Kristoffer Borgli's 'The Drama' Is the Best Film of 2026 So Far
Spoiler-free review of the new Zendaya + Robert Pattinson film
(No Spoilers)
The Drama is the best movie of 2026 so far. Kristoffer Borgli‘s latest, starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson in career-best performances, is dark, twisted, and shockingly moving.
There was nary a minute of this that I wasn’t completely bought into—impressive considering how recognizable these superstars are. The film follows a bourgeois millennial couple in Boston, a few days from their wedding, when a huge reveal about Zendaya‘s character’s past sends their world into a spiral of confusion, anger, and second-guessing.
I knew what the reveal was heading in, and I was still absolutely riveted. Borgli has a cockeyed view of a very American institution, constantly twisting and turning the narrative in clever ways, with dashes of surrealism baked into the filmmaking that keep you on your toes—reminding you you’re (definitely) not watching a straight rom-com, at least not formally. Flourishes like a randomly placed younger Zendaya (Jordyn Curet) entering a present-day scene or jerky edits that cut just a beat too early provide injections of anxiety, heightening the deceptively banal story.
Pattinson is incredible—the best work I’ve seen from him. No funny voice or affectation. Just a self-assured intellectual (a museum curator) knocked off his pedestal and forced to reckon with the love he has—or maybe doesn’t—for his partner. Zendaya does equally impressive, subtle work. These are two performers I haven’t really sparked to in the past, and I was completely bought in. Alana Haim plays a venomous best friend and attacks the role with relish. Hailey Benton Gates, who’s having quite a run, is cast in pitch-perfect fashion.
I’m genuinely trying to understand why this film is so repulsive to so many people. Yes, it’s provocative, but I was absolutely stirred by this in a romantic sense. Where many reviews have cited a shoddy ending, I felt the complete opposite—Borgli completely stuck it, negating my exact issue with his last film, Dream Scenario. I’m reminded of Eddington and its surrounding discourse. I loved Ari Aster’s film immediately (he’s a producer here), and it has only grown in estimation since. If The Drama triggers, it’s worth looking inwards and considering why and how it provokes such a strong reaction—and remember that provocation is part of the pleasure and purpose of Borgli‘s work.
Borgli has been in hot water the past couple weeks after a 2012 essay resurfaced in which he wrote about a relationship he had with a 16-year-old in Norway when he was 27. As fucked up as I think that is, there’s something twisted and kind of noble about The Drama, about articulating how messed up you are—your outré relationship to love and romance—and letting audiences grapple with that strange artistic bravery when we might feel these things privately but shun them in our day-to-day lives.
With The Drama, Borgli is piercing the thin veil of bourgeois normalcy we put up every day, making astute observations about how tenuous the fabric of modern society really is—and the violence that’s so near at all times. And then, ultimately, the love that can help people change and prevail over darkness.
