'Malcolm & Marie' isn't a romance movie. It's a war movie set in the middle of a relationship.

"Malcolm & Marie" comes with a warning label: Despite the glittering, black and white cinematography and the brilliance of both John David Washington as Malcolm and Zendaya as Marie, it tells viewers upfront that they're not watching a romance film.

Instead of witnessing two characters meeting cute, falling for one another, encountering conflict, and making a decision about their relationship, "Euphoria" creator Sam Levinson cracks open a window into a long-term relationship, one burdened with the weight of time and the baggage of two very flawed people who happen to also be Black.

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'BlacKkKlansman' Proves John David Washington Has Always Been Working Towards This Moment

As I enter the room, John David Washington is near the window seated comfortably on a lounger, and he’s quiet. The breakout star is staring introspectively out of the window onto the sunny street overlooking Central Park. As I step through the threshold of the room, Washington smiles and stands. Ever the gentleman, he greets me and gestures toward another chair waiting for me to be seated before he takes his seat once more. For someone who grew up on the sidelines of the entertainment industry, there’s no air of Hollywood entitlement about him. At 34, Washington is ready to step into the spotlight; this is what he’s been working toward his entire life. In his role in the latest Spike Lee joint, BlacKkKlansman, the Morehouse College alum stars as Ron Stallworth, the first black police officer in the Colorado Springs Police Department who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan and thwarts a deadly attack on the city’s black community. The moment Lee called Washington for the role, the actor knew he would be in good hands. "Working with Spike definitely exceeded my expectations," he said. "How inclusive he was as a director; how sharing he was; how much he trusted me -- this is Spike Lee. He wants what he wants, but he also wants what you got. If he wants what you got, then he allows you to give it to him, and that kind of trust from a legend like that, I've never had before on set. That was super encouraging for me and made me feel so much more comfortable and confident to deliver for him. I was calling him Mr. Lee for a couple of weeks; he's like, 'Stop calling me that. I'm Spike.' I was like, 'Alright Mr. Lee. I'll call you Spike, Mr. Lee. Sorry, Mr. Lee.'"

The pressure that came with working with Lee along with continually comparing Washington to his very famous father, another muse of the Do the Right Thing director, were just two aspects of this job with which the Ballers actor had to contend. Washington was also stepping into someone’s life. Ron Stallworth is real and very much alive. "The table read was when we really got to talk, and passed around his KKK membership card," Washington remembered. "We talked a lot there, but then every week we were on the phone. I was hounding him. He began telling me about what it's like being a cop—what to look for, where to stand, how to know where the exits are, just all that tactical stuff. Then we started talking about the motivations and what he experienced in his life. We discussed where his beliefs came from, the foundation of who he was, and his family. I also shared some stuff about me with him, too. It became this counseling relationship between the two of us."

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'BlacKkKlansman' Is Spike Lee’s Most Blunt, Bold And Boisterous Film

Legendary director Spike Lee brings retired detective Ron Stallworth's memoir to life in his piercing new film BlacKkKlansman. An engrossing adaption of Stallworth’s induction as the first black police officer in the Colorado Springs Police Department, the film follows his first year on the force where Stallworth would find himself entangled in a case that would help humiliate the Ku Klux Klan. Set in the late '70s at the height of the Black Power movement, BlacKkKlansman centers on the young and ambitious Ron Stallworth (portrayed by John David Washington), who refuses to be shoved in the evidence room, a black token in an endless sea of white faces. When Kwame Ture, formerly known as Stokely Carmichael (portrayed by Corey Hawkins) visits Colorado Springs, Ron jumps at the chance to infiltrate the crowd and report back to his supervisor about black activism in the city. What he doesn’t expect is to befriend Patrice Dumas (portrayed by Laura Harrier), the leader of the local college's Black Student Union. Though Ron is intent on working within the system to make a change, Patrice uses more “radical” approaches to combat racism, white supremacy and injustices even when it means literally putting her body and life at risk.

Given a position in the police department's intelligence section for his efforts at the Kwame Ture rally, Ron finds himself fascinated with an ad that calls for white people to join the local chapter of the KKK. On a whim, Ron comes up with a scheme to infiltrate the organization and report on its members' heinous activities and behaviors. However, no matter how "white" Ron's voice might sound on the phone, his swagger, deep skin tone and gleaming afro prevent him from meeting the local klansmen face-to-face. Instead, he's forced to partner with Flip Zimmerman (portrayed seamlessly by Adam Driver), a seasoned Jewish detective who wants nothing to do with Ron’s investigation.

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'Monsters and Men' Is Magnificent And Profound (Sundance Review)

We often forget that as human beings we are interconnected. No one has a singular experience, good or bad that doesn’t directly affect those closest to them. With everything that is happening in society today, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and isolated. The perils of the world seem to weigh us all down, and we fail to be vulnerable and find comfort in others. Reinaldo Marcus Green’s extraordinary feature film debut Monsters and Men examines what it means to be a person of color in these perilous times and how deeply haunted and affected we all are by acts of violence and police brutality. Told in a triptych of stories that are connected but don’t necessarily overlap, Green captures the intricacies of New York City and Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn in a way that is reminiscent to Spike Lee’s love letters to his hometown. However, Green is not trying to pay homage; he’s intent on taking a stand.

The first part of the film follows Manny (Hamilton alum Anthony Ramos), a young father with major life changes on the horizon. Coming home one evening, he records the death of his good friend Darius Larson on his cell phone. It’s a ripped-from-the-headlines scenario, nearly identical to the 2014 death of Eric Garner. Big D, as he was known around the way, was a staple in the community. He was known for selling loose squares outside of the bodega and giving the kids who rode by a dollar here and there. Traumatized by Big D’s death and tormented by the NYPD who threaten him to keep quiet, Manny must decide what to do, a decision that could greatly alter not just his life but the life of his pregnant girlfriend and young daughter.

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