Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
First, she praises his film at its premiere, but only compares him to other Black directors.
You cant hang everything on identity, he says.
And to top it all off, the review is paywalled!
As withMarriage Story, it didnt take long for viewers to make an autobiographical connection.
What does the woman herself think?
I do not want that title.
Have you seenMalcolm & Marie?
I noticed that you didnt review it.Yes, I have seen the movie.
I did not review it.
I didnt think that would be a good idea; its too thorny.
I didreview it on Letterboxd, but I just put an ellipsis.
How many stars did you give it on Letterboxd?I didnt give it any stars.
Until talking to you Ive been trying to be a little bit cryptic.
Are you comfortable sharing whether you liked the movie?I dont feel like I can critically assess it.
I watched it in a blur.
I just dont think theyre executed well.
You see these flashes of brilliance and then it descends in this contradictory, messy way.
But I dont know that I got anything too illuminating from it.
Did you have any advance warning going in?I did.
I emailed Netflix for a month asking if I could go to one of the virtual screenings.
I didnt say anything about the references.
What was the experience of watching the movie like for you?It wasnt fun.
Not that I hated the movie, just the experience.
It was uncomfortable and unpleasant, being like, Is this directed at me?
So I feel like I cant fully speak to all of the arguments in it.
I thought about rewatching it, and then I was like, I cant rewatch this.
But I also want to say that the character as it is written is not me.
The review that she writes is not me.
The way that she behaves at the premiere is not me.
I think the connection could be made; Im not the person who started making these connections.
But, anyway, I have no idea.
You mentioned the way that she acts at the premiere is not the way you would act.
Youre the next Barry Jenkins, youre the next Spike Lee.
Its just not something anyone would do, especially if I was reviewing the film hours later.
Its so frowned upon.
What is the difference between doing it before or after?
Because its tipping your hand?Sometimes I want the review to be what it is.
But its kind of awkward to tell a filmmaker that.
Its just not something I would say.
But I dont even think its that bad.
Its weird because she does give him such a rave review and then he tears her apart.
So I feel for this female critic.
She doesnt want to be in this at all.
Shes just doing her job.
At times I thought the film critic was the most three-dimensional character in the movie.
The thing is, she doesnt get to defend herself or be a participant in the conversation, really.
Malcolm makes a lot of critiques about the state of contemporary film criticism.
Hes unquestionably a blowhard, a jerk, and terrible in all sorts of ways.
Being relegated to these identity silos.
That is a fair point, but I dont think that it lands.
Having this character just scream random filmmakers names?
I dont think that does the argument any justice.
I had to question whether Id ever written like that.
I was like, Dont you dare say that this is jazzy.
Its fascinating because that is a film that is explicitly about Black politics and history …
I mean, I didnt let myself get in my head too much about it.
But I did think about the jazzy part.
Did you end up using jazzy or did you go with a different adjective?Jazz-inflected.
I definitely dont think critics are above criticism at all.
I just dont like how ugly the discourse gets.
The stuff that Malcolm says gets really violent: Fuck you with a cactus dick.
Why dont they say this stuff about the white-guy critics?
So its not just a conversation about criticism.
Hes abusing this woman in the same way that hes abusing his girlfriend.
you’re free to say, This is what Malcolm does.
But why are we giving him so much time to say those things?
There are interesting things, though.
When they called the woman mediocre, I was like, Oh God, Iammediocre.
But then, when Marie calls Malcolm mediocre, hes like, How dare you call me mediocre?
That is an interesting idea: He can dish it out, but he cant take it.
Maybe thats the whole idea of the movie.
But there are no consequences for Malcolm.
All that happens is they get tired, they submit, they go to sleep.
Why doesnt Marie leave him?
Levinson is like, Hes an asshole.
You have to understand that hes an asshole.
But you havent painted the picture enough to see, does Malcolm change his ways?
Is Marie going to leave him?
I dont think theres enough of an arc there.
But thats just me.
It didnt go viral.
There wasnt a ton of feedback.
I didnt hear from anybody.
At first I was taken aback because I didnt know what they were talking about.
It was a year and a half later.
Then I was mortified.
I was like, Sorry.
But then we had a laugh about it.
Or quibble with me about a word choice.
And sometimes they were right!
I think I have learned every lesson in this business by making the mistake.
But I will not say that theAssassination Nationreview was a mistake.
I am not going to say that at all.
But [the conversation with those directors], that was a good conversation.
It made me a better writer.
But I also think that I bring my identity to everything I watch.
I cant take it off.
Its complicated, but its a good conversation to have, if you have it in a nice way.
I know that sounds Pollyannaish.
Its not a high-minded discussion about criticism and art.
And we wouldnt be talking about this.
