Isidora Urrejola in "Drama" [2010 Chile]

Chilean director Matias Lira's debut feature, "Drama" is set in a drama school, where the students are encouraged to adapt the 'Artaud' method of acting by their professor - experiencing life to the full, so that they could free themselves and 'become' the characters they're trying to portray.

Three ambitious students - close friends, Mateo, Maria, and Angel, decide to do exactly that. Mateo and Maria are lovers, while Angel's just discovering his homosexuality. Things however spiral out of control as they take their experiences to new extremes. The film also delves into Mateo's emotional scars from childhood - his actress-mother's infidelity and the father's indifference.

The screenplay and direction is pretty good, and includes some memorable dialogues too - a fine feat considering this is Lira's debut, as is the impressive debut of the lead actress playing Maria, a drama student in real life too, chiquita muy hermosa Isidora Urrejola. Her big sister Fernanda Urrejola plays Mateo's mother. These scenes were cut from the general release DVD - I hope there's a director's cut in the offing - considering some (only some) untidy edits in this release, and the fact that some footage was not at all used, but shown passingly in the DVD extras.

Segement 1:
A compilation of two scenes - the first is after a class in the school toilet (apparently unisex!) as Mateo marks his territory around Maria. The second is of Maria and Mateo spending the night together at his house. Angel drops by in the morning, and when the father enters the room and sees all three in bed together, he remarks, "If you start with a threesome, you'll end up alone, my son..."







Segment 2:
Made of three scenes - first is of fellow classmate Soledad trying to impress Mateo after he asks her to be in his forthcoming sketch. Maria isn't impressed - she even warns her he couldn't 'get it up'. Soledad is played by the rather dishy Jocelyn Anfossy. The second scene is Mateo remembering the last time he saw his mother (Fernanda Urrejola) - on the stage before she and her lover/co-star are taken away by the junta. He performs the same play she was enacting - Romeo and Juliet. The last scene is of Maria walking into a place where Mateo and Soledad are having sex. Even after noticing, Mateo orders Soleded not to stop - the purpose - the more Maria is made to feel jealous, the more 'complete' the actor he's become.







Segment 3:
Made up of two scenes - first is when Maria decides to become a prostitute - to evoke similar jealousy from Mateo. She finds Max, a rich punter who proves more than a match for Mateo. When a frustrated Mateo calls Maria a whore, Max gives him a piece of worldly advice, "Women are like guitars - they respond the way they're struck". The second scene is the more dramatic of the two - at Max's party, where she get's gang-banged (implied) while a desperate Mateo tries to stop her. She asks a shocked Mateo, "Well, did I do it right this time..?"





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