As we learned from 2019's divorce drama Marriage Story, a true conversation piece is traditionally between two people, there's generally a lot of shouting, debating, arguing and occasionally there's the odd flourish into serenity. It's often cathartic and quite thereputic for two actors with very good chemistry to vent at each other, Marriage Story was successful because of that - one reason why it's lead actors walked away with an Oscar nomination each. Malcolm & Marie is less the success story, more of a flawed conversation caper, though it's two leads aren't the film's main problem as both Zendaya fresh off her Primetime Emmy win for Euphoria and John David Washington who's starting to sound a lot like a young Denzel ever time we see him, their performances are solid, you'll be sold on it just for that alone they have fantastic chemistry almost as good as Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson in the aforementioned Marriage Story. Everything in Malcolm & Marie works, the script is good, the directing is gold and it receives an A+ in acting, but the thing that sinks it is it's less a conversation piece about a couple that's on the verge of braking apart more a thesis on how awful film critics can be, and even the film takes that into context when it leads into venting about white frustration. But other than that this quarantine written and directed film is provocative and seductively stylish that it's such a shame the film is brought down by wrought self indulgence. 3/5.
Review of Malcolm & Marie
