QUEEN & SLIM
*****
Director: Melina Matsoukas
Screenwriter: Lena Waithe, adapted from a story by Lena Waithe and James Frey.
Principal cast:
Daniel Kaluuya
Jodie Turner-Smith
Bokeem Woodbine
Chloë Sevigny
Flea
Sturgill Simpson
Country: Canada/USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 132 mins.
Australian release date: 12 March 2020.
It’s evident from the opening of Queen & Slim that not much has changed in the USA, race-wise at least, since Bob Dylan wrote the lyrics to Hurricane in 1975:
“When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that
In Paterson that's just the way things go
If you're black you might as well not show up on the street
'Less you wanna draw the heat.”
A handsome young African-American couple are driving home from a first Tinder date in Cleveland, Ohio, when a white cop pulls them over to the side of the road, just like in the song, not for any major reason but because their car had swerved slightly on the snowy street. The policeman (Sturgill Simpson) treats them rudely, demanding that the driver, ‘Slim’ (Daniel Kaluuya), get out of the vehicle to be searched and open the car boot. When he is politely asked to hurry up because it’s cold, the officer draws his gun and points it at Slim. The woman, ‘Queen’ (Jodie Turner-Smith), is a lawyer and she, too, gets out of the car to tell the officer that she is going to film him, whereupon the cop turns his gun on her and shoots her in the leg, Slim attacks him and, in the ensuing melee, the policeman is shot dead. Slim’s no gangster though, and his first reaction is to report what’s happened but Queen, knowing the court system, says they have to go on the run because they’ll never get a fair hearing. From then on we are treated to a road trip south to New Orleans, then into Georgia and Florida, through a world not often seen in American movies - the black USA. The journey makes you realise that African-American and Anglo societies rarely intersect in some states, that there is only the slightest connection between the two groups and we barely see a white face on the drive south. When the pair arrives at Queen’s estranged Uncle Earl’s place, he (Bokeem Woodbine) greets them as “the black Bonnie and Clyde” and they learn that a video of the shooting has gone viral and they are now regarded as heroes by many in the black community.
Queen & Slim is a tough film, while simultaneously being moving and romantic. It’s an extraordinary achievement, all the more so for being the feature movie debut of Grammy Award-winning music video director Melina Matsoukas and the first full-length film script penned by actress and Emmy Award-winning television writer Lena Waithe. Her screenplay is a terrific piece of work that keeps surprising you and never takes the easy way out. It’s a clever, nuanced look at racism that isn’t ‘shouty’ and doesn’t seek to provide neat answers to the complicated questions it raises. It just tells it like it is. Excellent editing and cinematography add much to the mise en scène and, it almost goes without saying, there is a fabulous soundtrack accompanying the images. A dance scene in a juke joint that the fugitives stop at as they head to Florida ranks up there with one in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman as a joyous celebration of black music and culture. Turner-Smith and Kaluuya excel in the lead roles and it’s fascinating to watch their dramatic skills at work as their characters adapt and evolve once they’re thrown together on their unexpected road trip, drawing on resources they didn’t know they had. Turner-Smith’s Queen, in particular, begins the journey behind defensive walls of her own creation, highly guarded, and we watch, enthralled, as these barricades disintegrate as she learns to trust Slim.
Matsoukas’s film feels like it could have been based on a long-form article in a serious news magazine and you half expect to see ‘inspired by true events’ pop up on-screen. We only learn the real names of the chief protagonists at the conclusion of their road trip, which was a deliberate and symbolic creative choice. “That was a very poignant decision that Lena made,” says producer Pamela Abdy. “It makes a statement about the fact that we don’t stop to pay attention to people or their names when it actually matters.” Queen & Slim matters.
Screenwriter: Lena Waithe, adapted from a story by Lena Waithe and James Frey.
Principal cast:
Daniel Kaluuya
Jodie Turner-Smith
Bokeem Woodbine
Chloë Sevigny
Flea
Sturgill Simpson
Country: Canada/USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 132 mins.
Australian release date: 12 March 2020.
It’s evident from the opening of Queen & Slim that not much has changed in the USA, race-wise at least, since Bob Dylan wrote the lyrics to Hurricane in 1975:
“When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that
In Paterson that's just the way things go
If you're black you might as well not show up on the street
'Less you wanna draw the heat.”
A handsome young African-American couple are driving home from a first Tinder date in Cleveland, Ohio, when a white cop pulls them over to the side of the road, just like in the song, not for any major reason but because their car had swerved slightly on the snowy street. The policeman (Sturgill Simpson) treats them rudely, demanding that the driver, ‘Slim’ (Daniel Kaluuya), get out of the vehicle to be searched and open the car boot. When he is politely asked to hurry up because it’s cold, the officer draws his gun and points it at Slim. The woman, ‘Queen’ (Jodie Turner-Smith), is a lawyer and she, too, gets out of the car to tell the officer that she is going to film him, whereupon the cop turns his gun on her and shoots her in the leg, Slim attacks him and, in the ensuing melee, the policeman is shot dead. Slim’s no gangster though, and his first reaction is to report what’s happened but Queen, knowing the court system, says they have to go on the run because they’ll never get a fair hearing. From then on we are treated to a road trip south to New Orleans, then into Georgia and Florida, through a world not often seen in American movies - the black USA. The journey makes you realise that African-American and Anglo societies rarely intersect in some states, that there is only the slightest connection between the two groups and we barely see a white face on the drive south. When the pair arrives at Queen’s estranged Uncle Earl’s place, he (Bokeem Woodbine) greets them as “the black Bonnie and Clyde” and they learn that a video of the shooting has gone viral and they are now regarded as heroes by many in the black community.
Queen & Slim is a tough film, while simultaneously being moving and romantic. It’s an extraordinary achievement, all the more so for being the feature movie debut of Grammy Award-winning music video director Melina Matsoukas and the first full-length film script penned by actress and Emmy Award-winning television writer Lena Waithe. Her screenplay is a terrific piece of work that keeps surprising you and never takes the easy way out. It’s a clever, nuanced look at racism that isn’t ‘shouty’ and doesn’t seek to provide neat answers to the complicated questions it raises. It just tells it like it is. Excellent editing and cinematography add much to the mise en scène and, it almost goes without saying, there is a fabulous soundtrack accompanying the images. A dance scene in a juke joint that the fugitives stop at as they head to Florida ranks up there with one in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman as a joyous celebration of black music and culture. Turner-Smith and Kaluuya excel in the lead roles and it’s fascinating to watch their dramatic skills at work as their characters adapt and evolve once they’re thrown together on their unexpected road trip, drawing on resources they didn’t know they had. Turner-Smith’s Queen, in particular, begins the journey behind defensive walls of her own creation, highly guarded, and we watch, enthralled, as these barricades disintegrate as she learns to trust Slim.
Matsoukas’s film feels like it could have been based on a long-form article in a serious news magazine and you half expect to see ‘inspired by true events’ pop up on-screen. We only learn the real names of the chief protagonists at the conclusion of their road trip, which was a deliberate and symbolic creative choice. “That was a very poignant decision that Lena made,” says producer Pamela Abdy. “It makes a statement about the fact that we don’t stop to pay attention to people or their names when it actually matters.” Queen & Slim matters.