Episode 15: 'The Drama' and Toxic Relationship Films

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On today's episode, we are reviewing the newest A24 release, The Drama. While we discuss the newest Robert Pattinson and Zendaya satirical romantic drama, I will be recommending 5 toxic relationship/romantic drama films

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to Watch More Movies. I'm your host, Ricky, and today we will be talking about the drama, the newest film from A24 and director Christopher Borgli. He recently directed 2023's Dream Scenario with Nicolas Cage. The drama follows a happily engaged couple who get put to the test when an unexpected revelation sends their wedding week off the rails, starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson at the center as the couple. This was genuinely so much fun and surprisingly a lot more emotional than I was expecting. I had an idea that it was going to be satirical and dramatic, but not to what degree or what directed at. Both Pattinson and Zendaya give genuinely strong performances that never feel louder than the commentary or drama that they are going at. Their chemistry bleeds off screen and feels very grounded for this very rare and I guess absurd situation that puts you on the edge at every confrontation. The commentary by writer director Christopher Borgli is consistent with his previous film, Dream Scenario. The distaste for cancel culture, but the reasoning within is a lot more generous than most filmmakers might feel an impulse to shape it around. The toxic nature of the best friend of Emma, Zendaya's character, played by Alana Haim, is so infuriating, but really representative of this person or culture that takes things at face value with no nuance or hypocrisy embedded, that points out their own lack of morality with understanding. And her husband, Mike, played by Mamudu Afi, I'm totally butchering that name, I know that, is the middle ground for a situation like this and is really kind of a middleman. Robert Pattinson's Charlie is one that is grappling with someone he loves so much and is about to marry, but hesitating to come to grips with her darkest secret and how he feels his own morality has come into play, as he begins to spiral with coming to grasp with this, his own high ground begins to crumble as his actions spiral out of being the rock of this relationship. I think if you go into this expecting a rom-com or a straightforward romantic drama, it is those things in a in broad strokes and in small moments, but I do think nearly as much as the emotional ending hits is how much of a conversation started it is. This isn't part of the review, but it is an interesting question to ask and grapple with your own standing on this. Now, with the drama in theaters and doing very well, it felt like I could have gone in two directions with some recommendations. Either movies centered around a wedding or dysfunctional relationships falling apart. I feel like the latter is a little bit more applicable here. Wedding movies are easier to find recommendations, but are a lot more upbeat and easy and happy, whereas dysfunctional couple movies are a lot more aligned to some degree here. The drama is very unique, so it's very hard to find something that's a one-for-one comparison. But I did try to find some that were more about dis dysfunctional couples or relationships sort of being tested or coming to grips with what the outcome will be. Now, the drama was unique in its own right. There was some humor, dark humor at that throughout, but kept its drama at the forefront as opposed to focus on the comedic aspects solely. These recommendations are basically all serious or heavier in its themes, but don't make them any less relevant. What I will say from these five is that if you like the drama and wanted to find something similar in tone at least, Borglay's previous film from A24, Dream Scenario, is a really good one too. It's about a writer, professor who is suddenly famous after everyone in the world suddenly all have dreams about him. It's a high concept, strong commentary, as well on cancel culture and narcissism with a strong lead performance from Nicolas Cage. But that out of the way, here's five movies about dysfunctional couples or relationships that I would put on your list if you had not seen before. The first recommendation is La Note. It follows Giovanni and Lydia, a couple on the brink of their own unhappiness and their marriage. This was a film I thought for about 80% was a really good psychological drama about these two people coming to a head with their inevitability of the death of their marriage. You understand to a degree both sides and how they aren't happy for what their marriage has become, despite being side by side through it. There's a terrific scene that comes in the first third where Lydia leaves uh Giovanni's book signing and rums around the streets of Milan, reminiscing about their past together, what was lost, and hints of things she could have done or had but missed out on. As they are about to face the situation head on, they attend a party at night where someone is courting Giovanni for work. As this party progresses, there is this ramp up of both Giovanni and Lydia tempting their eyes elsewhere and coming to the realization that their marriage is not what will make them happy and not what they wanted to begin with. Now, I went through several plot points and might seem like I'm giving a bit away, but the meat of the story comes with the conversations specifically that each of them have with each other and with other people that represent where each of them are psychologically. Not to mention any specifics, but the ending is among the best endings I've ever seen. It hits like the hammer to the nail of the heart. It really kind of wraps everything up and gives us a real emotional just send-off that was really hard to witness, but was really wrapping it up in a very beautiful way. So if you've not heard of or seen La Note from 1961, I would highly recommend it. The second recommendation is 1974's Scene from a Marriage from Ingmar Bergman. Was this originally a television series that was then condensed down into a nearly three-hour film. And to be honest, I want to watch the show now. This is such a layered and complex film that it feels like a complete and leave to interpretation storytelling. But as a television series, I feel like that would just fill in the details so much more and give so much more context to a lot of the scenes. But nonetheless, as a film, this really is complete and doesn't feel incomplete and really does round everything out as best as you could for something that's being condensed down into a film. As a movie, it just works so well. It's about this couple, Johan and Marianne, who are this affluent couple with two daughters. The film starts off with them being interviewed by a magazine, talking about their relationship and how they see themselves as a couple, their individual persons, and as parents to their two daughters. There's a lot of great subtext in this scene that really sets the stage for the remaining runtime. On the first night of a small getaway for them, Johan reveals to Marianne that he's having an affair with a much younger woman, he is no longer happy in their marriage, and he is moving with her, the mistress, to France for several months the very next morning. This is where the story really takes its turn for me and really kind of ramps up and begins. It was very jarring in how I interpreted the story. There is this really this really is this feeling between them after the revelation that they are both hurt but are trying to suppress everything and go about like it's just a normal everyday obstacle and that they just have to push through and continue with. It really was surprising to see this reaction out of Marianne specifically, considering that Johan's narcissism is hard to just look past as anything but his normal behavior. However, he has not shown any of these indications to his friends or his wife that he's unhappy because he's always bragging about how good they are and how they love each other for who they are. Obviously, later on you find out that this wasn't just a secret he kept to himself, but I don't want to get too much into the spoilers. I don't feel like I'm giving too much away because this happens fairly early on in the film, and the context with these characters I'm describing are really only the tipping point for who they discover themselves to be as time goes on. There are several time jumps, which really do help kind of give perspective on them. So I don't feel like any of that is really giving much away as far as spoilers go or how the story turns out. The performances, writing, direction are all so real and uncomfortable, but several pieces of writing I've seen suggest that the groundedness of the story and how it plays out hits so close to home, or at least is giving that uncomfortable feeling because it's not heightened by a movie storytelling or by traditional storytelling paths. It is a long movie, so if you can stick through it and are looking for probably the bleakest and most depressing and frustrating film in the subgenre to watch, and at least out of these recommendations, Scenes from Marriage is definitely one to see and seek out. I know it's on the Criterion channel. It really is a masterclass in storytelling of this long relationship and trying to dissect them as people and as characters. Next up is a big deal, at least for me. I had been anticipating watching it for some time, but never got around to it. I knew it was horror and considered it great, but finally got around to it a few months ago for Halloween. It is 1981's possession. This was so much more marriage drama and psychological horror than I expected. It follows a husband and wife who, upon learning that she has been having an affair with someone, the husband kicks her out of their home and tells her to take their son. Once returning home after leaving the house, he comes home to find his son alone. The horror in this is not a backdrop necessarily, but a representation of their marriage collapsing, adding to her own psychological break in it. Sam Neil and Isabel Ajani, I think is how you say her name, are absolutely astounding here. Maybe my favorite performance of Sam Neil's as he is this toxic masculine figure in this marriage and also a father who's trying to hold it together amidst this chaos ensuing. Ajoni plays two characters here, the second I will not get into, but is a strong representation from his point of view of someone who he wants his wife to be and is not. The scenes between the two of them themselves are incredibly tense and terrorizing on each other, later escalating the tension that begins to incorporate the horror elements, which I also will not spoil because they took me by surprise and honestly made me feel really uneasy. This is one of the most bleak marriage-centered dramas and horror films, as it is terrifying. It may be my favorite of all these recommendations. So if you've not seen or even heard of Possession, I highly recommend it. The fourth recommendation is 2011's A Separation, directed by Escar Farhadi. It follows a husband and wife who are on the brink of divorce. The wife wants to divorce and move their child to somewhere that feels their daughter can grow up in safely and have a future with, away from Iran, whereas the husband wants to stay in Iran with their daughter and stay together while he takes care of his father with Alzheimer's. This is an incredibly intense family drama, for lack of a better phrase, that takes turns you don't expect. I think that the drama between the husband and wife is the foundation of the story, but not the focus or point of the story. For Hadi shows how a fraction marriage can crack the foundation of a family and what that does to their children as it does for everyone around them. How what is best for others in our lives conflicts with what we think is best for ourselves. This is not a straightforward family breaking up drama by any means. It takes a turn about 20 to 30 minutes in that I certainly did not expect. That really kind of encapsulates the overall message as it plays out and follows two separate marriages and incidents. What lies underneath the surface is the theme of this culture that is not being villainized, but trying to rationalize to some degree while criticizing its responsibility that people have these ideas about marriage and family. I don't know what it is lately personally, but I have been watching on first viewing several films in the last few months that have had these endings that catapult the impact that the films have emotionally for me. Whether it be 25th hour or La Note or a Separation, the ending in this one is just a huge gut punch. So if you want to, you know, start in Iranian films and kind of breach out from there, a separation is a great start. I know I certainly will be. The last recommendation on this list is 2016's Blue Jay, directed by Alex Lehman, starring Mark Duplas and Sarah Paulson. This is, in the last 10 years, one of my favorite hidden gems. To this day, I don't think it's entered the or hit the consciousness of a lot of Cinephiles. It is about two childhood sweethearts who run into each other in their hometown more than 20 years after they last seen each other and broken up. They decide to spend some time catching up, and as the story unfolds, you start to see their spark with each other come back, and you start to see why they never ended up together. There are many reasons later that I won't get into, but needless to say, it breaks your heart. This is not a traditional toxic relationship drama, but it is a relationship drama that I feel deserve just to be talked about. Maybe it doesn't fit in the mold of the theme for the episode, but again, I wanted to find a reason to talk about it, and it's loosely tied enough to the other ones that I could. Duplas and Paulson are so good together here. I always love what Duplas and his production company do. They can always make a tiny micro budget film feel bigger than it is. Despite him being recognizable and Paulson being at the top of her fame and everything, this was right when her you know leap into stardom hit. They feel like two indistinguishable characters and incredibly authentic. I think a big part of that is the fact that there wasn't a quote-unquote script for this film. Paulson and DuPas improved a lot of their dialogue. So it feels incredibly natural and it feels like it all came from the heart. And the choice to film this in black and white does feel like you're watching a memory of a relationship that is no more, but you are living in the present with them trying to reminisce about it. It hammers down that feeling of nostalgia and missed out time and heartbreak all rising above the surface of where you may have buried it deep down. It's on Netflix, it's barely 90 minutes, so a strong and easy recommendation on Blue Jay. I do hope you watch that one. Thank you for tuning in today to listen to me talk about the drama and other relationship dramas. I will be having another episode in the next week, so please stay tuned for that. If you like the drama or any of these other recommendations, or plan to check them out after you've listened, please let me know in the comments or on social media, Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky. Let me know what you think. I love to engage in this kind of dialogue. So if you watched any of them based on the recommendation, good or bad, let me know what you think of them. And until next time, watch more movies.