Film Review: QUEEN & SLIM (2019): An Evocative Tale of Romance & Tragic Actions that Raises Lingering Questions

Queen & Slim Review

Queen & Slim (2019) Film Review, a movie directed by Melina Matsoukas, and starring Daniel Kaluuya, Jodie Turner-Smith, Bokeem Woodbine, Chloe Sevigny, and Flea.

Plot Synopsis

Queen & Slim begins with both of them in a diner on a date. Queen is obvious upset because, as a lawyer, her client was just sentenced to the death penalty. Not interested in romance or a relationship, she decides to go out on a date with Slim just to occupy her mind with something other than her client. She’s abrasive and short with Slim and the two are definitely not a match. When Slim takes Queen home after their date, they are stopped by a cop who believes that he is driving erratically (he grabbed something and it made the car swerve once). The cop then claims that Slim didn’t use a turn signal. Okay, this traffic stop should be simple — give Slim a ticket and move on. But the cop pushes on, clearly targeting the couple, asking Slim to get out of his car and open the trunk. When Slim asks for the cop to hurry because he’s cold, the cop pulls a gun on him, orders him to hit the ground. When Queen comes out of the car to question the cop, he shoots her in the leg. Slim and the cop tussle and Slim grab the gun and shoots the cop.

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Before We Begin…

Queen & Slim centers around two young black people who shoot a white cop in self-defense during a traffic stop and decide to go on the run instead of turning themselves in The 132-minute movie earned $47.2 million at the box office. Sometimes, movie reviews are easy for me to write. I’m supposed to watch a movie and let you know if I liked it or didn’t and why. But some movies I honestly have a harder time reviewing. You see, I watch Queen & Slim as an older white woman. While I’ve experienced sexism in real life, I’ve never experienced racism, so I can’t say how well that the writers and directors portrayed the true-to-life experiences of these characters. However, I can say that the movie is powerful but I did, honestly, find it to be lacking in a few areas that I can only see through my own lens.

The Review

Interestingly, my notes for the movie said, “why isn’t Queen just explaining to the cops what happened? After all, she’s a lawyer, but like I said I came from this as an older white woman. When I realized they had no choice but to run, my heart sank for them. In the blink of an eye, their entire lives just changed.

Queen turns to her uncle for assistance, explaining to Slim that he owed her because she bailed him out of jail. I was stunned to hear it was after he killed her mother (it comes out later why), but I still didn’t care for the character. I want to find myself rooting for the good guys and while I found myself rooting for Slim, I didn’t like Queen. She was abrasive and closed off, and lacked emotion except for anger. Even when the couple stop at a bar for some dancing — the bartender who recognized them told them they were safe there — I still didn’t feel much for Queen.

I didn’t understand why they paid for the car repairs they needed ahead of time, but again this observation came from a place of privilege. The good news is that a movie that did bring forth a story about racism and privilege made me realize that I was fortunate yet also sheltered. As a woman, my life isn’t free of problematic situations, but in comparison Queen and Slim had to make life-or-death decisions simply because of the color of their skin. The movie evoked a wide variety of emotions from me. I cannot say that I liked Queen much at all, and that’s hard to admit since this is also a romance story — but I was rooting for the couple to escape and live their best lives. The rest you’ll have to see for yourself.

Rating: 9/10

Closing Aside

Queen & Slim is a bit slow-moving at times, but brings out powerful emotions in its storytelling and dialogue.

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