- cut out about 20 minutes. This is a 80-85 min story
- switch out actors and get some theatre artists in there.
- as a matter of fact, if we're being artsy you can have 3 or 4 sets of actors playing Malcolm & Marie...taking over different sections, showing emotional shifts in their relationship with different actor pairs who are quarantined together. You could do some cool stuff with the transitions through mirrors or reflections with a new Marie stepping in for different parts.
- and my GAWD can one of the couple pairings be queer men or queer women? Save us from these miserable hetero leftovers from Edward Albee dramas. Don't we deserve something more dynamic if we're talking about couples than the same old pairing of abusive man and passive aggressive wife who gains the upper hand over the course of an evening? Don't we deserve more layers to this basic-bitch chocolate cake than the simp-ass, Betty Crocker brand of domestic drama? And speaking of food....
- no mac n' cheese please.
-try spaghetti. Dry. Sea salt, chili pepper, oil olive, and mint. Easy, clean, flavorful and it won't invite the ridicule of black Twitter.
- make actors watch John Cassavetes.
- more in this part: when Marie starts talking about Malcolm pretending to have grit but coming from a middle class family. I wanted more of this debate about the authenticity requirement in black art. I was reading writing samples for a black tv drama and so many were gritty inner city crack addict scripts and I wasn't buying ANY OF IT. A lot of these writers were blk middle class and upper-middle class who graduated from Yale or Juilliard or an Ivy League School and their scripts felt like they looked up words on Urban Dictionary. And I don't think my white counterparts could tell the difference. AT THE SAME TIME...if middle class white artists can write about gangsters and the mafia, why are blk artist required to 'fake authenticity?' Isn't that a double standard? Now that is a convo I could dig into with 2 black artists. And I think that is at the core of Malcolm and Marie class/style argument of authenticity vs. artistic license.
- make Malcolm less of an asshole (mostly through casting but some rewrites would be in order)
- I don't know what the B&W is buying you. It felt more aesthetically exhausting than earned. Meanwhile "40 Year Old Version" b&w felt natural, smart, and appropriate.
- more music. There might even need to be a soundtrack running throughout and underneath the arguments.
- more exploration w/ improvised moments.
- adding the element of an unseen 3rd character. This character doesn't have to appear. They can be the assistant dropping off leftover wine or someone who went and ran an errand. But this story felt like it could have used a boost of time restriction, deadlines, something someone is looking forward to or has to do in the morning.
- something tangible that Malcolm wants from Marie at the beginning...whether it's a reporter contact she has or his lucky watch or some object. He should need something from her...not just emotional support. I think that would balance out the drama.
But overall I was glad I watched it. More and more, I don't label stuff as 'good or bad' but rather 'if I was into this genre...what would I like about this particular story? If I liked this genre, what isn't working and what would I want to switch about this particular story? What questions does it leave me with?' I find it more constructive and interesting to engage with a piece on that level that a numbing 'good/bad' judgment which shuts down artistic critique and exploration.
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