“The Drama” is an A24 film directed by Kristoffer Borgli that spotlights the soon-to-be-wed couple, Emma and Charlie, who are faced with a challenge that they must acknowledge before committing to each other. In typical A24 fashion, this film is anything but predictable, with constant plot twists and uncertainties that leave the audience a bit uncomfortable and emotionally exposed. Without revealing too much, the viewer’s reactions make it evident that this film lives up to its title. 

For Junior Arya Kulkarni and several other audience members, they were completely unaware of the premise and plot as a whole. 

“I didn’t even watch the trailer because I wanted it to be a surprise, so I really had no assumptions before,” Kulkarni said. “After watching it I think that the plot was unpredictable. It left me with so many questions.” 

Instead of gradually introducing the audience to the characters and allowing them some time to build an opinion on them, Borgli introduces a major plot twist very early on, thrusting the viewers into a field that they are unfamiliar in and forcing them to come to a moral consensus. Kulkarni emphasizes that despite this dilemma, she found the ambiguous nature of the film to be one of the factors that made it so interesting.

“I could clearly see the different reactions when I watched it in theaters,” Kulkarni said. “People were screaming, laughing, and shouting at all of the different scenes.”

However, some viewers, like Hannah Uesugi (11), felt that the movie had the separate qualities that made it unique. 

“I think that this movie calls out topics that a lot of people feel are sensitive or not discussed enough, which is why a lot of people might have felt uncomfortable or weirded out,” Uesugi said. “The characters are also very raw and show how some people might truly react if something like this were to happen in real life.” 

This is something that was discussed heavily amongst a great number of reviewers, especially because the actress behind Emma, Zendaya, is a high-profile celebrity, and her popularity could have made it difficult for people to see her as her role. Yet, her skills as a whole truly convinced viewers like Uesugi, who otherwise would not have enjoyed the film as much.

And finally, following these mixed reviews are also reviews of those who holistically enjoyed the film and thought that it was truly a drama. 

“I was on the edge of my seat at every scene, and I think the entire audience was as well,” Ana Pham (11) said. “The whole film is so unpredictable that anything that happened added to the shock factor.”