The Drama (2026)

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  Barneyonmovies

  6 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: The question of whether people can and should be forgiven for their transgressions is always fascinating and complex. That's what Kristoffer Borgli's 'The Drama,' is all about, as it follows the aftermath of Emma (Zendaya) revealing to her fiancé Charlie (Robert Pattinson) and friends (Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie) that she planned - though never carried out - a school shooting when she was fifteen.
  
  The initial setup is heart-warming as the couple plan their wedding speeches and we get flashbacks to the lovely moments they're referring to. But when the reveal is made, Charlie's struggle with forgiveness rests on two main conditions; firstly the reasons she ended up in that situation in the first place, and then how much he thinks she's changed and taken ownership of her lapse in judgment since (particularly as she kept it a secret so long). That's very understandable and fascinating to watch, particularly as Pattinson delivers such a conflicted performance, but your engagement and sympathy for him as an audience member hinges entirely on how conflicted you are about those conditions yourself.
  
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: I for one felt the film made pretty clear how Emma became a victim of isolation and radicalisation online when she was younger, and how much she'd changed after being presented with the human consequences of what would happen if she went through with it, so it was hard to watch Charlie destroying their wonderful relationship grappling with it.
  
  Zendaya delivers a typically perfect performance of Emma's shame and regret, but it might have been a more interesting film and given weight to Charlie's dilemma if the script suggested she still carried some of that darkness.
  
  VERDICT: Kristoffer Borgli's 'The Drama,' is about a character asking for forgiveness and never really getting it. The result is both thought-provoking and frustrating.

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