EAT • SLEEP • REVIEW • REPEAT
MALCOLM & MARIE
Loveless in lockdown.
Not sure if it’s just hyperawareness induced by our current socially distant circumstances, but there does seem to be an awful lot of claustrophobic films around at the moment.
Since we were all sent to lock ourselves away from the rest of the world, the likes of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Boys in the Band, and One Night in Miami have found their way to streaming services, with straight-up stage-to-screen efforts like Hamilton and American Utopia also bringing their confined settings to the watch party. And that’s all before you get to the more overt lockdown efforts like – umm – Locked Down, who’ve started to creep out of the woodwork.
It may be mere coincidence, yet there are certainly glaring parallels here with the world in its current state, and now with the Netflix release of Malcolm & Marie, things are starting to feel very close to home – quite literally. Filmed in secret last summer, Malcolm & Marie became the first Hollywood feature to be entirely written, financed, and produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, making it one of the most starkly redolent and close-to-the-bone films of our current plight.
But is being stuck inside a warring couple’s house with no chance of escape really what we want from a viewing experience at this moment in time?
Returning home late from the triumphant premiere of his latest movie, a filmmaker (John David Washington) and his girlfriend (Zendaya) await what’s sure to be imminent critical and financial success. However, when revelations about their relationship begin to bubble to the surface, the evening takes a sudden turn, as what should’ve been a night of celebration swiftly morphs into one of anger and spite, with the strength of the couple’s love being tested to its limits.
Make no mistake, Malcolm & Marie is absolutely exhausting. Like being stuck awkwardly in quarantine with an atrociously toxic couple that find it physically impossible not to gouge chunks out of one another, the film is essentially a 105 minute-long domestic. And it’s every bit as fun to watch as that sounds.
As we dig further and further into the couple’s spiralling argument, the nit-picking, jabs, and hollow apologies will no doubt feel unnervingly familiar to anyone who’s ever been in and/or around a faltering relationship, or even lowkey experiencing it now, as we spend every living second with our loved ones. While utterly overwritten and feeling like a cinematic therapy session for writer/director Sam Levinson, there’s a lot of close-to-the-bone truths present in Malcolm & Marie that speak to the various powerplays and pettiness that go into your average tiff.
Less a tête-à-tête than a string of lengthy, one-sided monologues, it’s not too long into it all that the dialogue grows pretty tiresome. As each character wrestles to gain an advantage in the argument, they burrow deeper and deeper in, exhausting all avenues and testing our patience to the limit.
Exhausting and overdone though it may be, there is at least some power behind the film’s chaotic and self-destructive central relationship. What is far less successful, however, is its decision to continually shoot off on awkward soapboxing tangents about the state of the film industry.
While there’s certainly an important conversation to be had regarding the industry’s approach to race, at this point in the argument, John David Washington’s Malcom essentially morphs into Sam Levinson’s mouthpiece, as he unloads on Hollywood, specifically film criticism. While we and Zendaya’s Marie are forced into the back seat, Malcolm piles on to such a self-absorbed degree that the line between character and writer all but vanishes.
Things get particularly uncomfortable when the rants take aim at white critics and their frequently myopic approach to black art, a turn that’s laced with good intentions, yet, with Levinson’s grievances filtered through Malcom, his sincerity soon fades, replaced with something far more malevolent. As his mask rapidly falls, it’s not hard to see Levinson – a white, privileged, second-generation filmmaker – manipulating Malcolm – a black man – using him as a shield to assail not the critics that scrutinise black work, but the ones that have scrutinised his.
As Malcolm monologues for what feels like forever on the failings of his critics – specifically one female LA Times writer – it’s all more than a little uncomfortable to watch, as the character feels more like an unwitting puppet in the director’s own personal war. Add in fact that neither Malcolm nor Marie are particularly likable, and the film soon grows tiresome.
It’s to both John David Washington and Zendaya’s immense credit then that, despite how thoroughly unpleasant their characters are, they make the film entirely watchable. As a two-person/one-location setup, Malcolm & Marie’s ultimate success rests entirely on the two actors’ shoulders, and despite the film’s numerous pratfalls, the pair are flawless.
Although the film’s setting is restricted, the pair’s roles within it certainly aren’t, as both actors are let loose on the bare bones narrative to show us just what top-tier talents they are. With a heftier share of the dialogue, Washington’s role is certainly the brasher of the two, as he puts his full force behind it, however, it’s Zendaya who truly shines with a more nuanced performance that stands tall against her co-star’s bombast.
With a clear kinship, Levinson certainly knows how to get the best out of Zendaya, as their success together on the Euphoria series provides the foundation for her star to shine. With her big screen roles to date leaning more on the youthful side, especially with the ongoing Spider-Man franchise, it would be all too easy for Zendaya to continue down that road, yet this is the kind of mature and self-assured performance that suggests she’s about ready to level-up her career.
In more ways than one, this is utterly Zendaya and Washington’s film, as they defy the stifling location and Levinson’s self-serving script to lift the film above its faults. Gorgeously shot on black-and-white film stock and sounding as smooth as anything, Sam Levinson sure knows how to make the most of his stars, as they positively drip with style and allure, even if Malcolm and Marie lack these characteristics entirely.
Akin to being stuck in quarantine with the worst kind of toxic couple, Malcolm & Marie is an absolutely exhausting watch. Built on the back of two thoroughly unlikable characters serving up Sam Levinson’s painfully self-serving dialogue, the film is a cramped and uncomfortable experience that never truly fulfils its ambitions. However, through the strong chemistry and accomplished performances of Zendaya and John David Washington, together with the film’s stunning monochromatic appearance, Malcom & Marie’s flaws are at least partially offset, to offer something watchable, if not particularly enjoyable.
