From Betty:
April 15, 2026
Montages are a great, easy tool to use to show a passage of time, or a way to express where a story stands in the beginning versus the contrasting/foil montage in the second half of a movie. Often overused and unnecessary, the montage can become redundant and in many cases an eyerolling, “Here we go now…” portion of a film. But I saw the perfect montage this week. P.E.R.F.E.C.T.
I went to see the movie THE DRAMA. There is a lovely montage of Charlie envisioning his life with Emma. But instead of showing the happy couple doing regular married things, it shows him as an adult with Emma’s 15-year-old self doing regular married things. I don’t want to spoil the movie for you, but her 15-year-old self is a very troubled youth. It not only shows that he would have to forgive her, but also completely FORGET who she really was if he decides to go through with their marriage. And if she hadn’t confessed to her crazy past, he never would have found out about it.
As you watch the montage, you are forced to look inward, not only to ask yourself if you could move forward in life pretending that had never happened, but then also realize that if you’re currently in a relationship…there are probably a lot of things you don’t know about your significant other…cringe-worthy things. While the movie was well acted, I wished I had waited for it to stream because IMHO there weren’t any big cinematic moments that warranted a big screen. But the underlying theme of this movie was SO strong that it’s been troubling me for over a week. I can’t get it out of my mind, and it’s that montage that I keep replaying in my mind. That montage captured the essence, theme, and message of the entire movie.
I once heard a famous songwriter say, “If the bridge of the song isn’t the best part of the song, you don’t need a bridge.” Well, if the montage of your movie isn’t the best part of the movie, ask yourself if it’s truly necessary. In the case of THE DRAMA, it was definitely necessary.