Lately, a lot of movies that were filmed during the current pandemic (that I thankfully refuse to see) were heavily panned by critics such as the Michael Bay-produced “Songbird” and Doug Liman’s “Locked Down”. I am proud to say we now finally have one that is definitely full of merit and energy. Let me introduce you to Sam Levinson, the director that brought you the highly mean-spirited “Assassination Nation” and his 2011 debut feature “Another Happy Day”, which I have not yet seen. He also is the son of the great famous Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson of “Rain Man” and “Good Morning, Vietnam”. He delivers his third feature, “Malcolm & Marie”. It is a really intriguing film that examines an about-to-deteriorate relationship just like Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” two years ago.
Film director Malcolm Elliott (played by Golden Globe-nominated John David Washington) comes home from his movie premiere with his shy girlfriend Marie (played by Emmy-winner Zendaya). At their futuristic-style home, Malcolm starts to blast up music on his iPod with the soulful nature of James Brown to celebrate his success. He starts to read many critics’ reviews of his debut feature. Some say he could be the next Spike Lee and John Singleton until his ego crushes in and criticizes some critics for being misunderstood about his film. Meanwhile, there comes the time where Malcolm and Marie’s relationship begins to be questioned when Marie notices something bothersome in Malcolm.
Levinson’s film might be the most polarizing film of 2021 thus far currently at a 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. Like I said before, “Malcolm & Marie” is very comparable to “Marriage Story”, a film that examines a relationship about to deteriorate, but instead of a husband and wife, it is revolving around a girlfriend and a boyfriend. Levinson plays the film as a richly dark comic look at this couple where he seriously develops a mockery to film critics from major film review websites such as Indiewire. Not to mention that this film has a great sense of humor to it, especially when it revolves around Legos.
There is definitely a lot of raw heart and soul given to “Malcolm & Marie”, which part of it goes to the engaging chemistry between Zendaya and John David Washington. Zendaya as Marie has a very serious flare to her character while John David Washington as Malcolm has more of a jokey, sarcastic personality towards Marie. The dialogue and the chemistry are easily what make “Malcolm & Marie” really investing.
There are a couple problems with the film that prevent it from being great. The main story pattern the film goes through is kind of repetitive from joyous and romantic moments to a tense conversation and it goes through the same two scenarios sporadically without changing. It feels like the film is unclear about what conflict they are going through. That is why this along with many other slice-of-life films are driven by a premise rather than a plot and it may turn off selective audiences. I think the film’s pattern could have not shied away from these satisfying moments and focus more on their relationship conflict while still adding the great dark comedy. Sam Levinson seemed kind of afraid to show it. Also, the film’s ending is very abrupt, but yes, it is one of those endings that can raise some questions.
“Malcolm & Marie” is not a perfect film, especially with it’s repetitive story pattern, but Sam Levinson easily makes this a massive improvement over “Assassination Nation” where unlike the predecessor, it feels mature and takes risks to showcase an interesting relationship without getting too bored and careless. Sam Levinson may not have all the right steps with his first of couple movies like another son-of-a-director Jason Reitman (“Thank You for Smoking”, “Juno”), but those right steps he got right with “Malcolm & Marie” will further take note throughout the future of his career.
Grade: 7.5/10
