominantly filmed in Boston for its older architecture and beautiful backdrops with their romantic walks, this setting was used to illustrate an innocent young love between our main characters. The film begins with Emma approached by Charlie in an awkward yet for the most part quite innocent first encounter. Costume design was by Katina Danabassis – who has worked with Zendaya previously on Euphoria –using her ideas that their clothes should be interchangeable with each other’s characters illustrating a wonderful unity – a unisex idea. The Drama really is however a tale of two halves. The first of the setup and adoration and the second of the outcome and the fallout.
Once again, spoilers will follow. So to the main point. One evening our four main characters, after a few too many wine tastes for the wedding to come, discuss a very recent problem regarding their upcoming DJ, Pauline, (Sydney Lemmon) who is discovered doing something not so legal in the street. However, it is with Emma’s deep seated past that really throws the cat amongst the pigeons. She makes the wrong decision to reveal her school bullying as a teenager almost led her to a mass school shooting. Despite the fact she hadn’t gone through with it still raises a hatred by Rachel as her cousin Sam, played by Anna BarySchnikov, became paralysed by another shooting previously.
And this is where The Drama really begins. For a director who is still in his early career; this really is a polished tale that deals with an issue the U.S. forces don’t really know how to tackle. What could quite quickly become a dry documentary actually delivers a film of not only great acting but also of feeling and sensitivity. In no way does this either take away nor add to the everyday issues America is currently facing but highlights what we are all thinking when we turn the news on every other week. Without dwelling on the build up, we see the surface tension of a young Emma played by Jordyn Curet (Life Hacks for Kids) and how in her comparatively innocent way works her deep seated tension up to the potentially fateful day.
In such a film, the script alongside the acting is the real key. One without the other leads a tricky concept of a film down the slippery slope of wasted time. Not so here. Without a single shot being fired; Borgli superbly directs this straight at us and how we would deal with such a truth out of nowhere. During the possibilities laid out before the audience left me thinking how I would react to such a statement, and it’s not as clear cut as one might think. Does love conquer all or does the fact this was even thought about leave a nagging sensation in the depths of one’s own mind as to ‘could this actually happen?’ At no point does The Drama descend into chaos or be melodrama for the sake of artistic licence. The soundtrack doesn’t really have outstanding musical parts yet still creates an atmosphere of tension though not dread in the best way.
Written to be seen more than once from alternate points of view, we have a visually beautiful piece of filmmaking bringing home potential life changing possibilities a single bullet can of course achieve. Kristoffer Borgli has in the best way made The Drama out of a crisis.
Author: Piers, Maidstone Store
