Brandon Molina

I'm really happy I got to watch this at the theatre. The choice of black & white, aspect ratio, and cinematography in general, was amazing to experience and witness on the big screen. The atmosphere it creates within its setting and stylish cinematography was almost hypnotic to me. I could easily watch this over and over again in a theatre and my eyes would stay glued to the screen the entire time. The principle argument that propels the film begins so naturally and continues to escalate flawlessly due in part to the writing and the incredible performances by both leads who just work so well off of each other. I was wrapped into every word spoken between the two. Particularly Marie, who I felt so much for as more of her thoughts/feelings came out about Malcolm and his film, which prevents her from something she can no longer do or express because of it. However, there are two separate arguments happening, one between Malcolm & Marie and the other is "an argument with yourself" as Zendaya's character puts it about Malcolm. This second argument with Malcolm's self about film criticism, I found at first to be interesting and something to think about, but it became obnoxiously whiny and feeling less that this was coming from the character of Malcolm and more from the writer himself ranting about his ordeal with critics. It wasn't enough to take me out of it, but it goes a bit too far. But once it goes back to focusing on the two again, it just continues to escalate even more to the point where I was on the edge of my seat wondering how was this going to end. And Zendaya's final monologue about a thank you... I also found it to be quite comedic, maybe unintentionally, but the groans and improv from John David Washington were so funny. Like, I have never seen anyone eat mac n cheese so aggressively as he does, and it made me laugh so much. The music too was something that stood out to me, and the placements of it throughout certain moments were interesting. Especially, the saxophone towards the very end of the film <3 Once it was over, I felt so much compulsion to re watch it immediately and I need to at least once more in the theatre.