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Dramarama

Country: USA, Language: English, 91 mins

Gay | Comedy | Drama | 2020

Director: Jonathan Wysocki
Writer: Jonathan Wysocki
Producer: Jonathan Wysocki; Yue Wang

CGiii Comment

Let us not beat about the bush with this one...without quibble, indefatigably, most assuredly, with hand pressed solidly against my heart...absolutely loved it.

A maelstrom of words and emotions...heralding the end of juvenility, the indoctrination and brainwashing [courtoisie des parents et de la religion]. The last hurrah...to security, [probably] to friendships too! Remember leaving school? This film will bring it all back...mine was a plainly-dressed anti-climax, this is anything but!

Ensemble, dialogue-driven...the potential to completely mess it all up was kept at bay...because of Jonathan Wysocki's nifty direction and nimble writing. The cast don't hold back...throwing themselves into melodrama, dancing with camp...upstaging whenever there's an opportunity. There's light, there's shade, there's forbidden love, unrequited love...the truths are outed and the 'outed' stay in - grudges, secrets and envies...that's what friendships are made of and that's how all friendships end. It's all here...all wrapped up in a murder mystery...neatly, tied up with lies, loves and loathing.

Dramarama will not only entertain...it will make you reflect, reminisce...and, it will expand your vocabulary exponentially.

Trailer...

Dramarama Sneak Peek from Jonathan Wysocki on Vimeo.

The(ir) Blurb...

A last party between lifelong theater geek friends before they scatter to college reveals just how much they don’t know about one another in first-time director Jonathan Wysocki’s warm, funny, and ultimately moving coming-of-age dramedy. Gene (Nick Pugliese) frets with coming clean about a long-withheld secret, but he is not the only one hiding something. Set in 1994 in Escondido, CA, the filmmaker’s hometown, among a mixed-gender group that is largely Christian, Dramarama engagingly depicts the jealousy and competition that exists among even the tightest friends but also the love that makes them closer than family. Pugliese and Danielle Kay as Ally are standouts as the most self-aware amongst a quintet of naïve teenagers for whom murder mystery role-playing games and sparkling cider are the height of adult sophistication.