#520: Past Imperfect, Pt. 2 — The Drama

Kristoffer Borgli’s provocative new The Drama turns on the revelation of a secret past that is more of an abstraction than the one in the other half of this pairing, making the resulting relationship rift between Zendaya and Robert Pattinson’s characters both frustrating and fascinating to parse. After talking through our responses to the film’s button-pushing, and our vastly different takes on its ending, we bring A History of Violence back in for Connections to see how two films with very different agendas court our sympathy for both the secret-keepers and the secret-kept, and explore the intertwined questions of how much a person can change and how much punishment they deserve for their past. Then in Your Next Picture Show we recommend a couple other films that would make a good The Drama double feature, Sleeping Dogs Lie and The Celebration. Please share your thoughts about A History of Violence, The Drama, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Bet Wheatley's Normal and Joel & Ethan Coen's Fargo. This episode is presented by⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Regal Unlimited⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can listen to #520: Past Imperfect, Pt. 2 — The Drama online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

#520: Past Imperfect, Pt. 2 — The Drama is an episode from The Next Picture Show by Telegraph Road Productions.

This episode is 67:53 long.

This episode was published on Apr 21, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Next Picture Show when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.