Rating:
Director: Melina Maksoukas
Cast: Jodie Turner-Smith, Daniel Kaluuya, Bokeem Woodbine, Chloë Sevigny, Benito Martinez, Flea, Indya Moore, Jahi Di’Allo Winston
Rating: 15
Running time: 2 hours 12 minutes
Release date: 31 January 2020
Slim: “It’s beautiful out here”
Queen: “Is it?”
This exchange represents the constant contrasts, we as an audience, are met with throughout Queen & Slim, serving to undermine our pre-conceptions and keep us unsettled; just when we think this story is going in one direction, we’re immediately jolted back to a feeling of uncertainty.
We meet the protagonists of Melina Matsoukas debut feature (written by Lena Waithe) on an awkward yet humorous tinder date in Cleveland. As Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) drives Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) home, she takes his phone to change the music and whilst mocking his playlists, he slightly swerves the car grabbing his phone back. A white police officer flags them down. At this point, you can imagine the kind of situation which arises given the countless killings of unarmed African-Americans by police officers. This police officer shoots Queen in the leg and a physical fight with Slim ensues. It quickly turns into a do or die situation; in self-defence Slim gets hold of the police officer’s gun and shoots him, resulting in his death.
This is where the story of Queen & Slim begins; two people who were unlikely to see each other again, bound together as fugitives. The film follows them on the road to the deep south where they loosely plan to board a plane to Cuba, following in the footsteps of Assata Shakur (former member of the Black Liberation Army).
The contrasts in this film come in all shapes and sizes. There’s the beauty of Matsoukas’ signature visuals (shot by Tat Radcliffe on this occasion but fans of Beyoncé, Solange and Issa Rae’s Insecure will recognise Matsoukas’ colourful, spellbinding imagery) and the beauty of the south’s landscape with clear blue skies as far as the eye can see juxtaposed with the police brutality and mass incarceration of African-Americans. There is the pairing of opposites with Queen and Slim (we only discover their given names at the end of the film), a realist and an optimist; they disagree on almost everything ―think When Harry Met Sally. Then there’s the characters they meet along their journey and the divide between those who support Queen and Slim and those that don’t. which remains unpredictable throughout. Whilst these contrasts set the tone and thrill of the film, they’re saturated in significance, making us question our own judgement. It’s not simply black and white. Perhaps the most striking and memorable scene is a layering of contrasting events; passionate sex intercut by a passionate protest with reverberating consequences we don’t get to see. The film’s romance is its sweetness and seemingly everything that ripples around it sours.
As Queen and Slim move further from their home and the limitations of their daily lives struggling to navigate the nuances of being black in America, we see them open up to pleasure, indulging in their new found bitter-sweet freedom. Indeed one of the strengths of Queen & Slim is the way these two characters open up to the pleasure of each other. Kaluuya and Turner-Smith give beautifully restraint performances at the beginning of their romance and then this pairing slowly start to shatter their protective walls as they lean into their desire which is a pure delight to watch on screen especially to the back drop of Dev Hynes’ score and a soundtrack littered with the likes of Lauren Hill and Solange.
Queen & Slim isn’t a perfect film, sometimes the dialogue doesn’t quite flow as it comes across too precise and the multiple poignant story-lines don’t always get the space to breathe or the exploration they deserve which leaves them lacking in depth. Perhaps though, this pace reflects the nature and mentality of being on on-the-run; there isn’t time to consider all that is happening in the background to the tireless effort of survival. Regardless of its flaws, Queen & Slim is an exciting, fresh imagining of the aftermath of a brief usurping of racial injustice, marking Matsoukas as an auteur for this generation ―after seeing this film, it’s hard not to be interested in whatever project she takes on next. Queen & Slim feels genre defying; satisfying comedic turns, on-the-edge-of-your-seat thrills, dreamy and dramatic visuals steeped in the beats of black music and a subtle but steamy romance for the ages. The film is screaming don’t put me in a box just like its characters.
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