The film starts off with Malcolm (John David Washington), a filmmaker returning from his movie premiere with his live-in girlfriend, Marie (Zendaya). While Malcolm dances away celebrating the premiere of his first movie, Marie is mostly silent around the house smoking or making mac and cheese for Malcolm. There’s a scene here, where Malcolm compliments Marie with a song playing loudly and she is unable to hear it until repeated for a third time, while the camera pans from Marie in the washroom to Malcolm in another room, it serves as the symbolism of the communication gap and accentuates the emotional distance that leads to the fights between them throughout the film.
The film directed by Sam Levinson has a very beautiful black and white cinematography and there are some shots that stand out. There is not much music in the film, except in the silences between the fights. There are mostly monologues and counter monologues at every interval, after some point these monologues and their existence become monotonous and repetitive and that’s where the film loses itself. But Sam Levinson makes a strong comeback with Marie’s last monologue which she delivers sitting on the bed that brings Malcolm to tears as he rests himself on a wall.
The film is set in a house in the woods away from the city, it is an insight into the world that only belongs to these two characters and no one else. As another matter of fact the house does not contain any large paintings or white walls, the house is mostly compartmentalized by glasses giving us a sense of seeing through the characters, even the large wall above the bed does not have any paintings and is made up of glass making up for the aesthetic, peaceful climax.
Malcolm and Marie would not have been the same without its lead characters, Zendaya and John David Washington. Zendaya is so powerful in the bathtub scene and the scene where she delivers the last monologue it might as well make one cry, while John David Washington brings an equal sense of humor and intensity to the screen. Malcolm and Marie is a story of two people with bottled up insecurities and emotions, of unexpressed rages and even though somewhere it leaves a longing of being a little better, it has its own share of beautiful silences.
Text by: Sreyoshi Sil, IBTN9
Follow IBTN9
Facebook:
Instagram:
, a filmmaker returning from his movie premiere with his live-in girlfriend, Marie){kind=link}