Malcolm & Marie
Directed by: Sam Levinson
Written by: Sam Levinson
Starring: John David Washington, Zendaya
Drama/Romance - 106 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 3 Feb 2021
Written by: Sam Levinson
Starring: John David Washington, Zendaya
Drama/Romance - 106 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 3 Feb 2021
Watch how Sam Levinson employs music in his film Malcolm & Marie. It speaks for the characters when they, the film, and the audience need a breather from the latest tirade. We learn in the first scene Malcolm is riding an emotional high. He’s just accomplished something big as he dominates the room with pelvic thrusts and hopping on perches helping James Brown scream out, “Down and Out in New York City”. William Bell’s “I Forgot to Be Your Lover” is an ‘I’m sorry’ overture from Malcolm to Marie after their first verbal throw down, which does not spur the desired effect. Later on, after Round 4 or so, Marie pokes Malcolm with Dionne Warwick’s “Get Rid of Him”. Outkast’s “Liberation” accompanies the end credits with, “There’s a fine line between love and hate” as Cee-Lo and Andre 3000’s falsettos counter Big Boi’s bass. To what extent the script and screaming matches bash you in your skull, know this use of music is virtuoso level.
Levinson has some pent up frustrations to get off his chest and he uses Malcolm (John David Washington) and Marie (Zendaya, The Greatest Showman) to filter them for us. Even though the films are far apart in genre, look, and tone, Levinson’s 2018 film, the hyper-violent, in-your-face thrill-ride Assassination Nation, also echoed frustrations. There, it concerned double standards, female sexuality, and social media manipulation. In Malcolm & Marie, while a couple is having one of those come-to-Jesus, relationship-altering arguments, Levinson pokes a little at the film industry, and a lot at critics. Critics are fair game. Malcolm, a director about to experience a meteoric rise with the LA Times critic declaring him the next Spike Lee and Barry Jenkins, thumps his chest about how critics don’t know shit about a filmmaker’s motivations and why they make the creative choices they do. He relishes how he made the critic squirm when he asked her why he was the next Lee and Jenkins and not the next William Wyler.
Levinson has some pent up frustrations to get off his chest and he uses Malcolm (John David Washington) and Marie (Zendaya, The Greatest Showman) to filter them for us. Even though the films are far apart in genre, look, and tone, Levinson’s 2018 film, the hyper-violent, in-your-face thrill-ride Assassination Nation, also echoed frustrations. There, it concerned double standards, female sexuality, and social media manipulation. In Malcolm & Marie, while a couple is having one of those come-to-Jesus, relationship-altering arguments, Levinson pokes a little at the film industry, and a lot at critics. Critics are fair game. Malcolm, a director about to experience a meteoric rise with the LA Times critic declaring him the next Spike Lee and Barry Jenkins, thumps his chest about how critics don’t know shit about a filmmaker’s motivations and why they make the creative choices they do. He relishes how he made the critic squirm when he asked her why he was the next Lee and Jenkins and not the next William Wyler.
Levinson's maneuver spurred some real world backlash. Here is a white director having a black actor rail against this critic “white bitch”. You don’t have to dig far to know this ‘critic’ is based on a real person who panned Assassination Nation in the LA Times. The ins and outs of Levinson’s true intentions will probably only ever be known to Levinson; however, since at least one critic out there lives rent free in Levinson’s head, let’s move on to another of the film’s themes, the male gaze.
Marie, and the critic, wonder why it was necessary for Malcolm’s lead character to go through a key scene topless. It didn’t add anything to the story. If Levinson has something to say about the all too prevalent issue of Hollywood’s male gaze, what is up with the camera lingering on Zendaya sitting on the toilet…twice? There are only two characters in this film, it’s very late at night, and the camera has to look somewhere, but is Levinson calling out his own camera placement? During the make-up scene interludes in between the verbal eviscerations, Malcolm and Marie get pretty sensual. The camera is right up between them. But notice we never get a look as personal at John David Washington as we do at Zendaya. He’s in his suit minus the jacket the majority of the time. She lolls around in a tank top and panties.
Oh, but that camera and the look of the isolated house. Levinson and the cinematographer, Marcell Rév, shot on film and in black and white. The supreme contrast between light and dark evokes a film of a different era, but the house is ultra-modern architecture almost completely surrounded by floor to ceiling windows. The result is magnificent. Malcolm and Marie pace miles in, out, and across the floor plan as they annihilate each other’s self-worth and respective egos, but at least we have something to look at if the cyclical fighting weighs too heavy.
Marie is mad that Malcolm forgot to thank her during his big movie premiere speech. The cascade of accusations, counter-accusations, vitriol, and words one cannot easily retract make for one mean screenplay. We may not care whether or not Malcolm and Marie survive the night as a couple, but despite all the baggage attached to the film, it’s worth the effort for two superior lead performances by Washington and Zendaya, and one of the best looking films you’ve seen in awhile.
Marie is mad that Malcolm forgot to thank her during his big movie premiere speech. The cascade of accusations, counter-accusations, vitriol, and words one cannot easily retract make for one mean screenplay. We may not care whether or not Malcolm and Marie survive the night as a couple, but despite all the baggage attached to the film, it’s worth the effort for two superior lead performances by Washington and Zendaya, and one of the best looking films you’ve seen in awhile.
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