Malcolm & Marie (2021 | USA | 106 minutes | Sam Levinson)
Debuting this weekend on Netflix, Malcolm and Marie finds Euphoria creator Sam Levinson pairing up with Euphoria star Zendaya and John David Washington in a filmed-in-quarantine pressure-cooker of a relationship drama. Set in the wake of a splash film premiere and shot in gorgeous black & white, the new Netflix release is a must-watch for people who enjoy watching movie stars fight in post-party formalwear, Cassavetes-style, and likely to rankle film critics who get queasy at the depiction of of an up-and-coming film director reacting to his reviews. Over the course of a very talky late night, the couple ride a hangry emotional roller coaster of airing their grievances and making up, over and over again, with increasing intensity and hurtfulness, all fueled by a pot of instant mac & cheese. While their cycle of arguments and ameliorations can get a little tiresome (that’s the point, isn’t it?) it’s hard not to be won over by the filmmaking and live wire performances. Washington ranges from bouncing off the walls gleefully to egomaniacal rants about the reception of his fictional film; Zendaya shifts effortlessly from accommodating to sad seething anger over her level of appreciation in the creative process. And despite being filmed in one location — mid-century getaway — Levinson’s camerawork is never static, making the most of the glass-walled house’s open floor plan and sprawling property to give the film a sense of constant motion that remains visually compelling even as the couple remain stuck in one place.
Elsewhere in local virtual cinema, SIFF is going all-in on helping local viewers to get a taste of potential Academy Award nominees for International Film. Their online catalog offers a long list of official selections from around the world including Two of Us (France), Atlantis (Ukraine), Dear Comrades! (Russia), My Little Sister (Switzerland), Notturno (Italy), and Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (Hungary) to make for a D.I.Y. foreign film festival.
Northwest Film Forum has Recorder, a new documentary about “fabulously wealthy” recluse Marion Stokes, whose obsessive VHS taping of television news became a form of activism. Matt Wolf’s new documentary runs as a companion piece alongside archival presentations of Stokes’s own films Integration Report 1 (1960) and I Am Somebody (1970) throughout the month of February.
Header image: Malcolm & Marie, courtesy Netflix.