Zendaya stars in new Netflix film

Desteny Maragh News Editor

“Malcom and Marie” is explosive, romantic and tragic. The black and white film is nostalgic of an old-time couple with new age problems.   

Netflix’s $30 million budget on the two-person cast and one setting film left much to the imagination but portrayed everything the audience needed to know. Overall, the film is a one-hour 45-minute-long toxic argument.  

The stars of the film are what motivated a lot of its media buzz, star Zendaya is an icon to most millennials. The Disney child star has grown up in the eyes of many young adults and she continues to reign as a fan favorite.  

John David Washington has also appeared in some great films, but he is mostly known as being the son of the acting legend, Denzel Washington, he even resembles his father.  

The writer, Sam Levinson, also wrote Euphoria, a teen drama show that Zendaya also stars in. Levinson wrote the screenplay and directed the film during the pandemic.  

Him, the actors and his small crew secluded themselves in the glass house where the movie was filmed in Carmel, California. There, they were able to be secluded from society and keep safe from COVID-19.  

The movie was set in the present day, Malcom is a young upcoming movie writer and Marie is his supportive girlfriend who has a past of drug abuse.  

With just two actors occupying the screen for the entire movie, each gave a stellar performance. Truly both actors dove deep emotionally and displayed a passionate argument.    

The couple had just returned home from Malcom’s movie premiere and tensions rise as Malcom is trying to figure out why Marie is upset, turns out, he forgot to thank her in his speech. 

What women wouldn’t want to be thanked? The worst part of it all is his movie was about a woman who had struggled with drug abuse and Marie felt he had used her as inspiration without crediting her.  

The film really dissects the relationship between the couple and just how something so miniscule to one party can be a huge problem for the other.  

Malcom, who constantly spoke at a loud and powerful tone, emphasized just how un-important he thought Marie’s feelings were. His biggest scapegoat was emphasizing that it was his movie premier night, and he should be getting his flowers not arguing over a simple thank-you.  

Marie, who is an aspiring actress felt as though her life struggles with addiction and drug abuse had been stolen from her by Malcom and paraded on the big screen for Malcom to receive praise.  

Malcom said he did not use Marie as inspiration for the main character of his film, but Marie drew endless similarities and knew he had studied her pain and actions. 

Honestly, the acting in the film was so superb, I forgot what I was watching wasn’t a real argument.   

Levinson told The Deadline, “to have two people able to hold their own in such different and unique ways, and who are both so good with dialogue and so captivating and so f—ing charismatic. It’s like a jolt of excitement.” 

The inspiration from the movie came from the writers’ own personal life. Levinson’s wife, Ashley, is a producer on Malcolm & Marie, and was the associate producer on his previous feature film, “Assassination Nation.  

In an interview, Ashley admitted it was during that film’s premiere in Los Angeles at the Cinerama Dome where her director husband forgot to thank her. 

Their real-life version of Malcom and Marie was way more subtle and not a blown-out argument, but it is nice to see that the mistake Malcom made was not just a fabricated fictional occurrence, it happened.  

Leave a Reply


WordPress.com Logo


Google photo


Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Connecting to %s