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I think it's wrong-headed for soo many reasons. Namely:
1. This review, like many of the negative reviews I have read about the film, give WAAAY to much agency to the writer & director. I mean I will admit my initial reaction is I didn't want to watch a white writer/director tell a black romance story and I watched it for the sole purpose of being able to properly tear it apart (I guarantee some of the people trashing it in this post haven't seen the movie). When I saw the movie it didn't line up with my expectations and I did the research to figure out why and it became clear. Denzel's Son (DS) and Zendaya were not passively casts by Barry Levinson's son (BLS). This is just as much Zendaya's project. It was her idea to do a movie with BLS, she approached him to find a project they could do under COVID conditions. This is what they came up with. THEY cast DS. DS and Zendaya funded the project (along with Kid Cudi, yeah random). There are all these articles and video clips where DS and Zendaya talked about their role in shaping the story and dialogue. Yeah DS came up with a story based on his experience but all these reviews premised on the idea that BLS is doing blackface ventroquilism isn't factually correct and belittles and erases Zendaya and DS's contributions to this project.
2. It was after reading this line I stopped reading and had to check the race of the author.
"as a Black director, is only compared to other Black directors as opposed to people like William Wyler and Billy Wilder? Does he mean real directors, or does he mean white directors? Does he mean that he doesn't like to be compared to John Singleton and Spike Lee because they are not good, or because they are Black and what he does, what Malcolm does, is entirely independent of his identity as a Black man? Is he suggesting that he has no identity as a Black artist? "
Sorry to reduce it to race but I don't think a black writer would write this. As a black creative, I 100% identify with the concern of being pigeon-holed into thinking that I am only a black writer and I have no place writing outside of writing black work. Its the reason why in my first project I wanted to make clear I could write for white characters. Its a reason why Shonda Rhymes creates the shows the way she does. It was a motivation for Spike to do 25th hour. It is not at all a diss of Spike or Singleton or Jenkins and it in no way elevates Wilder over those great black directors. And the discussion of whether black art is political by its nature is also a discussion that goes back as long as black creatives have had voices. Amari Barakai was talking about it when he wrote, paraphrasing, all black art is political and if it ain't political it isn't black art. its what Trey Ellis wrote about in his seminal essay the New Black Aesthetic. Its what I wrote my thesis on. Incidently, I spent a great portion of my thesis trying to define "Black Film" and by that old definition, I think there is a strong argument to be made that M&M isn't Black Art but that's another discussion. At any rate, again, its insulting to think that BS su generis created this debate and ignores the black artist and intellectuals who have been struggling to define black art and the politics of Black Arts as long as there has been black art.
3. But most importantly, only the critics give a sh*t about the debate about critics and black art. Go to twitter and search "Malcolm and Marie" and you will see, besides the critics, most people are not talking about the meaning of criticism and the nature of black art. Look at this post. What are people talking about? For the most part, what people were invested in and talked about is toxic relationships. Its by far the most compelling thing about the movie. Its what people Identified with (for better for worst) and had a lot to say about it. In fact, and sorry for the generalization, I went to twitter fully expecting Black Woman to overwhelming hate the movie because DS was so toxic but I was surprised to see how many black women identified with it. I think that's a testament to Zendaya's fingerprints on the movie, not BLS.
4. Look I am not even here trying to argue that this is a "great movie". TBH, I am not sure yet. My wife asked if she should watch it and I not sure I can recommend it. I want to watch it again (when I feel like watching it again). Alot of people aren't interesting in watching people fight for 90 minutes. However, I think the critical response doesn't reflect how a large segment is seeing the movie who don't know anything about the director, or that "white lady from Variety". TBH, I think there is a lot of handwringing over some "white lady from Variety" who may or may not exist to the extent it is drowning out what Zendaya and Denzel's Son accomplished. To put another way, to view this movie so narrowly regarding how it might hurt the feelings of a "white lady from variety" misses out on the best thing going for the film and the thing that non-critics responded to.
>But very rarely do you see one where blackness is used by the
>white filmmaker as a shield against criticism of his own white
>work. And rarely by a filmmaker that's so marginally
>talented.
>
>I liked this review of the movie a lot and agreed with most
>everything said within it:
>https://www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2021/02/malcolm-marie.html
>
>So yeah, Bradley Rockwell is gonna betray white folks on this
>one, lol.
**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"
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