Movie review: Malcolm & Marie
If you appreciated what Euphoria creator Sam Levinson did with the HBO series' recent special episodes, then this black-and-white romance drama currently showing on Netflix cranks up that painfully intimate, isolating format several notches.
The writer-director reunites with his Euphoria star Zendaya for yet another quarantine project shot during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As a buzzy film-maker (John David Washington) and his girlfriend (Zendaya) return home from his successful movie premiere, smouldering tensions, visceral confrontations and painful revelations push their relationship to the ultimate test.
Packing a raw, brutal and F-bomb-heavy emotional punch, Malcolm & Marie makes 2019's Marriage Story seem almost lightweight.
The two-hander plays out in real time and in one location, and it feels like you are a fly on the wall reliving the worst fight you've ever had with your partner that never seemed to end.
Being trapped in this echo chamber with such flawed title characters is at turns exhilarating and exhausting, but the powerful performances make you want to stay to the bitter end. -
MALCOLM & MARIE (M18)
SCORE: 3.5/5
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