Malcolm & Marie is a 'vibrant, perceptive film'
n one long night in the relationship of a film director and his girlfriend, John David Washington and Zendaya talk, shout, argue, insult, attack, counter-attack, kiss, make-up, then argue all over again. The ghosts of many other bad-relationship dramas hover over Malcolm & Marie, including Scenes From a Marriage, Marriage Story and especially Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, whose black-and-white look and one-night time frame are echoed in this new film. But writer and director Sam Levinson, who also created the audacious and enthralling HBO series Euphoria, gives the familiar story a makeover with dynamic, sensitive performances from its hugely talented stars, and a story that broadens to include race and the new Hollywood. The two-character film was devised and made during the pandemic, but needs no special pleading for its circumstances. Levinson turns his small-scale approach into an asset that only enhances the film's intensity.
