Zendaya and Robert Pattinson play a couple preparing to get married when a confession from her past changes everything. The film then moves into deeply disturbing territory, confronting a planned school shooting and the way people respond when someone’s worst act, or even the intention to commit it, becomes the only thing they can see.

Audiences and critics panned the film, in part because they arrived expecting a quirky romance and instead found themselves watching something dark, painful and profoundly unsettling. The marketing was not merely misleading. It put the film in front of the wrong audience with completely false expectations, then left the film to absorb the backlash.

Much discussion about why The Drama deserves a place on your dance card. They talk about Zendaya’s extraordinary sadness and desperation, Robert Pattinson’s remarkable performance, including one unforgettable scene in which he dances alone in an apartment, and Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli’s outsider’s view of America’s relationship with gun violence.

They also consider why the industry no longer seems to know how to market a film that refuses to fit neatly into one genre, how trailers have begun giving away far too much and why a difficult film should not be dismissed simply because it makes us uncomfortable.

The Drama is disturbing. It is supposed to be. And it may be one of the most important films people were told to see for all the wrong reasons.

Is it a success? That depends on what you were looking for when The Odyssey started rolling.

Different people came to this film expecting very different things. Emily Wilson, whose translation helped inspire Christopher Nolan to take it on, was looking for something quite different from film aficionados. Christine was looking for an education in the Classics she never got—and didn’t realize mattered until she saw the film.

And Wilder? She is all in, but with thoughtful commentary on everything from the production to Nolan’s approach to the original poem.

Then there’s the casting. Christine will tell you there is no way Matt Damon should have played Odysseus. But you may be surprised by who she thinks should have.

So climb aboard. This may not be Homer’s Odyssey, or even Nolan’s. It’s ours now.

Wilder and Merser are late to join the admirers of the extraordinary film Hamnet, but only because Merser wasn’t sure she wanted to take the emotional journey.

“I can’t believe I almost missed this incredibly special film. It may be one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, for so many reasons.”

In this episode of Screen Thoughts, Wilder and Merser dive deeply into a film layered with grief, love, marriage, art, motherhood, memory, and the mysterious way great loss becomes great creation. When a film is this rich, there are endless layers to examine, and not one emotional stone goes unturned in this remarkable conversation.

You will be glad you experienced Hamnet through the eyes of two women who do not let a single moment pass unappreciated.