Written by Sam Niles
Writer-director Sam Levinson’s Malcolm & Marie touches on a great many subjects over its great many monologues in its 106 minute runtime. It touches on art, criticism, politics, politics and art, politics and criticism, what we bring to our art, what we bring to our criticism, if we can be objective in our art and criticism, and the words “thank you.”
Through its great many monologues, Malcolm & Marie always comes back to those two words. Specifically, it’s the fact that they weren’t said to Marie (Zendaya) by her filmmaker boyfriend Malcolm (John David Washington) during a premiere for his directorial debut earlier in the night. Marie, a recovering drug addict in her early 20’s, was an inspiration for Malcolm’s film, which centers on a 20-year-old drug addict named Imani.
She’s not the sole inspiration for the film, the first draft of which was written before the two met. There are a great many people who had inspiration on a great many things throughout the film, be it the time his Dad was in the ICU, the way his ex-girlfriend Jess would walk, or the way someone named Jayla would tie her shoes. These are all key elements that bring life to his film.
But it’s Malcolm who lists these elements. And him listing them is not without an agenda. He’s acknowledging the experiences that brought him to the premiere that night, experiences beyond “merely” his being black. His race is why people think his art is political, why a critic thinks his film is about race and the health care system, and not just a story about an addict who has a distinct walk and ties her shoes with two loops.
Malcolm doesn’t want to be pigeonholed as some Political Art generator by critics who want to bring up talking points. Malcolm is a well-rounded, thoughtful, angry, selfish, caring man, who wants to bring more to the world than just making Political Art.
And he’s a man who forgot to say “thank you”.
Malcolm can list all the different elements from different people and different things from his life that permeate his film, but even though Marie is one of those elements–and a critical one–yet he forgot to thank her for it.
Marie does not take this very well. One of the film’s many monologues consists of her absolutely eviscerating Malcolm, belittling him, accusing him of having nothing original to say and that his lack of thanks is reflective of him not wanting to sharing the spotlight, accusing him of only helping her when she was deep in her addiction for selfish reasons, because he needed a subject for his film.
Is she correct?
It must be said that there is not a single monologue in the film that is 100% correct. There are some that could have 100 kind truths and a single lie or cruelty. There are some that have 100 cruelties or lies and a single, vulnerable truth. When Malcolm talks about all he did for Marie when she was deep in her addiction, it’s the low blow of bringing up her suicide attempt with nail scissors that rightfully stays with Marie. Marie’s accusations of Malcolm not having anything to say and being mediocre may not be true, but it’s that previously mentioned low blow (and, of course, him not saying “thank you”) that justifies this unquenchable rage.
It’s ultimately these little things that matter in Malcolm and Marie. These discussions of race, art, criticism, the discussions of their love, their support for each other, are all influenced by the lack of a “thank you”. They all have their own nuances, their own merits, but in the context of this film, they exist in the hulking shadow of those two missing words. Malcolm tries to fill their gap in so many ways, from saying “I love you”, to saying the film wouldn’t have been what it was without her, to saying “I’m sorry.”
But will he say “thank you”?
That won’t be spoiled. But the comedy and tragedy that come from the situation surrounding it, the talking around it, and the chemistry of its two phenomenal leads make it a question worth asking, and Malcolm & Marie a film worth experiencing.
