Malcolm & Marie

Malcolm & Marie
Starring Zendaya, John David Washington
Directed by Sam Levinson

There was a punk rock band in the early 2000s named Good Charlotte, and they released a song called "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous," and the chorus of the song started with "lifestyles of the rich and the famous, they're always complainin', always complainin'." This rousing chorus kept repeating in my mind as I watched "Malcolm & Marie" - the first film written, shot, edited, and produced during the Covid lockdown - as what the film was in its entirety is two self-entitled wealthy snobs who go through one night in a repetitive loop of fighting, making up, and fighting again.

Malcolm (John David Washington) and his girlfriend Marie (Zendaya) have just returned to their Malibu mansion after Malcolm's new film debuted, and he eagerly awaits the critics' reviews. As Marie makes him macaroni and cheese, he notices that she's acting cold toward him, but she doesn't want to get into an argument at one in the morning. Eventually she confesses that she's hurt that Malcolm didn't thank her, since the film's main heroine was pretty much based on her - a claim that Malcolm denies - and the two get into a bitter argument. Yet this is just the first of several fights for the couple throughout the night that threatens their future relationship.

"Malcolm & Marie" is an odd thing - on one end I found it engaging and exceptionally performed, but on the other I felt it was extremely repetitive and redundant, a film that spins its wheel like a gerbil in a stationary wheel as it keeps spinning and spinning ultimately getting nowhere. The film would've worked better if it was a short film, as the first half hour has most of the bright shining moments in the entire movie, as the rest of the film consisted of the two egocentric characters wafting philosophically about the politics and gender identity of the movie industry as well as the underlying issue that started the first argument in the first place, an argument that doesn't seem to really have a solution even though the solution itself is rather simple.

The movie centers entirely on the talents of John David Washington and Zendaya, as they're literally the only two people you see or hear on screen. There's no phone calls with someone else's voice, no zoom call-in, nothing - just these two actors in one confined area as they feed off each others' energy, and thankfully for us they chose the likes of Washington and Zendaya for the roles, otherwise it would've been a complete loss.

John David Washington has his daddy's (Denzel) talent, that's for sure, as he plays Malcolm as a man who's both egotistical and insecure, a man who strives for the attention and value of others but also loathes it at the same time. Even when he gets positive reviews, he manages to blast them and call them meaningless, even though you can tell how much they really impact what he thinks about himself and his craft. He discusses how critics say that he really sees the inside of the black mind - because he's a black man, and if he wasn't, they would've said something different. He says other critics couldn't grasp his thought process on the female lead because he's not a woman himself, but yet they praise him for his excellent direction. Malcolm is a man who is in constant need of approval, and he doesn't receive that from Marie - because he doesn't give her the recognition or approval she needs.

Yet its Zendaya who once again steps into the spotlight and steals the show as Marie - a former drug addict-turned actress whose life Malcolm took to make his latest film, but refuses to give her credit or recognition for. Zendaya continually takes on bigger, more adult roles to shed her teeny-bopper past, and once again manages to give a commanding, screen-grabbing performance. Marie isn't a saint, as she is about as egotistical as her significant other, yet she also has an intelligence about her that's stronger than Malcolm's, and a fiery personality to boot. She showcases elegance, stubbornness, and vulnerability with just a simple look, along with a pointed, sarcastic tone that often shuts Malcolm's mouth easier than anyone else could. They're the picture-perfect definition of a fiery relationship, one that seemingly has more downs than ups, but they still maintain their love for one another.

The film was shot in black and white for the purpose of giving the movie a classic view, but the underlying issues befalling our two characters are anything but black and white. Sam Levinson pens a decent enough script for a short film, but manages to loose the audience halfway through as the characters themselves seem stuck in a robotic loop - they argue, make up, smoke, argue, make up, smoke, and so on, and so on...but that's not even the case, really. The film starts with an actual argument, and each "argument" after it turns into a monologue from one side or the other, as the other one watches often in stunned silence. In the end, we don't know much about the characters than we did at the start, and this night doesn't really seem to change anything for their futures - it was just a long night of rich people fighting about rich people stuff, in a world where no one cares about the petty squabbles of rich people - but it was shot beautifully and acted phenomenally, which makes it a watchable film, once.

Led by the superior talents of John David Washington and Zendaya, "Malcolm & Marie" elevates itself from a basic, bare-bones repetitive loop and turns it into something that's slightly above that, a film that speaks of their talent though the script itself has a bit to be desired.

The Score: A-