Malcolm and Marie Review: Madly in Love

Great visuals and performances but, in the end, I found the premise was lacking.

What Happens in Malcolm and Marie?

 Malcolm and Marie is an emotional drama that occurs over the course of one night. Fresh off of Malcolm’s biggest night in the movie industry, the couple finds anything and everything to disagree on. Malcolm forgot to thank Marie, and this ended up causing quite a few battles. The arguments lead to a range of emotional and pointed topics for both characters.

Who Are The Characters in Malcolm and Marie?

Malcolm and Marie features two main characters: Malcolm and Marie. Malcolm is a filmmaker, who has just released his newest feature film about the trials and tribulations of a recent drug addict. Malcolm is a passionate man and is driven by his hopes and dreams, however, this drive ends up pushing those close to him away.

Marie, on the other hand, is Malcom’s current girlfriend. She is the drug addict that Malcolm had drawn his inspiration from. Coming from a different life, Marie is loud and poignant. She has feelings of dissatisfaction within the relationship and is a fighter.

Malcolm and Marie Review

 After seeing a trailer for this film, the final result ended up being exactly what I expected, the good and the bad. The director of this film took many creative approaches to this film that I thought gave this film a unique style and helped it stand out against most modern movies released today. With the whole film being black and white, with minimal characters, and one setting, this film is very distinct and invokes a strong sense of a play.

I felt that both actors did a great job with what they were given and they had such strong chemistry no matter which emotion they were conveying. Malcolm (as played by John David Washington) is a director who just returned from a hit premiere of his latest film. He is high on his success and we get to see that he is just generally high on himself with little patience for criticism and can be quite defensive and cruel, which I felt Washington conveyed well.

Marie (as played by Zendaya) is Malcolm’s girlfriend, a failed actress, and a former drug addict who is angry at Malcolm and proves herself to be quite vicious with her words as we see her attack Malcolm’s career and personality. As this was my first time seeing her portray such as character, I thought Zendaya did a great job.

I would also like to say that the visuals and cinematography in this film were stunning, with some interesting angles in certain scenes and some great perspective moments with the use of characters in the foreground and background.

My problems with this film lie in the story department as while some people may view it as high art, I felt like I just watched a filmed argument for an hour and a half. I think it was well done, but it just felt like I just watched as two people tore each other apart and went at each other’s insecurities and personal history.

Coupled with the fact that these may be two of the most selfish and awful characters I have ever seen in a film, I did not care about either of them. For me, this just ended up being hard to continue as I felt there wasn’t even progress in their argument and it just felt repetitive and boring to watch by the end.

All in all, this was a mixed bag of a film that had some great visuals and performances but, in the end, I found the premise was lacking. I can’t recommend it, however, if you’re looking for something new on Netflix I would say check it out and see what you think.