Quick crossword answers also fit the large grid.
★★★★ ★
QUICK CLUES: Across
1. Rear (4)
3. Mishap (8)
9. Unyielding (7)
10. Oath (5)
11. Disillusioned (12)
13. Enhance (3,3)
15. Small (6)
17. Rude (12)
20. Compare (5)
21. Refer to (7)
22. Omens (8)
23. Elderly (4)
Down
1. Flourish (8)
2. Rank (5)
4. Attractive (6)
5. Discordant (12)
6. Serious (7)
7. Row (4)
8. Splendour (12)
12. Spiced (8)
14. Philosopher (7)
16. Highest point (6)
18. Due (5)
19. Applaud (4)
FILM-MAKER Malcolm (Tenet’s John David Washington) and actress girlfriend Marie (Zendaya) return to a rented house on California’s Central Coast after the premiere of his directorial debut.
Malcolm dances from room to room, giddy on the fumes of praise from one critic while Marie nonchalantly puffs on a cigarette and boils a pan of
water to make him boxed macaroni and cheese.
As steam rises from the hob, Marie’s mood changes and she addresses the elephant in the impeccably designed room: Malcolm forgot to thank her in his speech about the film, which draws heavily on her battle with drug addiction. Over the next two hours, the couple trade verbal blows, exposing fissures in the relationship.
Malcolm & Marie is an emotionally charged twohander energised by finely calibrated performances and a dialogue-heavy script by writer-director Sam Levinson.
The ebb and flow of the navel-gazing feels natural, with predictable lulls between outpourings of guilt and indignation that are met with denial and tremulous tears.
Washington and Zendaya, reunited with Levinson after their Emmy Award-winning work on TV series Euphoria, careen from lust-fuelled flirtation to bile-slathered fury with aplomb. They invest fully in conceited, selfabsorbed characters, who spout volumes but say very little of substance.
■ On Netflix from Friday