It’s tough to find the right place to start with this film. Most of the popular reviews haven’t been flattering and I can understand it’s not going to be for everyone, but Malcolm & Marie exquisitely shot in 35mm black & white, intimately performed, and intensely personal.
The story is about a filmmaker and his girlfriend who get into a lengthy and hurtful shouting match after coming home from the premiere of his film. It ranges from personal attacks on each other’s character to psycho-analytical assaults on one another’s career choices and basically everything in between, while occasionally branching out to chastise film critics via lengthy and aggressive monologues. It’s both all over the place and completely self-contained, literally and figuratively, as the entire film is shot in and around a modern ranch-style home on some isolated countryside. Considering how isolated and limited the project was, Marcell Rév’s cinematography breathed a unique type of life into the film using the unique architecture of the Caterpillar House in Carmel, CA as an extension of the lense. The location itself was intimate, but the visual storytelling helped to make it much more compelling.
Writer/Director Sam Levinson’s script is robust but also cyclical and oddly self-cannibalistic, but that’s not necessarily a negative. He beats the viewer over the head with his knowledge of cinematic history, espoused during Malcolm’s exhaustive venting, but it doesn’t feel like an exploration of meaning so much as it does a statement of credibility. This is Levinson’s third feature, but his father, Barry, is a longtime Hollywood heavyweight. Given that Malcolm is a young filmmaker who questions his own worthwhile inflating his grandiosity as a measure of concealing his insecurities in the face of being called a fraud, it’s not outside the realm of possibility to think there’s something personal woven into the fabric of the screenplay. It may not be the case, the whole thing may be completely unrelated, but I can understand those who may think otherwise.
Even though I’ve seen the movie labeled as preachy or a soapbox for Levinson to berate critics, there are some legitimately funny moments woven into the script too, like Malcolm furiously eating a bowl of stovetop mac-n-cheese while screaming across the house, that let me know Levinson built some self-awareness into the film. If anything, the film is oddly cognizant of its perception. Context is essential, and there’s more than a little tongue-in-cheek included along the way.
As the characters discuss the merits of Malcolm’s film from both an artistic and societal perspective, I couldn’t help but feel they are actually talking about the film you’re watching to a large extent. It’s like the characters are actively discuss the value of the film they’re acting in while hypothesizing about how it’s going to be received by white critics and how the film’s message will get twisted and interpreted just because of who’s involved. To an extent, based on things I’ve read so far, all of that has happened. At the end of the day, the movie is really just about a couple that’s trying desperately to define their relationship, their careers, and themselves with nowhere to hide from any of it.
With only two actors, the film hinges on their performances and they both delivered in a big way. Zendaya is incredible and it’s her film in a way. She worked with Levinson on Euphoria as she made an effort to shed her Disney image and the familiarity with his writing and directing style paid dividends. She’s fierce, vulnerable, and “authentic” and her body language speaks volumes in a number of scenes where she’s not actually speaking. I know people were freaking out because she’s 12 years younger than her co-star John David Washington, but she’s a full-fledged adult and it’s really not a big deal. This performance should allow her to move on.
This was the best performance I’ve seen from Washington to this point in his career. Considering he’s not doing stunts or anything of that nature, it’s a very physical performance that consumes a lot of energy. He’s climbing on furniture and rolling around on the floor, everything but literally climbing the walls. There are moments of quiet reflection woven in there as well. In this role especially, he’s unmistakably his father’s son. The voice inflection, the tone, and many of the mannerisms have clearly been passed down in the genetic chain. It was a great role for him to stretch his legs in a number of directions.
I’m fairly surprised to see as many negative takes on this film as there have been. I thought maybe it’s the only the stuff I see because unflattering takes often incorporate more humor and more passion, but Metacritic has the average score as 53 out of 100. There’s no way this movie is a 5.3/10. The performances and visual style alone should warrant better, but it’s not for everyone. I think the film can offer very different experiences for different people and, ultimately, that’s a success in my book.
Recommendation: Probably not the movie of choice for Valentine’s Day weekend, but it’s a uniquely crafted relationship drama with plenty of style and substance.