Malcolm & Marie

Director: Sam Levinson

Writer: Sam Levinson

Starring: Zendaya and John David Washington

Reason for watching: award-season bait

Number of times I’ve watched it: first time viewing

***

Alright, I haven’t posted in a while and basically gonna write seven of these in one night, but I don’t want it to affect the quality of these posts. And I genuinely like this movie, so here we go.

This movie is a triumph in the face of a pandemic. While a vast majority of productions shut down, this movie was written, shot, and edited in the midst of quarantine. Basically, this movie was made over a span of two weeks with just the two actors with tons of precautionary measures put in place. Sam Levinson, who also works with Zendaya on the HBO show Euphoria, came up with the idea not long after most productions were shut down. The movie centers are a movie director and a model who get home after a night out at the premiere of the director’s new film and the conversations they have about the nature of their relationship.

First and foremost, both of these actors are on their A-game for this. They are electric with their dialogue and grab your attention with their delivery. The relationship and their understanding of it seem authentic. The cinematography adds to the flow of their conversation throughout the night as the atmosphere gets tenser with the depth of their discussions. It’s good to see that the movie’s quality wasn’t hindered by the pandemic.

However, the writing comes off as a bit heavy-handed throughout. It’s clear that the conversations between our protagonists are meant to be cutting and pointed at each other, but after the first act the cutting conversation comes off more like long internet-rants or hateful letters that you burn in a fire to keep from actually send to someone (yes, I did that. Yes, I found it healthy). We do get a kind of healthy resolution between the characters at the end where they seem to understand how they need to improve their actions in the relationship. All in all, it’s still high-quality work from Netflix.

7/10

Until I see another one.