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A happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.
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Short filmTranscript
00:10That's Nick, and that's Joseph, and today we're here to talk about The Drama, the fourth
00:15film directed by Christopher Borgley, which A24 is releasing April 3rd, 2026.
00:20Do you know this director's other films?
00:22Yes, we reviewed Sick of Myself and Dream Scenario.
00:27Nice.
00:28What is The Drama about?
00:29A happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding
00:34week off the rails.
00:36What is your pull quote?
00:37Christopher Borgley returns with another heightened exercise on our implicit obsession and socially
00:42codified need to control the narrative of how we are perceived, while also examining how
00:47humans are constantly compromised by the performative hypocrisy we're all confronted with.
00:52Mmm.
00:53Mine.
00:54Provocative, bold, and uncomfortably comedic, the drama tackles a hot-button issue with striking
00:59nuance.
01:00I agree.
01:01I quite liked this film.
01:05It's difficult to talk about this movie without completely spoiling it, but to start, the
01:09basic story is Robert Pattinson and Zendaya.
01:13Charlie and Emma.
01:14play a couple who are engaged to be married.
01:17And there's about a week left before the date when they are at the caterers finalizing the
01:24menu with their maid of honor and best man.
01:28Rachel, played by Alana Haim, and Mike, played by Mamadou Ache.
01:32So they're having a good time drinking when someone brings up, tell me what's the worst
01:38thing you've ever done.
01:39They proceed to go around the room and they end with Zendaya, who shares something pretty
01:45extreme.
01:46And thus begins this journey of a week for the two of them deciding how they want to move
01:51forward because the groom, Robert Pattinson, is unnerved and the bride, Zendaya, is questioning
01:59their future.
02:00I don't think it's a spoiler because the movie poster shows them in their wedding attire,
02:05so they ultimately do get married the end.
02:09Yes, but so much more.
02:11I mean, this is, there are hot-button issues here.
02:14I think Borgly, based on his previous two films, if you remember them, is kind of a provocateur.
02:20I think this might be a love it or hate it thing, and I think the hate or dislike for
02:25it will be one of, will be a performative aspect to that, much like the Alana Haim character.
02:31And we will get into the discussion of that.
02:33Particularly, I really want to explicate the scene where there is this big reveal, because
02:37I think there's a lot going on there that I think is quite well done.
02:41I want to bring up the meet-cute at the beginning in this coffee shop is Robert Pattinson,
02:47who is playing a British person, which I think is integral to this as well, because I think
02:53perspective has a lot to do with how everything is unfolding in this scenario.
02:57He approaches Zendaya, who's reading this book, and we get a close-up of it. It's called
03:01The Damage by Harper Ellison, and that's a made-up book and a made-up author.
03:06Borglia said his next film might be called The Damage, potentially.
03:10I think there's some interesting things going on with that in multiple ways, because
03:14Emma, Emma is the damage.
03:16She's a damaged person, which we can also get into a little bit.
03:20But I find that name interesting, Harper Ellison, because that is a collapsing of two very distinct
03:26authors, in my mind, Harlan Ellison and Harper Lee.
03:30And Harlan Ellison, if you're not familiar with him, was a very confrontational author,
03:36and also kind of was examining, in a lot of his works, a moral ambiguity.
03:40While Harper Lee is best known, of course, for To Kill a Mockingbird, which is a novel about
03:46moral certitude, and also interesting because that is a white perspective of racial dynamics
03:52in the US.
03:53So I think all of those kind of interesting things are swirling around there.
03:56So I was really disappointed when I was trying to look up more information about The Damage.
04:00I came across the critique published on RogerEbert.com saying this film is smugly juvenile.
04:07And I couldn't agree less.
04:09And also suggesting that Zendaya is colorblind casting, and that's why she's so superficial
04:16as a characterization.
04:17And I don't think, I like Zendaya's performance.
04:19Anyway, we can get into it.
04:21But I think that people are going to be dismissive about it because it's uncomfortable.
04:25So the situation at the caterer.
04:27Everyone's explaining the worst thing they've ever done.
04:29It starts, and we will have to dissect this because I think this scene is so interesting.
04:33The maid of honor who is married to the best man says,
04:37oh, I know the worst thing he's ever done.
04:39And he's saying, please don't say it.
04:40Like, please don't.
04:41And she forces the issue.
04:43And he explains that he was on a trip to Mexico with an ex.
04:47They had had a fight.
04:49They weren't getting along.
04:50On their way back to their hotel, they were attacked by a rabid dog.
04:55And he basically used his ex as a shield.
04:57So she was mauled and he wasn't.
05:00Or it's even maybe a little more ambiguous as he didn't act.
05:04And that also questions his masculinity.
05:06The maid of honor explains that when she was younger, there was a neighbor boy who seemed to have special
05:13needs, who she portrayed as being kind of weird and unsavory, who asked her to come play and took her
05:20out to this faraway field.
05:21And while they were out there, she locked him in a shed and left.
05:26So this kid spent the night in the shed.
05:29The next day, there was a mass search.
05:31The father of the boy even came to her and said, do you know anything about where my son is?
05:35And she said no.
05:36And then ultimately says, well, he was fine because he's alive.
05:40Okay.
05:40Robert Pattinson says the worst thing he's ever done is when he was in high school, he cyber bullied a
05:45kid so badly that he had to leave the school and ultimately the family moved away.
05:50Or so he thinks.
05:51The entire time Zendaya's character is looking like, please do not call on me.
05:57She's been drinking.
05:58So she decides to maybe overshare.
06:02She should have kept this to herself, I think.
06:04But she decides to tell everyone that she had planned a mass shooting when she was in high school, but
06:09of course didn't do it.
06:10And immediately the vibe changes.
06:12The maid of honor is extremely upset, citing that her cousin, who we find out she's not even that close
06:19to, is in a wheelchair because of gun violence.
06:22She survived a shooting.
06:23So she's appalled.
06:25The best man is trying to deescalate Robert Pattinson.
06:28The groom is concerned, but also kind of playing it off.
06:32It seems like he's not even sure if this is a true story.
06:35Mm-hmm.
06:36And I just found it all so interesting because the ways Zendaya's character is vilified.
06:41I feel like if we break it all down, what the other three did to me is worse because they
06:47actually acted out these things.
06:49What concerned me is that no one thought to ask her immediately like, wow, you must have been going through
06:55a lot.
06:55What was the context?
06:57There was this immediate sort of performance of outrage that escalates because the maid of honor wants to go no
07:05contact, doesn't want to even attend the wedding.
07:08But the main focus is Robert Pattinson's character trying to process what he's just learned with the fact that their
07:15wedding date is a week away.
07:16So they still have all these obligations, like they have to go finalize the floral arrangements.
07:21They have to go to the photographer to approve the shot list.
07:25So they're having to work through this while not really being sure if the wedding should happen.
07:30Yes, the processing is significant as, you know, I agree that it should be.
07:35But in that scene of those four people, I think we have a male versus female thing going on.
07:40I think we have white versus black.
07:41I think we have inaction versus action.
07:45Because Alana Haim is the real culprit here.
07:48She puts her husband out on blast.
07:49And if the context with which he explained himself is the relationship was already ending.
07:54He basically let his ex-girlfriend get bitten by a dog.
07:57And I would suggest that his is a crime of inaction and that Zendaya's is also.
08:05She planned it.
08:06She got to a certain point, but she didn't do anything.
08:09There was there was inaction involved while both white people did something.
08:13They acted on something.
08:15They made a decision that was harmful to someone else and then excuse themselves by saying it wasn't as bad
08:22because of or I potentially my actions didn't cause that effect on the person.
08:28Yeah, it's a very complex situation that I thought was handled very well.
08:33There are a lot of surrealist moments where we see either Zendaya or Robert Pattinson imagining how things could go
08:41or what things must have been like that in some other films seem distracting like filler.
08:47But in this one, I thought it was very clear that what we're seeing is a representation of their fears
08:52and emotions.
08:53I thought it was excellent.
08:54Yes, because we start seeing Zendaya's, you know, triggered by this as well, Emma, and we're seeing flashbacks of her
09:02teenage self going through this.
09:05And then also Charlie is I was kind of touched by him imagining walking hand in hand with the troubled
09:13teenage version of Emma and what that felt like.
09:17And I don't know, I found that all very compelling and interesting and very human.
09:23I was thinking of The Cell, the Jennifer Lopez movie, and how they have this VR simulation where they go
09:28into the mind of a serial killer and her character gets background on this person's childhood, which, of course, doesn't
09:34explain the horrific crimes this character commits, but it gives context.
09:38And I was thinking about that in this movie because while her character didn't act on them, we do spend
09:44quite a bit of time understanding her background.
09:46She's a military brat. She spent a lot of time alone in a cabin out in the woods. She was
09:52bullied heavily at school, didn't have friends.
09:56And then we live in the United States where gun violence is rampant and there's this constant debate that never
10:03makes any traction.
10:04So it seems like the perfect storm for these kinds of things to happen and plot twist. They do happen
10:09all the time.
10:10So understanding her perspective, I didn't think it was so out of this world to learn that this teenager considered
10:19doing something like that, especially when we find out why she didn't do it.
10:23Because there was another incident that happened that kind of took the wind out of her sails.
10:28There was a shooting at a mall near the school she goes to and one of the students was killed
10:33and they have some grief exercises.
10:36She gets very emotional clearly because she's thinking I might have done something like this.
10:41And there is a boy in class who is drawn to her hearing her talk about because the teacher explains
10:48something about how there are no female mass shooters.
10:50But of course, Zendaya's character has done a lot of research.
10:54So she says, actually, no, this person, this person, she has facts and it draws the attention of this boy
11:00who approaches her and says, hey, you seem to know a lot about gun violence.
11:05Do you want to join this anti-gun group at school?
11:08Which we need to get to some of the uncomfortably comedic moments.
11:12But she decides to do it and it's there she finds community, kindness and purpose.
11:18And because of that, she realizes that what she was planning is not something she should do or wants to
11:24do.
11:24And then seems to a florist, we don't learn a lot about who she has become as an adult.
11:30But I think this is about an ethical and moral dilemma.
11:34And it's, I think, as all of Borgley's films to date have been about human behavior, ultimately.
11:39So I actually don't mind that some of the characterization is arguably one dimensional.
11:43In fact, I think this would have been a great exercise where, you know, those Taylor and Burton had one
11:50of these called Divorce His Divorce Hers.
11:52And there's the disappearance of Eleanor Rigby where the same dissolution of a marriage, you see it from both perspectives.
11:58I would have loved to see somebody like Ania DaCosta after doing the Bone Temple also tackling something like this,
12:05but completely from Emma's perspective.
12:07I think that would have been fascinating.
12:09Talking about action and inaction, in the case of the other three, they all hurt others.
12:16But in Zendaya's case, while she didn't commit the mass shooting, she injured herself.
12:21Her character is deaf in one ear.
12:23And it's because as she was initially practicing rifle shooting, she held the gun too close to her ear and
12:29it went off and caused some sort of injury that resulted in her being deaf.
12:33And it's interesting because that deafness is a reminder, a constant reminder of what she might have done.
12:39And we see that she has severe anxiety related to the topic.
12:44Once it's out in the air, early on, every time her fiancé Robert Pattinson brings it up, she becomes physically
12:51ill.
12:52Yes.
12:53So while these four actions are very different in their gravity, I think if you really look at the net
13:00result, her character seems to have learned the most.
13:03Yes.
13:04And Zendaya's performance, I might add, I think she's imbued with that.
13:07She seems kind of, she's just constantly wounded.
13:10She's on the defensive once she's been made completely vulnerable.
13:14And I'd like to add, going back to The Damage, the book she's reading, that Robert Pattinson's character pretends to
13:20have read, which he hasn't.
13:22He's trying to speak in her deaf ear and he doesn't know it.
13:24And I think this is also a film about communication.
13:27And I think that's metaphorical for the distance between couples.
13:32And also, just because you're saying something doesn't mean the other one can hear it.
13:37And I also think there's a difference between she's reading a book that he's never read and he is referencing
13:43films in more ways than one that she hasn't seen.
13:47So I think there's also a difference between learning styles and what that means, the isolation of reading versus the
13:54community of a visual art that is filmmaking.
13:57He references a Louis Malle film from 1974 called Lacombe Lucien, based on her story about she was going to
14:05commit a school shooting, but instead becomes an anti-gun proponent.
14:09He's like, oh, you're like the kid in that movie who, because he can't be part of the French resistance,
14:14becomes a Nazi.
14:15I might also like to add that's kind of like Deborah Kerr in I See a Dark Stranger, where her
14:19hatred of the British, because she's Irish, leads her to also become a Nazi.
14:24So, yes, this is about where are we finding purpose?
14:28And I think Emma reminds me of those characters. And again, not to condone violence.
14:34And it's interesting that this is coming from an outsider, this Norwegian director.
14:38This is a white male heteronormative perspective that we're really kind of latching on to because Charlie is our conduit
14:47into this.
14:48And I think it's really interesting as a conversation piece, at the very least.
14:53The other film that came up to me is not mentioned by name, but in his apartment, Charlie has a
14:59beautiful poster of Ingmar Bergman's The Passion of Anna, which I had never seen, but watched in preparation for talking
15:06about this, because that is also it's part of his thematic island trilogy.
15:11But it's also about two people, Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann, and another couple played by Erlen Josephson and
15:17B.B. Anderson, who kind of have this similar toxic dynamic.
15:21And there's a scene where the four of them are sitting together, which has to be something that Borgly is
15:27referencing here.
15:27But the two central characters, one's divorced and one accidentally killed her previous husband, come together in a toxic romance.
15:36But I was laughing at Liv Ullmann saying about her dead husband, we lived in harmony by being truthful, which
15:42we know is not the truth because we were reading letters from her ex-husband.
15:44But so this is, in a way, I could suggest that this is 21st century version of Bergman that we're
15:52getting with these troubled relationships here.
15:55Before Zendaya's character's truth is revealed, we get a couple of scenes I found interesting.
16:01One is they are practicing for their wedding dance, and it's like your standard ballroom type situation, and Robert Pattinson's
16:10having a difficult time with the choreography.
16:12So Zendaya suggests they go off script and just dance to a song that she likes to play when he
16:19gets upset.
16:20So she seems very adaptive, accepting. We also see, as they're leaving, Robert Pattinson's character notices the DJ they hired
16:29for the reception is on the corner, and he's convinced she's smoking heroin.
16:34Zendaya goes to take a look and tries to make excuses for her. How it might not be what they
16:40think, and even if it is, does that really affect her ability to perform?
16:44So we get a sense that she is quite forgiving and understanding in a way that's probably a function of
16:51the transition she went through in her teenage years.
16:54Wow, what she's learned about herself. And also realizing that you don't have all the facts all the time.
17:00I was also really struck with the performative nature of how people act appalled by certain things, even in how
17:07people are talking about this film.
17:09And I noticed that a lot in video comments. Because if people aren't aware, I can see all the comments
17:15they leave.
17:16So the consistency in which people will be really excited about movies that are ultra violent, gory, violence against women,
17:24sexual assault, like they love these movies.
17:26And then you'll see a comment like, I can't watch this because a CGI pigeon was harmed.
17:31And I just think it's very interesting where people's moral compass goes.
17:37Yes, and also the kind of violence that we condone is appropriate to witness or the kind of subjects, the
17:42kind of context.
17:43Because already the drama has been met with vitriol because of people suggesting that it's humanizing a school shooter.
17:52But it's not. People have these dark, violent thoughts. And it's exactly because we stick our heads in the sand
17:58and don't want to deal with it that this shit keeps happening.
18:01I mean, we have to deal with human behavior.
18:04Well, that's what I was trying to say is I think the maid of honor, her disgust feels so misguided
18:11because she hasn't even atoned for the horrific things she did.
18:15No.
18:16All I kept thinking is how traumatized that young boy probably was because we also find out that she's very
18:22flippant about it.
18:23She's like, well, I don't know. He never told anyone like no one ever asked me. It's like, well, he's
18:28probably scared of you.
18:29Right.
18:29So it's interesting. And I think that's something that we see in everyday life that people don't take accountability for
18:36their own actions, but then will condemn others.
18:38Also that we are all kind of contradictory in some way and being alive, being human as you age and
18:45hopefully gain some kind of wisdom is recognizing those contradictions within yourself.
18:50To go back to the passion of Anna and that Liv Ullman comment that I made is her whole thing
18:56is that character Anna in that film is constantly in search of the truth.
19:01But then we know she's lying because when everything around her, as Liv Ullman says in the film, when there's
19:07that dissonance, she ends up starting to lie so that that matches the inside versus the outside.
19:13But nobody can see your inside, so we can't see that we're all mismatched. To me, that's fascinating.
19:18It's a really interesting experience to watch these two people try to manage this sort of devastating realization while having
19:26these comedic moments.
19:28One of them is when they go to the photographer to approve the shot list. And at this point, things
19:35are really tense between the couple.
19:36The photographer is explaining what they intend to do. And she's framing it like, I'll shoot you this way. I'll
19:43shoot you that way. So a lot of play on the idea of shooting.
19:46Then I'm going to shoot your parents. Then I'm going to shoot your grandparents.
19:49Speaking of that, Robert Pattinson's character appears to be a curator at a museum. And we see on his desk,
19:54he has been sent a book that features photography of women holding guns. It's almost like a fashion magazine.
20:02It's a fashion fetish. Yeah.
20:03And I thought that was so interesting because the reality is gun violence is everywhere. And the way everyone's reacting
20:11is if like, this is something that happens once in a generation. So the blindness to something that's ever present
20:18and then being unwilling to try to talk through it is very, it felt very authentic.
20:24Yes, because the willingness with which people engage is sort of a platitude for the most part.
20:30Another darkly comedic moment is Charlie asks Emma, how far did you go? We immediately cut to a flashback of
20:38her in her room making her manifesto video holding the gun, which is disturbing.
20:44Disturbing. But while that's happening on her computer, it's stopping the cam to force an update, which happens more than
20:52once.
20:53Mm hmm.
20:54I'm sure there are people who are going to be very bothered by this, which I think is interesting because
20:58it mimics the maid of honor and her behavior.
21:01I agree.
21:02Because I, I, I mean, did you interpret her as representing this performative outrage?
21:07Yes, I, it's okay to be outraged, but that doesn't mean you have the privilege to be dismissive. I mean,
21:13this is a, cinema is art. This is a safe way, if you will, to examine the shit that happens.
21:22Because there's a really interesting scene when Charlie goes to the maid of honor and the best man to ask
21:29them, will you please still come? Like you can't just drop out last minute.
21:33And the maid of honor says, well, I'm meeting with my cousin in the wheelchair to make sure she's okay
21:38with it because I don't want to disrespect her.
21:40And then we see Charlie approach that woman on the street as she's approaching the building and we find out
21:46that the cousins are not that close.
21:48The cousin doesn't know the people getting married. So why would she care if she goes to the wedding?
21:53And of course, at that point, Robert Pattinson's trying to Charlie is trying to convince this woman that Emma Zendaya
22:00is a good person, even though she's never met her.
22:03And that's when you start to understand that it seems like his character is going to be able to get
22:09past this.
22:10But that was another thing I wanted to mention regarding communication, because I think a lot of us enter relationships
22:16off of a feeling.
22:19But you really don't know people until you spend time and actually dig in.
22:24And I thought this film also did a really good job of showing how it is scary to enter a
22:29life with someone and not really know them.
22:31Initially, we're all putting our best foot forward and we're following cues and downplaying some behaviors that you might think
22:40will get you anywhere with that person because you want to be a certain version of yourself to keep this
22:47person interested.
22:47But of course, we are all layered people with lots of things that have happened to us that maybe we
22:52have never processed, depending on where you are in your life, how old you are, etc.
22:56I mean, it's amazing that anybody stays together based on all of that.
23:02So, yeah, I think that's really interesting.
23:04I also found it interesting that we get a scene initially with a morning after the reveal has happened where
23:10Mike, Mamadou Ache's character, he tells Robert Pattinson to get on a plane back to Britain and leave that crazy
23:15lady.
23:16Did you think that was real or one of those sort of surrealist moments?
23:20I think that I thought that was supposed to be real because how Mamadou's character is also he's it's interesting
23:27because the gender stereotypes are reversed with Mamadou Ache and Zendaya like she's seen as being aggressive.
23:34We get flashback.
23:35I also thought that was interesting because in our conversation after the screening last night, how you reinterpret someone's behavior
23:42when more information is revealed.
23:45And that's why Pattinson is having all these recollections of when Zendaya is maybe acting aggressive.
23:51But the moments we get, I don't think she's being aggressive.
23:54They're in a crosswalk and some taxi cab almost hits them and she stands up for herself.
23:58To me, that's what whatever she planned as a teenager, that is what that woman is doing in that scenario,
24:03in my mind.
24:04But he's choosing to use that as like, oh, maybe she has anger management issues.
24:08I think that's valid because, listen, when people show you who they are, believe them.
24:13He also recalls a time when she's being very rough during sex.
24:16I think it's very reasonable for him to assume that maybe she is a violent person.
24:20I think that it has all to do with communication and being afraid to seem unsavory when you first enter
24:28in a relationship with somebody.
24:29And that's how like I wouldn't reference Ingmar Bergman scenes for a marriage because this is like prenuptial bullshit that
24:35goes on.
24:36And it's distressing for me watching this triggered a different kind of emotion because at one point, you know, they're
24:44mired in trying to work through this knowledge that Charlie has received.
24:50And Zendaya says she points out like you have a you fixate on things.
24:55You become obsessed and consumed and that's maybe a fault for Charlie.
24:58But she brings up this exercise that's maybe let's start again.
25:02Let's start over again, which I think anybody that's been in a long term relationship maybe has tried something like
25:06this.
25:07And then that is mimicked in the final scene of the film, which was a scene that actually did bring
25:11tears to my eyes because it's about forgiveness and grace.
25:16The turning point for Charlie, I think, is he's at work one day and he decides to confide in a
25:23way with his coworker Misha.
25:25Oh, yeah. Haley Gates, who's also an A24 is the moment.
25:29He straight up asks her, what's the worst thing you've ever done?
25:32And she recounts a story of cheating on a boyfriend she had who was a really nice guy and she
25:37regretted it.
25:37And then he asked her, what would you do if your current boyfriend planned a school shooting?
25:41So basically trying to set up the same scenario.
25:44And she says, call the cops, call the cops.
25:48This person is clearly a psychopath.
25:50Charlie gets upset, like kicks a chair and leaves the room.
25:53She follows him into his office.
25:55He starts crying.
25:57She tries to console him.
25:58They start kissing.
26:00He turns her around like they're going to take sex further when he realizes this is wrong.
26:05He also, I'd say, aggressively rips her shirt.
26:08Can I add that Misha's story about cheating is also on the guy she cheated on was super nice.
26:14And she cheated on him with his married friend that treated her like shit.
26:18Again, contradictions.
26:19The wedding is tense.
26:21The maid of honor decides to show up, but she's not acting right.
26:24As the audience, we feel tension because Misha is there with her boyfriend.
26:28And we know that there was something that happened recently with the groom and her.
26:32The bride's father gives a speech, which was very well done because he talks about Zendaya being such a kind,
26:41empathetic person.
26:42He even brings up the fact that she belonged to this anti-gun group.
26:47And we have the maid of honor in the back groaning.
26:49We get the maid of honor speech, which is super awkward.
26:52It's very charged and you'll be uncomfortable.
26:55They take a break.
26:56Zendaya goes to the restroom and she overhears Misha talking about a school shooting.
27:01So she's convinced that someone has spread that information.
27:05And she believes it's Rachel.
27:06So she finds her man, tells him, go get that lady so I can confront her.
27:12He won't do it.
27:13So she grabs her.
27:14So now Charlie, Emma and Misha are in a room.
27:18And Misha, of course, assumes that the bride wants to confront her about potentially having sex with her man two
27:24days ago.
27:24So Misha just blurts it out, which of course creates a new batch of problems because Emma did not know
27:31that.
27:32And I really connected with that moment because the two have said and done things they regret.
27:38But now that Charlie has done something that he actually took action on, like it's a tangible thing that he
27:43did that he shouldn't have done.
27:44He now feels that regret.
27:46Yeah.
27:46And of course, he's running through the excuses of why he did it.
27:50He was feeling vulnerable and I didn't mean for it to happen.
27:53But things escalate because when he's giving his speech, he just breaks down.
28:00And a really funny moment at the beginning of the film is he's writing his speech and sharing it with
28:04his best man.
28:05And the best man was like, don't say that.
28:06Don't say that.
28:07Because he wants to talk about how Emma's laugh is repulsive, but it's really cute.
28:12And we hear her laugh and it is really cute.
28:13He also wants to mention how great their sex is.
28:16And the best man's like, do not say that in front of the family.
28:19But Charlie goes off script and says all of that.
28:22It's super uncomfortable.
28:23And then at a point starts yelling at the crowd.
28:27It's revealed that he didn't mean to be sexual with Misha.
28:30Misha's boyfriend gets up and assaults Charlie.
28:33So then the reception's over.
28:35Yes.
28:35We cut to Charlie back at home.
28:38He can't get in contact with his new bride.
28:41And might I add, it's Rachel and Charlie.
28:43They're the ones that betray the confidence of their partners.
28:46Yeah.
28:47With those secrets.
28:49Them betraying the confidence of their partners is the ripple effect that spirals and compounds everything and makes it worse.
28:54That's what I think is so interesting because the net result of what everyone did, I feel like the one
29:00who thought about the mass shooting feels like the least problematic of the group to me.
29:06Yes.
29:07Like if you remove that a mass shooting is a horrific thing.
29:11Because it.
29:11But it didn't happen.
29:13And it also made me think that this is the importance of allowing people to share their feelings so that
29:18they can process them.
29:19If we don't let people share and we just condemn them or judge them, then how will healing occur?
29:26How will people learn that maybe they're not going to make the best choice?
29:29It doesn't.
29:29That's why we're in the Orwellian double speak bullshit we're in today.
29:33But before the drama started, Emma had said to Charlie, maybe we should, after the reception, go to our favorite
29:40diner.
29:41You know, how like celebrities do after they win an Oscar.
29:44And Charlie seems kind of.
29:45He doesn't seem enthusiastic about it.
29:47But in the end, when he's sitting at home unable to get in touch with his wife and he's bloodied,
29:52he decides to go to the diner with the hope that maybe she'll show up and that's the olive branch
29:57he needs.
29:58And she does.
29:59And like you mentioned earlier, when she tried the exercise of starting over and reintroduce themselves to each other, it
30:06was Charlie who thought that was a corny idea.
30:08But Emma tries it again at the end in this diner.
30:11It seems like he's willing to start there.
30:14Yes.
30:14Now that he also knows what it's like to be in the doghouse.
30:17I was also reminded of a film we reviewed out of Sundance called Josephine, where it also took a very
30:23sort of like traumatic hot button situation, which is a young girl witnessing a sexual assault and the resulting sort
30:31of trauma it induces.
30:32And I didn't care for that movie because I felt like it was one of those situations like when you're
30:37at a dinner party and maybe there are three couples and then there's the one single bitch who wants to
30:42stir the pot.
30:43Like, what would you do if your man cheated on you?
30:45It's like, girl, what are you doing?
30:47Like, you're just bringing up this thing that's going to agitate everyone.
30:49And then there's no discussion of like how this might actually play out.
30:53And that's why I didn't care for Josephine.
30:55Whereas I think this is very well done because we are having the awkward conversations.
31:00We are processing the feelings.
31:02Well, that's what leads you to be secure about yourself is reflecting with others sometimes as needed, as necessary.
31:10But, oh, and you know, it's no surprise probably that this was produced by Ari Aster.
31:14Oh, I didn't know that.
31:16Yes.
31:16And I'd like to shout out the cinematographer, Arseny Kachaturin, because I like the look of the film.
31:21And Daniel Pemberton, who the composer that worked on Eddington for Ari Aster recently.
31:26Yeah, I think this is clearly a provoking film.
31:30So people that don't want to have to think or deal with, you know, unseemly subjects probably will turn their
31:37heads.
31:37But I think this is exactly the kind of cinema that Americans should be contending with for sure.
31:44What would you give the drama?
31:47Four.
31:47I think it's pretty spectacular.
31:49I would give it four and a half out of five.
31:51Join us on Patreon and listen to our podcast.
31:53Bye.
31:56Bye.
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