Netflix's Malcolm & Marie Review

Netflix’s Malcolm and Maire, a film directed by Sam Levinson, and starring John David Washington and Zendaya (the only two actors in the film btw), showcases the deteriorating efforts of an up-and-coming couple in Hollywood to keep their relationship together.

The film is shot entirely in black and white, with Zendaya saying in an interview with GMC the reason was to gain ownership again over the Black and White film era for Black actors. A confusing notion, since the first twenty minutes of the film’s dialogue and actions is entirely dedicated to the stripping of viewers expectations of what a film starring Black leads is meant to be. This is not a “Black Film.” The typical comedic tropism of the late 90s, early 2000s Black era of films was not here, nor was the post-modern racially-charged trauma of the 2010s present, either. Malcolm and Marie is as a whole about two people, both eloquent and inquisitive in their rise to fame to fortune, trying to hide their deep-seated pains from one another, despite, as the film explains, it is that pain that motivates them in their careers and their relationship.

John David Washington is electric on screen. There are several monologues of him alone where his delivery goes through the gauntlet of human emotion, from manic rage to sobering sadness, all within the span of two or three minutes. A masterful watch. Zendaya...was pass-fail, honestly. At the outset her delivery is so breathy, nearly as weightless as her “greenbean body” she describes near the end. And yet, as the film goes on, her acting becomes better, as if she becomes more and more acquainted with the role and the emotions Marie expresses.

All in all the film is avant-garde; relying upon the expectations of the viewer to at first usurp them, and in that process also be an analysis and commentary on modern filmmaking as a whole. I thought this was about a relationship? I think it had alot to say, and many different areas to say it. Each one expressive, and passionate, but a pull on the others so ultimately none of it is allowed to truly shine.

Rating: 6/10