Zendaya and John David Washington. John David Washington and Zendaya. I’m keen, whichever way you slice it. I’m late to this, but Foxtel keeps advertising Euphoria and emphasising that Zendaya is exceptional, although I haven’t seen it for myself; and John David Washington is just coming off the lead role in the Christopher Nolan movie, Tenet – short-changed on character there, he still brought a cool James-Bond-esque presence, similarly to what he brought to BlackkKlansman actually. John Lennon may urge me to ‘give peace a chance’ but I’m giving Malcolm & Marie a chance right now!
When coming home from Malcolm’s (John David Washington) successful film premier, Marie (Zendaya) is a lot less enthusiastic about the night. At first, Marie thinks it best if they go to bed and talk about it in the morning, but Malcolm demands to know what’s on her mind, and what we get is an hour-and-forty-minute conversation, stemming from how Malcolm didn’t thank Marie in his opening speech. Written and directed by Sam Levinson, the movie is presented to us in black and white. I felt there was a lot of hype before Malcolm & Marie’s release but I’ve noticed that Rotten Tomatoes has the critic’s aggregate at a surprising 58%, and I can’t wait to find out why. I loved this movie; I’d gladly sum it up as having classic intensity like the scenes from Pulp Fiction when Vincent Vega (Travolta) arrives at Uma Thurman’s Mia Wallace’s house, and the uncomfortable unfamiliarity of Twin Peaks: The Return’s portions from the past, also delivered in black-and-white with the Woodsman saying ‘gotta light?’ But I know not everyone has seen that show, so let’s push on.
How old is Zendaya? The role of Marie seems for someone later in life than she is, but she reaches up, and crushes it. Wearing next to nothing for the entire movie, Zendaya is a serious mixture of flesh and talent in this movie, making her absolutely captivating to look at – she’s semi-naked like Ripley at the end of Alien for the second half, and Marie, with her chipped intuition so complexly and maturely acted out by Zendaya, I don’t know what to compliment first. And as for Washington, as much as he’s been praised before, it’s good to see him animated(!), getting to play in a movie dripping purely with outward characterisation. He gives those reserved looks at times too, like they’re pulled straight out of his Spike Lee joint, but this is the most I’ve ever gravitated towards Washington, without a doubt.
The layout for Malcolm & Marie’s opening credits set the stage like a theatre program, and set solely over a few rooms of the house, I eventually recalled A Streetcar Named Desire, easily comparable through the black-and-white aesthetic and all the yelling, in long scenes between our two waring characters. It’s funny; when I’ve done counselling in the past, the psychologist would accuse me of black-and-white thinking – writing about movies, dissecting details into piles of good and bad kind’ve supports her claim, ey. But I’ve been talking to my family recently about the idea of how when people speak, they can still be right when they’re wrong and wrong when they’re right; this movie sort’ve supports that claim – despite the movie appearing in black-and-white, all Malcolm and Marie do is aim to decipher the grey of their relationship, as cliché as that surely sounds. But often when one is done ranting, the other will come at them with ‘you only think that because you’re like this’, and visa-versa. The couple dig into their relationship, hitting enlightenment and poisonous sludge simultaneously, and the writing is so super impressive that it rarely feels that they are being unreasonable, flinging deflated air. In this movie, Marie can be sharply precise, zeroing in on her disappointment of Malcolm, but Malcolm is equally effective when pushed to fight his problems. They slog it out and good luck keeping score; at times, both are handed their comeuppance when they are clearly ignorant to their own ignorance, but aren’t we all. They love. They hate. They’re crazy and stable. And if a purpose of having a partner is to balance your flaws, or at least help you identify them, then Malcolm and Marie have got each other’s backs but tear nails into them. I’d suggest you strap yourself in, keep your tray locked in the upright position during take-off, keep your feet inside the moving vehicle at all times, and hold on, while Malcolm and Marie go from enamoured to disgusted and back again as explosively as a rocket to the moon.
I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. Since there’s only two actors in the entire thing, the performances had to be excellent and they are prime cut. Yet, I’m going to like this movie more than some because I agree with some of the specifics of what they’re talking about. As I said, I’m curious to hear the criticism. Too wordy? Too much of a bumpy ride? Too elongated just to get the message across; not to disrespect your woman when you have to give a speech? Or is it also the finger-pointed at critics and the movie industry in general? Malcolm makes the point that not all black films are ‘politically’ black films – this one definitely isn’t for the majority of it, as it’s just a couple having a detailed argument. Malcolm calls pompous critics ‘bobbleheads’, and nothing more than cultural weathermen or weatherwomen; hehehe, that’s a good whack. The movie’s own critique of film could boarder on the lines of the theory about dissecting frogs, (it’s messy and the frog dies), but I spend my time commenting on what other people are saying in film, so I shouldn’t judge the movie for being in on the gaze; in fact, I enjoyed it, but I didn’t find it personal or offensive. I suppose for other critics, it might be like how I don’t accept movies like Trolls: World Tour and Late Night mostly due to their intentions, and not so much regarding the quality of the movie itself. Similarly, I really enjoyed Promising Young Woman for its comment on a specific slice of how males and females interact, but I doubt I’d be in for an entire conversation. I mean, as much as critics may aim to master objectivity, all this shit is subjective – ssshhh, don’t tell anyone, as if it’s a secret. But I can also point to Malcolm & Marie being more than long eloquent speeches that I lapped up; the acting is phenomenal, the setting has prestige, and the cinematography is divine. Personally, I thought the first third of this movie was electric and then it kept on going. I really can’t find much wrong with this movie right now, so I’m polishing off my highest praise and finding a soft cushion to place it on. And here it is.
5.0
Leave a Reply