Malcolm & Marie, 2021

Throughout the history of drama, there are often plays that tend to be powerful but short, one kind of those plays are one-act plays. Some of the powerful acts in literature include Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, which serves as a follow-up to Waiting for Godot. 

The transition from one-act plays to Cinema is not difficult, as some consider short films to be the final form of that transition. But for one film, the drama factor plays a role in its identity but does not overshadow its reason for excitement. Malcolm and Marie is a film that has received mixed reviews from some critics, some due to its shooting style and some due to the lack of excitement in it.

In this review, I shall look at the film from a more literary point of view and analyze its themes, it’s characters, and it’s style, and determine if it is indeed a mediocre or a hidden gem, and how it is a representation of a one-act play affects its identity.

Themes:

“What’s interesting, though, was that you can tell that because I’m black, as the director, and the woman is a black lead, stars in the film, she’s already trying to frame it through a political lens when in reality, it’s a film about a girl trying to get clean”

Malcolm and Marie focus on one major theme, how we view cinema and art today. The film criticizes today’s critics for not understanding and misinterpreting the director's work and tends to link their work to social issues that have no attachment to their creation. 

The film also gets into the argument of race vs art, as it argues that we shouldn’t interrupt a film based on race and gender but based on the work itself. It argues that this style of interpretation will ruin the work and shadow the ideas that the work is trying to send.   

This theme is a message from the film to both critics and viewers, asking them to open their minds more when interrupting work and to not be constrictive and link social issues when there is no need to, as this will ruin any magic that it has. It also says that this way of thinking will restrain the freedom of the artist, regardless of which medium he is using to portray his art, leading him to create pieces that have no freedom or creativity and instead are safe and tend to please the majority.

This theme gives the film a meta-aspect as it talks about the medium that it’s part of, which makes the film more interesting and intellectual.

Character analysis:

While the main theme of Malcolm and Marie is criticizing the critics and the views of today’s cinema, it does an excellent job of developing its characters. Through the run time of 1 hour and 46 minutes, we see Malcolm and Marie interact as partners through their quarrels and romance.

Malcolm is portrayed as a man who puts his art first, we see his love and how he cares about cinema from his knowledge and way of thinking. In one scene where the reviews for his film are released, he gets upset that his film was linked to his race and gender, despite that the review is generally positive. This scene not only expands on the film’s main theme but also expands on Malcom’s character as he wishes for his art to be viewed separately by his race and gender.  

But while Malcolm is interesting, Marie is complex. She struggles with Malcolm’s treatment and desires the appreciation that she deserves. What makes her a complex character is her personality and charm and the fact that she has suffered a lot in her life as she is a recovering addict, something that Malcolm used in his film. In one scene, she asks Malcolm why he didn’t cast her for the lead role even though she was an inspiration for the film, this scene shows how she wants to use the film to end her tragic story.

The quarrels that they have are not in vain, as they show the flows of each individual. It shows how Malcolm is egotistical, unthankful, and only cares about himself. They also show that Marie is delusional and seeks attention. But despite these quarrels, they love each other.

With this, a question arises, are these characters relatable?

The answer is yes. Marie represents any recovering drug addict, regardless of race or gender, who seeks to turn their life around but is always haunted by their past. Malcolm represents the young aspiring artist who seeks to prove himself in a world that tends to overcomplicate film and art and inject political or social views without the medium needing it. The couple themselves are a representation of couples who, despite their personality flaws and despite how cruel they can be to one another, remain to love each other and do their best to make their relationship work.

But while the characters are relatable, they are nothing that we haven’t seen before. The character of the recovering drug addict has been seen in several films, and we’ve seen characters who represent aspiring filmmakers who are struggling for success in films like ED WOOD and The Disaster Artist. That’s not saying that Malcolm and Marie haven’t done anything different; Malcolm was able to find success, unlike the characters in the mentioned films, and Marie shines in her personality.   

The film’s identity:

At the beginning of this review, I said that Malcolm and Marie are similar to a one-act play. But does this overshadow the film and take away its identity?

I believe not. While the film does give a sense that it has in some way a relationship to a one-act play, several things remind you that this is, from start to finish, a feature film, from the shots that the director uses to how they change scenes to how we see the characters by themselves. The film successfully creates its own identity from the start and holds it firmly until the end due to the characters, their interactions, the plot, its theme, and how it was filmed.

Other notes:

Three things need attention, the first is the film’s style. The film’s black-and-white style can be seen as an homage to films of yesteryear, but that is not the only function that it has. The black and white colors give the film an authentic feeling and make it unique and play really well with its characters, plot, and themes. It also manages to create fantastic shots, one of which is the ending image of the film where Malcolm walks outside of his house, where Marie is there standing looking at the garden.

The second thing is how the film uses music. While using music as a way to interact with the audience and the film has been used before, Malcolm and Marie take this a step further and use it for the characters to interact with each other. They use music to express themselves and how they feel, as well as what they are trying to say. An example of that is after one of their quarrels, Marie plays Get Rid of Him by Dionne Warwick to say that whatever happens between her and Malcolm, she will continue to love him.

And finally, Zendaya and John David Washington did a fantastic job portraying their characters as they managed to bring the emotion and energy needed to bring Malcolm and Marie to life.

Conclusion:

When I first decided to review this film, I was determined to discover if it was an average film or a diamond in the rough.

I strongly believe that Malcolm and Marie is a great and wonderful film, but it’s not for everyone. The directing is phenomenal, and the shots are beautiful, but the theme that it discusses, while an important one, may not please some people despite it being the truth about how we should look at cinema, art, and literature in general. The characters are enjoyable, interesting, and relatable, but they have never been seen before, regardless of how unique they are.    

It is a wonderful film, but it may not appeal to the average film seeker who is looking for a film to relieve him of the troubles of reality, it’s a film for film lovers who understand and appreciate the art of cinema, it’s a film for cinema students who want to become filmmakers, and most importantly it’s a message to critics and viewers that asks them to look at a film not biased who made but on what it presents. 

While Malcolm and Marie is a diamond in the rough, it is one that only a few can see its beauty.