*Trigger Warning
This film discusses themes of school shootings and along with this there are loud gun shot noises that are not disclosed in the trailer.
Nothing is more romantic than a wedding; two people who have been in love for a long time pleading the vow to love each other until “death do us part,” but what if you found out the day before your wedding that your partner may not be who they say they are? Zendaya and Robert Pattinson have come to answer this question in their latest film together titled “The Drama,” in it, the two play lovers Emma and Charlie who are about to get married, but after a game with friends, a dark secret is revealed that jeopardizes their relationship and the impending wedding.
Director and writer Kristoffer Borgil’s anxiety-inducing style of filmmaking lends itself to the subject matter excellently, showcasing the lack of communication and panic that comes with learning a dark secret about your partner. His writing allows the audience to sit with the mixed feelings of both Emma and Charlie, leading the audience to feel all more anxious about where the story is going to go.
It feels akin to a horror movie with close up shots of characters’ faces to highlight the emotions they are feeling to sink in this feeling of dread.
His writing is enhanced by the performances of the two leading stars. Zendaya’s performance balances the complexity of how her past actions define her as a person and attempting to keep herself together, while Robert Pattinson is having a full blown anxiety attack, he is acting expertly through all of these complex emotions whilst reacting in an unhealthy manner.
Spoiler Warning
The twist which is revealed early in the story is that Emma planned a school shooting when she was 15, but did not go through with it. The film attempts to explore why someone would think to do such a horrible thing and asks if someone can truly overlook that element of someone’s past.
Parts of this commentary work, other parts do not.
The film handles the subject matter with empathy, trying to explore Emma’s motivations with understanding towards her mental health, ultimately concluding that she needed help and tried to end her pain in an extreme and violent way and has shown growth and change as a person. The thing is, Charlie and the other characters surrounding Emma struggle to fit this revelation with the person they know. The film does not treat their feelings as invalid but questions whether the reactions are slightly overblown considering the secret was revealed in a game where they had to share the worst thing they have ever done. However, this begs the question if the film is exploiting the topic of school shootings for the sake of a dramatic plot twist.
Prior to the release of the film the twist was leaked on Reddit, which led to widespread criticism from organizations centered around ending school shootings. In conversation with The Hollywood Reporter Jackie Corin, co-founder of March Of Our Lives and survivor of the 2018 Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School stated “Art has the capacity to deepen public understanding and create emotional clarity and awareness, but it can also flatten and distort reality, especially when it leans on shorthand or tries to make something more palatable than it actually is. With something like a near school shooting, even small tonal choices can shift whether a story feels productive or dismissive.”
Additionally, Corin critiqued the filmmakers and A24 for leaving the twist out of the trailers. “When you have someone like Zendaya and Robert Pattinson attached to a project, they both — separately, but also especially together — bring an enormous amount of attention and cultural weight. They are icons for a lot of young people. That can be a real asset if the project is handled with care, but it also means that the message reaches audiences who might not otherwise engage with the issue. It raises the stakes.”
Mia Tretta, a gun violence survivor and advisor for Students Demand Actions, echoed similar sentiments as Corin but adds that the film is treating school shootings as a plot device says “Using a planned massacre as a rom-com hook isn’t ‘starting a conversation,’ it’s exploiting a crisis. There are ways to show nuance without using trauma as a gimmick. Studios and stars have massive platforms and they should use them to give dimension to survivors, not perpetrators.”
While art exists to challenge and disturb the comfortable, it is important to listen to survivors when it comes to depictions of shootings in the media.
