Bonnie and Clyde,Thelma & Louise,Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid —joining these cultural touchstones for their ability to encapsulate the zeitgeist of their times isMelina Matsoukas’ 2019 crime dramaQueen & Slim.These fugitive films have pulse-pounding thrills that captivate audiences with intimate explorations of love, rebellion, and survival.Queen & Slimisa rant at systemic racism and police brutality while paying tributeto its predecessors.StarringDaniel Kaluuyain a familiar, similarly themed role as his Oscar-nominated performance portraying Chris Washington inJordan Peele’s horrorGet OutandJodie Turner-Smithin her breakout feature-leading role,the film is unapologetically an ode to the Black community’s experience.It’s a tense, provocative, gripping crime drama that explores how two ordinary people transform into national symbols of defiance.
The story begins with an awkward first date in Ohio between Queen (Turner-Smith), a sharp-witted defense attorney on her bad day following her client’s execution sentence, and Slim (Kaluuya), a mild-mannered worker, in what appears to be their first and last encounter. As Slim drives her home, they are stopped by a white cop for what seems like a routine traffic check. The check soonescalates into a seemingly racially instigated confrontationthat sees the cop draw a gun on Slim. Queen’s intervention worsens the situationas the police officer shoots her in the leg,and Slim wrestles him, grabs his gun, and fatally shoots him. They have to choose between turning themselves in and running away.Fearing that justice won’t be served, they decide to flee on a journeyreminiscent ofthe historicalHarriet Tubman’sunderground railroadacross America.
Queen & Slimreverses history, highlighting the couple’s journey south,a path previously taken by enslaved people escaping servitude in the South.The film highlights that, years after Harriet Tubman and her network ofconductors freed tens of thousands of slaves,there is still work to be done to ensure true freedom and equality.Beginning in historic Ohio, often considered one of the last points of the famed historical network, Queen and Slim drive southwards, counting on the help of communities that believe in social justice. The narrative confronts the uncomfortable realities faced by Black people in placesthat once symbolized freedom, exposing the illusion of it.Like on the Underground Railroad, Queen and Slim find refuge in the solidarity of the Black community. “You’re safe here,” a bartender at a joint aptly named “Underground” reassures Slim after identifying him as the “wanted” fugitive publicized in the media.
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Amid the odds of the exposure,the two experience a second date at the barthat, unlike the first, is full of love and a feeling of belonging,with one ofthe most beautiful romantic dancesin cinema.Speaking to The New York Times, Matsoukas saidthat she modeled the dance based on the famedSteven Spielberg’sWest Side Story. Queen’s Uncle Earl (Bokeem Woodbine, in a standout performance) facilitates their escape with money, a car, and a dose of tough love. A Black police officer subtly lets them pass at a checkpoint in a scene that speaks more with muted action than words could ever tell.But it isn’t just the shared heritage of the Black community that the film celebrates;it also highlights acts of bravery by their friends, like the white couple that accommodates and hides the duo during a police raid.Queen & Slimis keen to pass a crucial message:the fight for racial equality is not a solitary act—it’s a collective effort that transcends race.
‘Queen & Slim’ Captures Tragic Legacy With Stunning Cinematography
While the film celebrates acts of solidarity,it doesn’t shy away from the betrayals that underpin the fragility of trustin its racially charged world. It shows that during movements such as the one created by Queen & Slim’s defiance,betrayal is often within the group.The film’s approach to handling its themes, like having a white policewoman shoot at an unarmed and defenseless Queen, is a jab at howprogressive movements like feminism are harmed by other systemic social injusticeslike racism.
Matsoukas brings the genius she showed in directing Beyoncé’s Grammy-winningFormationandInsecureto craft a visual and emotional narrative that is incitative, heartbreaking, and unforgettable. Her well-thought-out visuals, like the use of aproduction design that acquaints African neighborhoods with artand recognizable elements, emotively capture the Black experience for both the domestic and diaspora communities.Queen & Slimdoesn’t necessarily have an exceptionally original premise,with movies such asGirlhoodandthe underratedDead Presidentsexploring similar themes of young Blacks' identity and systemic injustice, but it provocatively offers a fresh spin that immerses viewers.
Queen & Slimis available for free on Tubi in the U.S.
Queen & Slim
WATCH ON TUBI
