Malcolm & Marie (Netflix)
I waited in excitement for this movie release from the day Netflix announced it. If you’ve watched Euphoria (Zendaya) and BlacKkKansman (John David Washington) I’m sure you understand what my excitement way. The idea of the movie had a ridiculously strong pull for whatever that reason may be. Could be the black cast, could be the thought of black love being on display, honestly, I’m not a thousand percent sure what caused the excitement outside of the cast as simplistic as it was.
WARNING! Spoilers are in the following, if you want to wait to read after you watch, stop here.
Well, to start, the idea that this movie was based on an actual situation that occurred in Director Sam Levinson’s life was presented to me, and I decided I wanted to do a little research on that. Because he, a white man, cast 2 black characters to portray this, what I would view as important, milestone in his life. I mean it must be important to make a film about it, right? Well, after my slight research I found an article with him and his wife, Producer - Ashley Levinson, discussing the conception of this movie. Essentially, he posed the idea of this film with a filmmaker that forgets to thank his partner at a premier, and they both found it a funny idea because they were certain this more than likely happened to them at some point in their relationship. His wife’s viewpoint is that these characters both represent him in battle with himself. Interesting thought.
My best friend that mentioned this idea of the movie’s reality based scenario also posed the question about why I thought the decision was made to film the entire piece in black and white. My immediate answer, “because no matter how simple we try to make things, nothing is just black and white. Especially in relationships. No matter how black and white we want the story to be, the truth is the characters are too complex.” Not to mention a simple film wouldn’t hold watcher’s eyes for more than 5 minutes. But because artistic interpretation is a thing, I did ponder on what it could mean to have this white man tell his story through black actors, and similar to my initial reaction I thought it’s about the complexities of being in a relationship whether black or white. There are so many racial discussions going on in the country right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was an attempt to show both black people and white people suffer from similar issues and we are more alike than people like to believe.
There was also the contrast between giving the film an “old school” feel with the credits, the selected music, the black and white filter, etc., and the modern day “ailments” of technology. I did enjoy the simplicity of it, however. I feel it was done in that manner to ensure viewers focused on the issues being presented by the film; differences between men and women, lack of appreciation, what love really is, drugs, success, acknowledgement, narcissism, emotional/mental abuse, and the list can literally go on and on.
As for my thoughts on the movie:
What black household eats boxed Mac and Cheese like that? It was so good to Malcolm that he went back for seconds…
Yes, that had to be the first point even though there were so many anything things to name first, like the fact that Malcolm forgot to thank Marie for a movie that was clearly based on her life, which later reveals he has a type.
I would have felt a way too having people walk up to me after I said it was fine, continuously reminding of the fact that I was publicly forgotten by the man that say’s he loves me.
Taylor…. would have caught the hands a long time ago.
Since he clearly has a type, did he just keep looking for women to pull “inspiration” from until he realized he found the perfect subject in Marie?
They’re both toxic contributors to their relationship.
There were a lot of below the belt hits in their argument, but in Marie’s defense she said nothing good would come from them discussing the issue at that moment in time. She’s self-aware that they’re toxic, he however seems disconnected from that fact.
The entire issue was truly about Malcolm not thanking her, and it took a 2 hour argument for him to apologize and thank her for things that she had to remind him she’s contributed to his life… it has to be 3am/4am at this point.
What did we do all of this for?
She disappeared TWICE but was still there in the end, and I don’t understand. I would have been happier at that end if she had either left or died unexpectedly, and truthfully if she had just left I’m sure they would have reconciled in some way, so death would have been a better ending in my personal opinion.
I think my biggest issue with this movie is it didn’t have a purpose. I get it was for awareness and acknowledgement of things that do truly arise in relationships, but thinking of the story line and the plot, what exactly was the resolution? I think deep down I already knew there couldn’t be a purpose to the film even before I sat down to watch it, but while watching it was just confirmed that there really was going to be no purpose and/or ending to the movie. By all means shine light on serious issues, but give people a purpose to sit for a hour 46 minutes, without feeling like they just decided to watch an argument without a consolation prize.
The acting was absolutely beautiful, however! I thought Zendaya and Washington Jr. did a great job of embodying their characters and really putting themselves out there in this world of uncertainty. They definitely gave life to their respective parties in the film and drove it home for me. The reason I really wanted to watch the movie essentially ended up being the exact thing I loved most about it; the cast.
I would say check it out if you haven’t already, it can be a little triggering and hard to watch at points but I think it can make a difference in how you interact in your different relationships. Well, it can definitely attempt to, sometimes it takes experience and life to really makes us evaluate how we treat others and stop making detrimental decisions in these relationships that we say we hold dear. Gaslighting is not love; listening to respond is not effective; and you don’t have to take defense to somebody expressing how they feel because both of your feelings are valid.
Welp, let me know what you thought!
Be D.O.P.E!
Movie Release: February 5, 2021
Where I watched: Netflix