Mixed bags having nothing on Queen & Slim, a film seemingly equal parts useful and aggravating. Here’s a portrait of a buddy flight romance in which the romance works, but the flight does not, and it’s hard to resolve the two given the weighty nature of the subject matter.
I can’t remember a moment in the entire film in which either lead is referred to as either “Queen” or “Slim.” Far as I’m concerned, Daniel Kaluuya could be “Queen,” but that’s a different film. This one is about two young people forced together through the creation of their own doom. Nothing says “let’s be friends” like “our lives are soon to be forfeit,” right?
It starts with a bad first date. Angela (Jodie Turner-Smith), a social justice attorney, fails to keep a client from execution and takes it out on Tinder. Ernest (Kaluuya), a local everyman with a nice smile, is her target. After a series of dead-end conversations, Queen & Slim finally make a connection on the way home when their car is pulled over by a racist cop and Slim shoots the officer in self-defense after a wealth of ugly.
The copcarcam captures two black people killing a white cop. I’m sorry if this boils out all the extenuating circumstances, but that’s the reality. In the United States, cop killers do not go free regardless of mitigating factors. Period. And it comes down to the fact that millions of this country’s citizens (including most of the badges and the money) will only see “cop killed, subjects fled,” and make it their mission in life to hunt/capture/kill ASAP. Imagining that Queen & Slim have more than, say, 12 hours of freedom following the incident is pure folly.
Also folly … the heroic treatment of Queen & Slim. As the two amble southward from the shooting in Cleveland to New Orleans where Queen’s Uncle Earl (Bokeem Woodbine) resides, they gain a cult following, one even prepared for violent protest. Protest of what exactly?! I had the same problem with Joker … Americans don’t (yet) take to the streets to celebrate death. There has to be injustice or, at least, perceived injustice. Even those white supremacist tiki-torch assholes were spurred by the loss of confederate statues. The problem with the Queen & Slim movement is it’s impossible to see the cause – nobody has been caught and sent to jail and I think there’s a fair case to be made that the would-be arresting officer –regardless of how racist or unfair his actions- was the actual victim here. Yes, he brought it on himself with thuggish behavior, but he’s also the one who is dead; protesters aren’t this tone-deaf. The anger following Rodney King was far greater than the celebratory riot following the OJ acquittal.
BTW, can a first date get any worse than murder? I suppose it’s not as bad as discovering she’s a religious nut or flat-Earther or something, but it’s gotta be close.
OK, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, we can proceed. As a romance and a lam pic, Queen & Slim kinda works. Life has tied their fates together. We see immediately how their “date behavior” changes and takes on a reluctant marriage dynamic. “I don’t like your music.” ”I don’t like your chewing.” etc. One would hope that these two would recognize their limited shelf lives and find an amiable common ground and for the most part they do and they do. It’s sweet how a romance blooms out of expired lives.
I like the leads here – Turner-Smith as the no-nonsense feminist turner-smithed into fugitive and Daniel Kaluuya as the good-kid-having-a-bad-day and coming to terms with it. But the action doesn’t match the severity. The film behaves as if Queen & Slim actually have a chance at escape if they’re just not stupid which not only flies against reality, but makes irksome the many, many times when they are stupid. In addition, the counter-narrative of support protest doesn’t work at all. While I’m certain most observers would misinterpret motives and many would mistakenly assign heroic characteristics to this act of self-defense, I doubt very seriously such by itself would inspire anti-authoritarian riots; as I said above, you need a perceived injustice to inspire a movement, otherwise, what are you protesting?
So geez, whaddaya do when your SJW fantasy ain’t much on the “J” part? Chalk it up to doomed romance and hope your crowd discovers The Hate U Give – the much better version of this film.
Murder is how their date ended
So the lam is where fences are mended
Again, not just filler
Film celebrates a killer
My belief has not yet been suspended
Rated R, 131 Minutes
Director: Melina Matsoukas
Writer: Lena Waithe
Genre: Real life fantasy
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: BLM
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Racists
