When People Stop Being Polite...
Friday, January 8, 2021 at 1:49PM by Jason Adams
Euphoria writer-director Sam Levinson is about to maybe have a movie in the Oscar discussion this year with the news that his pandemic-shot relationship drama Malcolm & Marie, starring Zendaya and John David Washington, will be hitting Netflix on February 5th. M&M has Washington playing a film director while Zendaya's his girlfriend; the two have just gotten home from his latest film's premiere and as they wait to hear how the reviews are they decide to sort out their myriad relationship shit...
Legend goes that Levinson wrote the script in a quick six days, and then the team isolated and shot it all in a fancy house over two weeks at the end of July. I'll admit I kind of laughed when the trailer billed him as "Visionary Director Sam Levinson" which, I don't know, feels a little premature to me. But the black-and-white results here do indeed look stunning...
My short version of a "Yes No Maybe So" for this trailer is "Yes of course I will be watching this, since there are at this point in time very few new movies coming out, and I just see literally everything now." That aside this looks like a stylish showcase for its two young and beautiful stars, both of whom've been very good in the past, so I'd probably be a "Yes" even in a normal world. Thoughts?
Reader Comments (22)
The term "Visionary Director" seems to get applied, not to Alejandro Jodorowsky, David Lynch, or the Wachowskis, but to people on their second or third feature who are just barely hitting their stride.
I will always be a YES to a project starring Zendaya nowadays so that was easy.
Based on the conceit and trailer, this also feels ripe for a Broadway (or off-Broadway) transfer when live theatre happens again.
Zendaya is really having a moment right now, excited for this
marriage story soured me on the trials and tribulations of attractive people bickering over their relationship dramas [at least there isn't an annoying kid in this one]
nope
I wouldn't call Levinson a visionary since I am not familiar with his style at all and he's only made a few features so far. Still, I do want to see this as I do like Zendaya and John David Washington while the latter definitely sounds a bit like his dad.
Visionary should apply to filmmakers who have a certain visual style where if you see a frame of their work, you know who that person is.
I'm interested, but I also can't get past the age difference between the two. It's not something that usually bothers me, for instance I wasn't mad at JLaw/Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook, but it just feels so apparent here. Maybe it's because Zendaya is still playing high school characters in all her other projects? But I'm excited to see what both of these actors do with material like this.
lol it’s a No from me.
And to think ppl already compares this to A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE on the internet LMFAO i cant
For some reason, the stills in this post reminded me of Blue Jay, a terrific little movie on a similar theme that deserved much more attention.
A bit pretentious But Zendaya is the REAL deal and JD Washington is great! So I'm in!
I'm not a fan of Zendaya's Emmy win so imagine how I feel about all this "she's going to win a Oscar" talk
I'm rooting for this movie and the trailer is absolutely gorgeous. It just scares me that goddesses Carrie Coon (so, so good in "The Nest") and Michelle Pfeiffer are being all but squeezed out of the awards race. But like Jason has said numerous times at his blog, awards aren't everything. And "Malcolm and Marie" looks like a great time with gorgeous actors (ala Coon and super stud Jude Law in "The Nest").
I’m going to watch it because I love these two performers ... but this is some Cassavetes cosplay if I’ve ever seen it.
The movie is beautiful to look at (watched a screener last night) and well acted, but felt for the most part like Antonioni-lite (L'eclisse, La notte). Also, I have a slight aversion to whiny, articulate, self-centered artists (especially, in this case, film people) ranting at each other, even if the protagonists are non-white for a change. If Sam Levinson would have written and directed this five years ago, the leads would have been Rooney Mara and Ryan Gosling.
Malcolm & Marie would make a great Netflix black-and-white Oscar mini-festival with Mank and The Forty-Year-Old Version, come to think of it.
I think it looks pretentious and gimmicky. JDW looks fine, but Zendaya's acting here is over the top. It makes me cringe (and I was happy with her Emmy win).
I know the reviews are good, so maybe I'll feel differently after I see it.
This looks and feels like a play-to-movie transfer. The age difference is distracting and I just kept thinking through the trailer, "what do these beautiful people really have to complain about?"
He's 36, she's 24. What's the big age difference people keep mentioning?
Sam Taylor-Johnson's almost 54, Aaron is 30; Clooney's 59, Amal is 42; Harrison Ford's 78, Callista is 56; etc. etc.
Zendayas performance looks fantastic - but why am I having trouble finding JD Washington at the slightest interesting ?! It started with Tenet - where I felt he delivered (especially with all the edgy upcoming stars) a really boring performance with an underwhelming presents - and I adore his dad... so this is just a maybe
Anything with Zendaya is a hard pass for me. I don't understand the hype and she's always rude as hell in interviews.
Visionary director made me laugh a bit. This will either be very good or pretentious as fuck. I feel like Zendaya is misscast in this but maybe it's just the trailer.
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People complaining about the age difference between a 24-year-old and a 36-year-old really drive me up the wall. A 24-year-old is AN ADULT and can partner up with any other ADULTS they see fit to. We've so infantalized ourselves that suddenly 24 year olds can't handle themselves? I was 23 when I met my 12-years-older boyfriend and we've been together 20 very happy years now so I speak from experience, and perhaps I take it a wee bit personally, but get a grip y'all.
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