A dialogue-heavy film about relationship issues might be the broad definition for the emotional, recently-released Netflix film, “Malcolm and Marie.” Giving us their best performance, the film stars Zendaya, playing Marie, and John David Washington, playing Malcolm. Marie is an actor who believes she deserves more credit for a film that was mostly about her life, which was directed by her self-centered and insecure boyfriend, Malcolm.

From a personal standpoint, this film was well done. Creator of HBO show “Euphoria,” director Sam Levinson wanted this film to expose the problems that are faced within the film industry and he did just that. This should be one of the reasons why you should avoid the strong negative criticism against this movie and give it a chance.

Most critics tend to believe that this film isn’t art or that it’s a meltdown because of how repetitive the arguments get, which is understandable. However, it goes without saying that this film had a strong opening, great monologues and something that many filmmakers don’t adjust to nowadays; the pacing of the film.

Raise your hand if you watch modern films on streaming services. Now, raise your hand if you watch a wide variety of modern films that cuts to a different shot every three to five seconds. Don’t lie. The pacing of this film lets the audience be the moment with not only Malcolm and Marie, but with Zendaya and Washington. We get to gaze and feel their performances as they constantly argue and make up again. If this is incorrect, you have every right to correct it, but we haven’t seen shots that linger on the actors like that in a long time. Long takes are used for a wide variety of reasons from establishing a mood or setting to creating suspense.

A film relying only on dialogue can get boring, but this is not the case; in fact, it’s the complete opposite. This film is a mixture of a strong story, characters, cinematography and much more. Don’t go into this film expecting everything to be a 10 out of 10; movies aren’t perfect. Instead, watch this film with an open and positive mind giving the new, emotional Washington performance a chance. Because what both Malcolm and Marie go through feels, and is, real and powerful, just like their performance.