Malcolm & Marie: Sam Levinson gets in the way of his own film

Rob Ryan

The very first scene of Malcolm & Marie wastes no time in letting the titular Malcolm (John David Washington) and his ego skyrocket to the depths of the cosmos. As he and his lover, Marie (Zendaya) arrive at their rented mansion to celebrate the premiere of Malcolm's magnum opus (a movie about a young black woman overcoming drug addiction) he immediately starts dancing to "Down and Out In New York City" by James Brown while his girlfriend stands outside smoking. When he isn't making admittedly fluent dance moves matching the tempo of the song, he proceeds to bask in his idealised self-worth, as he notes all the critics who loved his film and gave it a standing ovation. Including "the white woman from the LA times" who constantly lives in his head rent-free.

This opening scene while fun and an attention-grabbing moment is the precipice for conversations that follow as unbeknownst to Malcolm that high and mighty mentality is about to be fully tested. With a character introduction as entertaining as it is cringeworthy, it's not hard to see where the problem in the relationship lies (or at least a part of it) While Marie is making Mac and Cheese, Malcolm can sense that something isn't right and instantly starts to constantly ask her what's wrong, to a point where Marie is forced to admit her disappointment with his failure to thank her in his premiere speech as the protagonist in his film is in part based off Marie's traumatic experience of being a drug addict. This is a grievance that Marie is afraid to admit upfront as Malcolm is known to escalate a conversation to an argument when faced with a mild grievance instead of giving himself some self-reflection. As a result, the couple is forced to reflect on not just their relationship, but Malcolm's legitimacy as a filmmaker.

The first 20 to 30 minutes of this film were easily the most engaging and I was rather hooked on the initial conflict, but unfortunately, that opening is easily the movie at its peak and it never really lives up to its initial promise. While the movie earns its investment at first, the film eventually becomes repetitive and tiresome as not only the movie never removes its self from its singular location (something I can’t really blame the filmmakers for as they were limited to what COVID restrictions could allow) but it’s characters often undergo the same argument over and over again and just as when you think the bickering is over, 5 minutes of flirting and small talk later and they are back to shouting and trying to one-up on who can hurt each other the most and who can come across as the most righteous in the argument. It gets rather tedious to watch after a while as the arguments stop being interesting and the characters become more insufferable.

To my surprise Writer and director Sam Levinson showrunner of the very good HBO series Euphoria (also starring Zendaya) and director and writer of the not so good “Assassination Nation” based this film on a real-life experience of forgetting to thank his wife during the premiere of his previous film. Malcolm & Marie feels like a director like Levinson trying to reflect on not only his personal relationships and how they reflect his art but to highlight some of the self-righteous and sense of self-importance that white critics have when reviewing black films as they regurgitate typical talking points of the struggles facing black people in a review to put themselves on a higher pedestal despite not being the intent Malcolm was aiming for with his film.

This point is exemplified in Malcolm's long, drunken rant when reading a positive review from “the white woman from the LA times” while the critic calls his film a “masterpiece” Malcolm gets agitated with black films being limited to a box to where they are inherently politicised through the lens of the issues facing black people rather than be analysed through something more existential. In the case of Malcolm's film, it’s about “guilt and shame” While this is a valid point the film makes, highlighting the forced Idpol (identity politics) in mainstream reviews as an opportunity for critics to show off their academic credentials. This moment makes it hard to distinguish Malcolm as a typical young director whose carrier who’s just getting started and not a personification of Levinson himself.

Anyone who is well versed into the world of movie criticism will know that Sam Levinson’s Assassination Nation wasn’t very well received by critics. The movie about a group of young women in Salem who are forced to fend for themselves when one of them is framed for ruining a lot of the men’s lives was either praised it as a “fierce, edgy, feminist romp” while others saw it as “an exploitive, gorefest used to glorify women’s suffering” (I fall on the latter of the group) One of those negative reviews came from Katie Walsh of The LA Times whose review was easily the moth scathing out of the one’s I've read. While on the surface the scene appears as a direct call-out of movie critics and their pandering corporate idpol, with what I knew going in (and I'm not the first person to have pointed this out) there’s no way a scene like this couldn’t be interpreted in any way other than Levison using a character of a different race as a defence mechanism to vent his anger that someone didn’t like his film.

To his credit, when Marie expresses her agreement of the critic’s point regarding the sexualisation of the female protagonist in his film in one scene, this feels like Levison reflecting the Umbridge of AA’s constant objectifying of the female body and maybe taking it on the chin, giving the vague impression of a man who’s reflecting on his initial anger to said review and learning to grow from past mistakes. But the movie doesn't go far enough with this except for Marie’s roasting of Malcolm's lack of new ideas within his own work aside from taking ownership of someone else's personal tragedy (in this case his girlfriend). Levinson despite being 36 years old and being born into privilege thanks to being son to Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson. His work often centres on the issues facing younger women and often have a diverse cast. Assassination Nation was about the escalation of the worst elements of American culture and its treatment of young women, Euphoria was not only about a young woman trying to stay sober (sound familiar) but was a look at modern relationships, sexuality, abuse, trauma from the eyes of a few teens and young adults. The one scene of Marie scolding Malcolm for his lack of originality other than using a less privileged person’s trauma to sell to mainstream audiences, give the impression that Levinson is self-aware in his privilege to question what gives him the right to tell these stories despite not being a woman nor black nor a young adult but sadly this movie does not explore these questions any further as we are soon back to more pointless arguing.

The movie is barely kept afloat by the two actors. Zendaya’s commanding presence and versatility never cease to impress, and John David Washington (Denzel’s son) is extremely convincing as the self-centred and domineering Malcolm, the movie works best as a showcase for these two dynamic performers. Especially when the camera is forced to hold on to their faces and let them say their piece. Unfortunately, the fact they play these two unlikeable characters so well makes them more insufferable to watch them after the 50-minute mark and their relationship is so broken and destined to fail you start to wonder how they ever fell in love in the first place.

When I finished watching Malcolm & Marie, I was admittedly befuddled and I did not know what to make of it initially, but now that I’ve given it some thought, I can’t in good conscience say that I enjoyed watching it nor I would ever revisit. It’s a film that makes some interesting and sometimes valid points, its actors are giving it their all and some individual moments are well done. (mostly in the first 20 minutes) But the film collapses under the weight of Levinson getting in the way of his own film and two unlikeable characters that become a chore to sit through for the films 1 hour and 46-minute runtime. I’ll give it extra points for trying something different and for evoking discussion that critics and us film fans should be discussing. I just wished it was done in a better film.

Rating: 2.5/5

Malcolm & Marie is available to watch on Netflix