The Drama (2026)
A happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.
directed by: Kristoffer Borgli
written by: Kristoffer Borgli
starring: Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Alana Haim…
The Drama, what a movie. Despite this film being assumed by most to be a girly romantic chick-flick, I can confidently sit and here and express just how much it wasn’t. If anything, I’d say that it was a film about grace. A gospel story even. Why? I can’t explain without giving away what the trailer has so expertly kept hidden, ergo you’ll just have to go to the cinema and watch it for yourself if you want to catch my drift.
Set in preset day New York (I think), this film is a pressure cooker and a half. From the very beginning, something seems a little off, and this is only ramped up when certain secrets are exchanged around a table of four friends. Secrets about what? Again, that’d be giving away too much. But practically the entirety of the rest of the film is centred on that. If you’ve ever heard about Alfred Hitchcock’s “bomb under the table” analogy, this film is a prime example of how to pull it off with precision.
And what about the acting? The entire cast was on point in this one, especially the two co-stars in Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. The former with a good amount of dark-underneath-the-surface emotional range, not too much and not too little. And the latter with all the tropes of some major OCD struggles which I can relate to (maybe not to this full extent) on a personal level. And Alana Haim… my days. Not often have I disliked a character so much that I get as emotionally invested in their purely hypocritical nature as I did. Man, best believe I spent most the movie fuming at this woman after only seeing her for a few scenes in total.
Another thing that really stood out to me about this film was its look in general. Minimal, with a very interesting array of shots that didn’t draw my attention away from what I should have been focused on. One of such memorable shots was an extreme close up on Zendaya’s ear very early on in the scene. It has inherent significance which we come to find out about a bit later, but it’s something that definitely stood firm in my mind.
Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the scene where that bomb I mentioned earlier does go off. And my gosh man, when it does go off, it goes off with a bang and a half. I’ve not seen anything like it in a while. It’s like all of the tension and bad decisions built up throughout the movie lead to this one major scene where… you know what, I don’t want to say too much. So again, I say go watch this movie because it was really something special. Now don’t get me wrong, this film was entirely high impact tension. There were parts of it that genuinely made me laugh aswell. It was darkly comedic for sure, which if you’re into like myself, you’ll have a good time watching.
So overall, needless to say that I had a great time watching this film, no doubt. Would I go to the cinema to watch it again? Yes I would, and next time I’d bring friends too. It’s the kind of film that will spark discussion with whoever you decide to see it with. I know that I have my own take on the matter, and that for me is the sign of a solid film.