Malcolm & Marie (2021): Film Review

It is incredibly difficult to make a film composed solely of a conversation. Other than the obvious fact that the writing itself has to be good enough to hold the audience's attention for a prolonged period of time, the direction must also compliment the script. Although adaptations such as 2000’s Chinese Coffee and 2001’s Waiting for Godot make little cinematic modification to the play format, it is important to stress the difference between the two art forms. Only a few films ever succeed in reproducing the dialogical structure of a play while using the cinematic style to enhance its effects, one of it being Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy. Indeed, the beauty of those films lies in how Linklater uses the script, the performance and subtle directing to create an evolving portrait of a relationship. From the blossoming romance of Before Sunrise to the contentious familiarity in Before Midnight, we get a full and dynamic image of who these characters are.

Sam Levinson’s Malcolm & Marie is most comparable to Before Midnight as we witness a relationship folds and unfolds through the midst of arguments, romance and reconciliations, although not necessarily in those order. Where this movie succeeds is in its ability to convey contentious relations. The arguments between the titular characters are engaging to watch. To a great extent, this should be attributed to the performances of John David Washington and Zendaya. While this is new territory for both actors and their lack of experience does shine through slightly, they are still able to convey the emotional veracity between their characters. There are times in the film where it feels like both actors overdoing it, in other words, overacting. While it does not make up the majority of the performances, once you start to notice it, it becomes more apparent and obvious.

The script is okay, but bordering on pretentious. If you listen to the film, you’re going to understand the emotions through the lines of the story. The regrettable thing is how the dialogues often fail to reveal things about the characters. Often, they sound more like arguments. It seems to us that Sam Levinson understands what an interesting debate or argument sounds like, but missed what the true purposes of such debates are. The purpose of writing debates in films is to show characters, reveal their inner philosophy and let their hypocrisy lay bare the inner flaws that give them dimensions. To a large extent, you do see a bit of that in Malcolm – but the depth of characters is glimpsed instead of explored. Marie, on the other hand, is sympathetic and that’s it. Our interest in her character is contingent upon Zendaya’s magnetic performance. The fact is we don’t find ourselves thinking about these characters long after the movie has ended. Compared to the deep personal anguish we feel for the couple in Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, this movie merely evoked the feeling reminiscent of eavesdropping on our next-door neighbours.

Sadly, it is the direction that’s the true mess here. This movie begins with a strangely long intro which is not really an intro at all. We were struck by the inefficiency of the opening scene, which serves to set the mood rather than to immediately tell us who these people are. To make things worse, the mood-setting isn’t great either. The use of supposedly diegetic music ended up feeling extremely out of place. At first, we thought it was supposed to highlight a sense of dissonance or set up early feelings of frustration. But even when the music is supposed to be more positive it just feels frustrating.

Honestly, that seems to be the dominant mood as we watched the film: frustration. Particularly at filmmaking. The use of black and white photography also feels quite pretentious. It does not add a lot to the experience, so we’re left wondering why did they do it? The aesthetic is not bad but an eye-pleasing visual by itself is unsatisfactory. Especially in films. Every choice the director makes should serve a story-telling purpose.

Sam Levinson is perhaps too inexperienced to handle a project of this sort. He does not seem to have the same directorial nuance as Richard Linklater nor the writing skills of Noah Baumbach. The result is a film that is admittedly ambitious but lacks the quality of the peers for which it yearns. That said, the performances are good enough to offset the frustration. Both Washington and Zendaya are new stars of the 2020s, and it will be interesting to see where both of them will go from here. And for now, seeing them argue with the gravitas of young energetic performances can be fun for a one-time experience. Therefore, this movie can serve as a cosy, interesting watch for a Netflix night, especially if you’re just hanging around post valentine’s day with nothing better to do.