'Malcolm & Marie' REVIEW: Romantic drama at its most exhausting
‘Malcolm & Marie’ REVIEW: Romantic drama at its most exhausting
John David Washington (Malcolm) and Zendaya (Marie) in Malcolm & Marie (2021).
This review contains minor spoilers for Malcolm & Marie (2021).
Thank you, Marie.
After the critical success of Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story – a realistic and painful portrayal of a showbiz couple getting through a divorce – it shouldn’t be a surprise that Netflix will try to replicate its success. Fates have agreed with them because last September, the popular streaming website acquired the rights to the new romantic-drama film from Euphoria creator, Sam Levinson. His latest film, Malcolm & Marie, was filmed for less than a month in a secluded home and was written during the pandemic. It follows the title characters as they wait for the reviews of Malcolm’s recent directorial effort about a young woman and her journey towards escaping her drug addiction, which Malcolm insistently claims to not be politically-influenced. John David Washington plays the self-righteous director, Malcolm, and opposite to him is Zendaya playing the role of Marie, Malcolm’s supportive yet unappreciated girlfriend. What was supposed to be a nice evening has turned into chaos, as their rocky relationship is put to test. Shot astonishingly in black and white, this puts a nice addition to Levinson’s diverse portfolio, but it is not without flaws—and there are lots.
Malcolm & Marie will stand out in Levinson’s filmography, not because it is a genuine masterwork, but because it is a perfect exemplification of what can go wrong with his writing: filled with pretentious, over-the-top dialogues that want to come off as deep and intellectual. This "art house" film rants about the highfalutin tendencies of critics but it ironically ends up being pompous as well. It has something to say about art and the industry and while some agreeable points are made, the rants became annoying, frustrating the audience. All these tirades are written solely by Levinson and spoken by Malcolm.
There are several times in the film where Malcolm expressed his beef with a particular white, female critic from the Los Angeles Times. Some critics have speculated that this must be inspired to the female reviewer from the same news site who gave a bad review of Assassination Nation, which he also directed, and that Levinson used the film to echo his complaints. Their speculations are well-founded, because once the glowing review from the LA Times was published in the film, Malcolm immediately read it, tore it into pieces and slammed the critics for not getting his purpose on making the film. Watching the scene with that knowledge is baffling because it feels like a spoiled case of nepotism using black actors as mouthpieces to make his grievances sound inspired. Unfortunately for Levinson, reality didn't mirror the film considering that instead of praising Levinson’s latest effort, the same news site, although from a different reviewer, lambasted the film.
The rants are not the only sins Levinson committed in this film. The intensity of a scene gradually peaks again just after the previous scene simmers down. It’s fine at first, but it's repetitive to the point that the audience can tell that the hot-headed couple is going to fight again. All of them are explosive; it's like Michael Bay, but instead of action scenes you get arguments. As a result, they become equally emotionally draining, which is a tragedy because Levinson is successful at radiating emotions in Euphoria. Yes, in reality, couples fight constantly, but if Levinson thinks that writing and directing a movie consists of a never-ending cycle of arguments and quick breaks without any sense of build-up can keep the viewers engaged, he is out of his mind. Films with the same themes that came before this film, like Marriage Story, succeeded because it follows a structure: build-up, climax, and pay-off. Levinson seemed to skip the build-up part of those films, focused on the arguments, and tried to recreate the tension of those parts. But without those aforementioned parts, those scenes have no foundation, thus becoming weak moments of screaming.
On the bright side, the film is not just filled with negatives. The performances are amazing and clearly what carried the film. Zendaya proved to everyone that she is ready for more mature roles. She brings so many emotional complexities in her character and makes Marie empathetic enough. The audience can only hope that, somewhere in the future, Marie will finally break free from the toxicity she’s getting from her relationship with Malcolm. John David Washington did the best he can under the direction and script of Levinson. Malcolm is very flawed as both an artist, for his inauthenticity and pretentiousness, and as a human, for simply being a bad partner, which makes his character so easy to hate, and Washington captured the character’s essence and put a little groove into it. Another positive aspect is the cinematography, which looks gorgeous just like most of Levinson's projects. But while the black-and-white visuals look stunning, the beautiful shots seem like they are only added for the aesthetics that carry no meaning whatsoever.
Overall, while the performances and the cinematography are phenomenal, its script is the ultimate pitfall of the film. This is already proven controversial, with the film dividing people’s opinions. Some people loved it for its raw depiction of relationships, others despised it for its exhausting nature. Despite the divide, there is one thing that everyone can agree on: Malcolm and Marie need to take a breather.
Malcolm & Marie is now available on Netflix.
