Malcolm & Marie

“Sam Levinson may have based Malcolm & Marie on actual events from his life, but more distance from the material was needed.”

Title: Malcolm & Marie (2021)
Director: Sam Levinson 👨🏼🇺🇸
Writer: Sam Levinson 👨🏼🇺🇸

Reviewed by Murtada Elfadl 👨🏽🇸🇩🇺🇸🌈

Technical: 2/5

A thin line separates works that are emotionally wrought, yet moving—and those that are merely exhausting. Malcolm & Marie crosses that line so many times, it ends up being plain tiresome.

The story follows a filmmaker, Malcolm (John David Washington), on the night of his latest movie’s premiere. However, rather than celebrating as one would expect, he spends the evening arguing with his girlfriend Marie (Zendaya). You see, he forgot to thank her, which particularly irks her because the film is based on her story as a recovering addict.

From the one-night setting to the black and white cinematography, to fighting over an unseen third person, Malcolm & Marie draws clear parallels to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966). In director Mike Nichols’ film adaptation of Edward Albee’s classic Broadway play, a middle-aged couple fight over a made-up imaginary dead child they never actually had. Here the writer and director Sam Levinson replaces that phantom child with a critic who has reviewed Malcolm’s movie. Malcolm tediously keeps referring to her as “the white girl from the L.A. Times.” She never appears on screen, yet she looms large over the proceedings, a MacGuffin standing in for all that’s wrong about art, film, and critical discourse.

Levinson seems to think he’s saying something profound, questioning why art criticism nowadays is always about the artist’s identity. Instead he repeats diatribes you can already find online in think pieces and interviews. Other topics he rants about—and it is mostly rants that do not illuminate any of the topics discussed—are about who owns the story being told, the artist or the person whose experience inspired it? And celebrities being vocally political; is it just posturing, or does that add value to society?

Thanks to highly stylized dialogue that forces Zendaya and Washington to raise their voices and exaggerate their body movement, the proceedings are indeed fun to watch before they wear out their welcome. Some of Levinson’s choices that work well include the gorgeous black and white cinematography and thoughtful, if obvious, music cues. The film about a couple fighting has a soundtrack that includes such on-the-nose titles like “There’s a Fine Line between Love and Hate,” “I Forgot to be Your Lover” and “Get Rid of Him.” Still you can’t go wrong with Outkast, William Bell, or Dionne Warwick.

At home watching on Netflix, it’s easy to get distracted by the film’s repetitiveness, although perhaps that’s better than getting angry at its facile arguments. Either way, this is not an engaging watch.

Gender: 4/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? NOPE

The main reason to watch Malcolm & Marie at all is to watch Zendaya. She owns the duet and blows Washington off the screen. Her visceral delivery of the dialogue has a rhythm that cuts to the bone. Every insult lacerates like barbed wire, every truth lands like a punch to the stomach.

Her performance becomes even more watchable due to her theatricality, something that’s usually not seen in current films. Throughout the movie Marie calls Malcolm out, “Don't be an asshole.” And because of Zendaya’s emotionally potent performance, we are on her side. In contrast, Washington feels uncertain especially when dealing with the elaborate speeches his character delivers. The right cadence eludes him, making many of his lines less impactful. His physicality, though, is a joy to watch as the role calls for him to constantly move and express with his body. The fluidity and comfort he shows made me long to see him dancing in a musical.

In addition, Zendaya has talked extensively in the media about her contributions to the film. For example, she originated the idea for making a film with a small cast and crew during quarantine, and then took the project to Euphoria collaborator Levinson. Zendaya's involvement, along with her outsized contributions onscreen, help prevent the film from being merely a male director's vision.

Race: 2/5

Malcolm & Marie has come under fire from some critics, many of them Black, because its white writer and director chose to put forth his frustrations about art and criticism through Black characters. Many of the arguments we hear pertain to how a Black filmmaker might be judged by the mostly white critical establishment—how being Black in this country is always political, while questionsioning why art criticism nowadays is always about the artist’s identity. Zendaya, who’s mixed-race Black, and Washington, who’s Black, came to Levinson’s defense, arguing that the film was a collaboration between the three of them.

Why then is only Levinson credited as the writer? While it’s wonderful to see a film with Black leads, this disconnect between who’s in front of the camera and who’s behind feels suspect. For this Black critic, the ideas included are half-formed and glib. Levinson has nothing new to say about identity and politics in art; it seems like he made this movie just to shout about his own grievances. He camouflages this lack of knowledge, about the effect of one’s race on how their work is perceived, with broad strokes about why modern criticism is biased and shallow. Zendaya and Washington deserved better. They would’ve probably gotten that from a Black filmmaker who has firsthand knowledge of what it means to navigate the film industry as a Black creator.

Mediaversity Grade: C- 2.67/5

Levinson based the film’s premise on actual events from his life. He, like Malcolm, forgot to thank his wife at a premiere. The movie in question, 2018’s Assassination Nation, received a negative review from Katie Walsh at the L.A. Times. Given such uncanny parallels, Malcolm & Marie comes across as Levinson trying to make amends with his wife and settle scores with Walsh. However, such a pointedly personal film ultimately feels unrealized. Some distance from the material was needed.

Like Malcolm & Marie? Try these other titles featuring lovers’ spats.

Grade: CLiMarch 30, 2021